Johnny Guitar gives us another example of a woman owning their own business. Our main character Vienna is the owner of a saloon in a local town. The major challenge that she faces is the affect the railroad has on the town. She is personally happy to have the railroad come through the town because of all the potential business she can receive. However, other’s are not as pleased. One figure is Emma, who is a local rancher and does not want any new people impeding on her land. This is the first time we see two women butting heads in a film. Tompkins states, “Westerns strive to depict a world of clear alternative – independence versus connections, anarchy vs law, town vs desert – but they are just a compulsively driven to destroying these opposites and making them contain each other”(Tomkins 48). Emma and Vienna are a great example of contrasting forces. They really remind me of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance because both women are different styles of the “alpha female” in this movie.
Two Mules For Sister Sara is great example of deception in the Western film genre. In this scenario we have the alpha male, Hogan, accompanied by his “other” Sara. Sara tells Hogan tells that she is a nun and Hogan agrees to essentially be her personal escort/guard back to the French camp in which he is trying to spy on. It becomes prevalent that Sara is challenged to act the part as a nun. She has a particularly difficult time staying away from the cigars and a bottle of whisky which sparks Hogan’s attention. Tompkins states, “Language is gratuitous at best; at worst it is deceptive. It takes the place of things, screens them from view, creates a shadow world where anything can be made to look like anything else”(Tompkins 52). Both main characters in this film have to use language to set up their false backgrounds. It is kind of comical that both made these false pretenses and it is only till later that one of them catches on to the other’s lie.
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Johnny Guitar gives us another example of a woman owning their own business. Our main character Vienna is the owner of a saloon in a local town. The major challenge that she faces is the affect the railroad has on the town. She is personally happy to have the railroad come through the town because of all the potential business she can receive. However, other’s are not as pleased. One figure is Emma, who is a local rancher and does not want any new people impeding on her land. This is the first time we see two women butting heads in a film. Tompkins states, “Westerns strive to depict a world of clear alternative – independence versus connections, anarchy vs law, town vs desert – but they are just a compulsively driven to destroying these opposites and making them contain each other”(Tomkins 48). Emma and Vienna are a great example of contrasting forces. They really remind me of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance because both women are different styles of the “alpha female” in this movie.
ReplyDeleteTwo Mules For Sister Sara is great example of deception in the Western film genre. In this scenario we have the alpha male, Hogan, accompanied by his “other” Sara. Sara tells Hogan tells that she is a nun and Hogan agrees to essentially be her personal escort/guard back to the French camp in which he is trying to spy on. It becomes prevalent that Sara is challenged to act the part as a nun. She has a particularly difficult time staying away from the cigars and a bottle of whisky which sparks Hogan’s attention. Tompkins states, “Language is gratuitous at best; at worst it is deceptive. It takes the place of things, screens them from view, creates a shadow world where anything can be made to look like anything else”(Tompkins 52). Both main characters in this film have to use language to set up their false backgrounds. It is kind of comical that both made these false pretenses and it is only till later that one of them catches on to the other’s lie.