The film Rooster Cogburn, starring John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and Katharine Hepburn as Eula Goodnight, offers quite a different view of women in the western. In previously viewed westerns, the woman represents almost the opposite of the alpha male cowboy. The woman in westerns usually seems weak, needy, and easily flustered. The west is a place for men and women should know their place on the homestead. However, Rooster Cogburn turns this typical picture of women upside down. Eula Goodnight does many things that a woman would just not do in other westerns. Eula Goodnight is not a helpless damsel; on the contrary she is almost a deputy. Eula can even handle a gun. In one scene, Eula saves Roster from certain death by shooting an enemy from across a ravine. At first, Rooster thinks that Wolf, a young Indian boy, took the shot, and he is surprised when Wolf confesses that Eula in fact took the shot. Eula even succeeds in the west while following Rooster on a trail to catch Hawk and Breed in order to bring them to justice. Women in most other western do not even know how to fire a gun, let alone survive in the west with little help from men.
Another interesting aspect of this film involves how the alpha male cowboy himself acts. John Wayne is getting older; as a result he does not look like the same cowboy that he was in previous films. Rooster is clean-shaven, but he seems to be a drunkard and has an imperfect face which he almost half-covers with an eye patch. Alpha male cowboys traditionally do not have any imperfections. Rooster also respects Eula Goodnight as almost an equal, which the alpha male cowboy usually would not do. First, he lets her come with him on his journey, which a cowboy like Ethan Edwards in The Searchers never would have done, then he gives her a rifle, which no other alpha male cowboy would think of unless he was in the most dire of situations, and then he even lest Eula act as a decoy in the end of the movie when he finally defeats Hawk. We have not seen any man treat any woman in the films that we have watched yet as equally as Rooster treats Eula.
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The film Rooster Cogburn, starring John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and Katharine Hepburn as Eula Goodnight, offers quite a different view of women in the western. In previously viewed westerns, the woman represents almost the opposite of the alpha male cowboy. Woman in westerns usually seem weak, needy, and easily flustered. Normally, the West is a place for men and women should know their place on the homestead. However, Rooster Cogburn turns this typical picture of women upside down. Eula Goodnight does many things that a woman would just not do in other westerns. She is not a helpless damsel, but to the contrary she is almost a deputy. Eula can even handle a gun, as in one scene where Eula saves Roster from certain death by shooting an enemy from across a ravine. At first, Rooster thinks that Wolf, a young Indian boy, took the shot and he is surprised when Wolf confesses that Eula in fact took the shot. Eula also succeeds in the west while following Rooster on a trail to catch outlaws Hawk and Breed in order to bring them to justice. Women in most other western do not even know how to fire a gun, let alone survive in the west with little help from men.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting aspect of this film involves how the alpha male cowboy himself acts. John Wayne is getting older, and as a result he does not look like the same cowboy that he was in previous films. Rooster is clean-shaven, but he seems to be a drunkard and has an imperfect face which he almost half-covers with an eye patch. This overall picture of the alpha male cowboy is different as cowboys do not traditionally have any imperfections. Rooster also respects Eula Goodnight as almost an equal, which the alpha male cowboy usually would not do. First, he lets her come with him on his journey, and then he gives her a rifle, which no other alpha male cowboy would think of unless he was in the most dire of situations. In the end of the movie, Rooster uses Eula as a decoy when he finally defeats Hawk. We have not seen any man treat any woman in the films that we have watched yet as equally as Rooster treats Eula.