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This thesis employs the study of gender to demonstrate how recent Hollywood
western films have constructed a hero that is reflective of contemporary beliefs
regarding masculinity. Beginning with a New Historicist approach at studying gender,
this work first considers the construction of masculinity in post World War II America
and traces the evolution of the western hero's masculinity from its iconic state in the
1950's through it trial during second wave feminism, its rebuilding during the Reagan
years, and its refinement within recent Hollywood films.
This thesis considers each period of western films as a representation and reflection of
its current culture, and as a result ultimately argues that the western genre has recently
endeavored to perpetuate the conservative cultural view that a marital union is the
ideal in contemporary American society. In tracing the progression of masculinity in
the western hero, through cultural and textual readings, this thesis concludes that
today's paragon of the masculine western hero is more subject to domesticity and as
such is more likely than its 1950s predecessors to accept marital living. |
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