Feminism and the Western in Film and Television

Traces the evolution of feminist Westerns in film and television and shows how they resisted the sexism of the times as they kept pace with the evolution of feminism in the American political, social, and cultural scene Uses rhetorical analysis of Westerns to show that how they make strong appeals to liberate women from the confines placed on them by the reigning cultural construct Complicates the landmark works of John Cawleti and Jane Tompkins by arguing how Westerns have illustrated feminist positions and portrayals despite an accepted idea that anti-feminist ideologies of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century are embedded in the genre

Autorentext

Mark E. Wildermuth is Dunagan Professor of English at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, USA. His previous publications include Blood in the Moonlight: Michael Mann and Information Age Cinema; Print, Chaos and Complexity: Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Media Culture; and Gender, Science Fiction Television, and the American Security State: 1958Present.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Is the Western an Inherently Anti-feminist Genre?.- 2. Women Professionals in 1930's Film Westerns in the Context of the Progressive Age and the New Deal Gender Politics.- 3. Women and Westerns in the Films of the 1940s.- 4. Women and Western Films in the Cold War.- 5. After the Cold War: From the 1990's Interregnum to 9/11.- 6. Women and Television Westerns, 19542001.- 7. Conclusion: Some Reflections on Women, Violence and Westerns.