How Westerns Were Good Business for Hollywood Essay

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 700 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 3

Page 1 of 2

Western and Hollywood: The Art of Show Business

The Western helped spawn the American myth -- the legend of the frontier spirit, where civilization met the road and the individual was put to the test: either he would be a man of honor, or a criminal. The Western hero, guys like Wayne and Cooper and Roy Rogers before them, participated in the mythos and were awarded with stardom in the "genus stardom" of Hollywood, where stars and starlets were groomed and given to the public for consumption: they represented the public's image of itself -- Lana Turner representing their sexiness, Wayne representing their machismo (Damico 240).

Hollywood as art and as industry, used the Western to boost the box office in the early days of cinema -- but by the time John Ford made Stagecoach, the big Western film had lost its luster and unless a big star was attached, studios weren't backing them. Ford had to go to an alternate for funding for Stagecoach, but the film was a huge hit and it re-launched the Western genre in Hollywood -- a genre that lasted for a number of decades, with names like John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner all proving to have box office draw. Not only was the Western good for business, but it was also part of American folklore and its artistic value added something to the American consciousness, infusing in it the rough-and-tumble sort of viewpoint that would support the American doctrines of Manifest Destiny and New Expansionism.

Stuck Writing Your "How Westerns Were Good Business for Hollywood" Essay?

View All Our Example How Westerns Were Good Business for Hollywood Essay

Have A Custom Example Essay Written

The frontier spirit was the American spirit thanks to Westerns.

As "show" business, the Western was about spectacle. The classic scene of the Western hero having a shoot-out in the barroom or in the deserted street, mano-a-mano, was as essential as the "show" could get. The "show" was about daring and bravado, about masculinity and "grit" -- much of it demonstrated by John Wayne, the classic face of the cowboys and Indians Western as well as the sheriff and gangs Western. Wayne reflected the "everyman" in the American public, which is why Ford fought so hard to cast him in Stagecoach, a film in which the good vs. evil paradigm served as a vehicle for romance, action, and adventure -- a perfect "escapist" film for audiences in 1939. As Kitses notes, Wayne emerged as the new archetype of the Western genre and stood….....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"How Westerns Were Good Business For Hollywood" (2015, November 17) Retrieved May 16, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/westerns-good-business-hollywood-2160995

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"How Westerns Were Good Business For Hollywood" 17 November 2015. Web.16 May. 2025. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/westerns-good-business-hollywood-2160995>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"How Westerns Were Good Business For Hollywood", 17 November 2015, Accessed.16 May. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/westerns-good-business-hollywood-2160995
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example