Though one of the most popular genres for decades, the western started to lose its relevance in the 1960s and 1970s, and by the early 1980s it had ridden into the sunset on screens both big and small. The genre has enjoyed a resurgence, however, and in the past few decades some remarkable westerns have appeared on television and in movie theaters. From independent films to critically acclaimed Hollywood productions and television series, the western remains an important part of American popular culture. Running the gamut from traditional to revisionist, with settings ranging from the old West to the "new Wests" of the present day and distant future, contemporary westerns continue to explore the history, geography, myths, and legends of the American frontier. In Contemporary Westerns: Film and Television since 1990, Andrew P. Nelson has collected several essays that examine the trends and transformations in this underexplored period in western film and television history. Addressing the new western, these essays argue for the continued relevance and vibrancy of the genre as a narrative form.
The body of the book is organized into two sections: "Old West, New Stories" features essays that examine westerns with familiar, frontier settings, such as Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Deadwood, and True Grit. The second section, "New Wests, Old Stories," contains essays that explore works in which familiar western narratives, characters, and values are represented in more modern-and in one case, futuristic-frontier settings. Titles examined include No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, as well as the shows Firefly and Justified. With a foreword by Edward Buscombe, as well as an introduction that provides a comprehensive overview of the western's development over the past twenty years, this volume offers readers a compelling argument for the healthy survival of the western form. Written for scholars as well as the educated viewer, Contemporary Westerns explores the genre's evolving relationship with American culture, history, and politics.
Industry Reviews
Instead of a conventional chronological approach to tracing the history of American TV and movie westerns produced from 1990 on, this volume consists of 11 monographic essays by media-study academics, nine of which deal with individual titles, one with western themes utilized in science fiction films, and one on the career of country music singer George Straight who is supposedly the prototype of the modem non-traditional cowboy hero. The films analyzed begin (chronologically) with Dances with Wolves (1990) and end with the 2010 remake of True Grit. Some of the other films analyzed include Clint Eastwood's 1992 Unforgiven, No Country for Old Men (2007), There Will Be Blood (2007) and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Cowardly Robert Ford (2007). There are separate chapters for the TV series Deadwood and Justified. Amazingly, there is a chapter on Ang Lee's 1999 Rider with the Devil. . . .[T]he individual essays and an overview introduction by the editor supply much insightful information on the films discussed and are scholarly in nature and well documented. Each essay ends with copious footnotes and a list of works cited. he book ends with a brief name index mainly of film titles. This work will be of . . . value in library circulation departments rather than reference. As such, it is recommended for collections that emphasize media studies.
