Western novels
If the western spirit embodied by western cowboys constitutes the embryonic form of the American spirit, then the appearance of the cowboy image in western novels has shaped the American spirit and has become a symbol of the American spirit.
Western novels show the hardships of life in the western frontier, and show the pioneers' spirit of fighting for survival. The national spirit tempered in this unique environment is the core of the American spirit.
American Western novels can be traced back to "Kentucky's Discovery, Settlement and Status Quo" published by John Felson in 1784. Through this book, Americans learned for the first time the hero who first migrated to the west-Daniel Boone.
His courage, fortitude, wisdom, and his persevering enterprising spirit have become a model in people's minds and become synonymous with "Western Spirit". Since then, people's understanding of the mysterious west has undergone a qualitative change.
One of the greatest achievements in the development of American western novels is to embodies the heroes of the West into cowboys with more western characteristics. Owen West’s masterpiece "The Virginian" is regarded as the starting point of cowboy novels in the history of American literature and is hailed as the first true western novel. The
cowboy image has since become a timeless classic. This "Virginia" immediately aroused the admiration and imitation of countless writers as soon as he was born. The long and short stories that make up the "cowboy myth" are endless, creating many different cowboy images: Zhan Gray's "The Jungle Knight" and Ernest Hecox's "The Post Road to Lordsburg" The knight who selflessly protects helpless women like Winters and the "Blonde Youth"; the cowboy who "beats up injustice" for morality and dignity like Shane in Jack Shafer's "Shane"; Bright Hart "Friends of Tennessee", Jack London's "All Golden Valley", Bill's undaunted gold digger...
vivid cowboy characters left a deep impression on readers: a round of red that is about to sink on the edge of the desert Against the background of the day, a cowboy wearing a felt hat, a scarf on his neck, boots and a pistol, swung a noose to gather hundreds of longhorn cattle, and then rode a horse in the billowing smoke from the cattle. Swagger, galloping horizontally and across the prairie, by the campfire at night, the melodies of depression and sadness sung by the cowboys spread across the horizon. With giant rivers in the canyon, the sky is high and the earth is wide, the rough, upright, energetic cowboys marched fearlessly. Western movies
Western movies
Western novels led to the development of Western movies. Western movies at the same age as Hollywood made the tough cowboy image a hero in the collective myth of the United States, and the cowboy spirit eventually became a symbol of the American spirit. The film "The Train Robbery" filmed in 1903 is the beginning of American Western films. Anderson, who played the thug Bronco Billy in this film, naturally became the first male Western movie star in Hollywood.
In 1939, John Ford's sound film "Guanshan Feidu" was recognized as a milestone in Western films because it gathered all the classic elements of the western world. Its style, character setting and narrative rhythm laid the foundation for the western film. Basic mode. The film describes the thrilling journey of a post car through the wild land of New Mexico in the western United States, presenting a distinctive western visual map: unique karst landforms, steep valleys, deserts with yellow sand, monumental rocks, and a corner. Towns and pubs, galloping horses and caravans. The characters of
are also quite typified. Lin Guo starring John Wayne is a typical western cowboy image. He is handsome, unrestrained, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, holding a revolver, and fighting for revenge.
"Noon" in 1952 created a precedent for psychological westerns. Four-fifths of the film was laid, but the final shot was only a moment. The film depicts a small town sheriff alone confronting four villains who come to avenge him when he cannot find an assistant. The film episode "Do Not For Sake Me" won an Oscar score and became a popular cowboy song.
In 1969, "Once Upon a Time in the West" created the miracle of "Italian Westerns" when American Westerns in the 1960s were gradually declining. It was like a magnificent, graceful, soothing "Western poetry" that looked back on the western world. All the characteristics: the exciting railway era, the endless yellow sand of the desert. A stray and unknown cowboy with harmonica, a wanted gangster, a treacherous conspirator, and a glamorous girl entangled in the three.
199In 0 years, Kevin Costner's "Dancing with Wolves", directed by Kevin Costner, was surprisingly successful when the Westerns were in decline. It swept the Oscars that year, shocked the world movie scene, and revived Hollywood Westerns. The film lasted three hours, cost 18 million US dollars, used 3,500 bison, 300 horses, more than 130 technicians and 400 extras.
This large-scale epic western film is contrary to the previous western film's practice of writing Indians as a barbaric nation. It boldly subverts the white supremacy western film tradition and refreshes the appearance of western films.
In 2000, a "Space Cowboy" was born. "Space D'Artagnan" played by Eastwood led his three "Space Musketeers" to fight against the unknown space in order to find Go back and defend their glory. The spirit of the Space West has once again sublimated the American spirit. "Brokeback Mountain" in 2006 has a brand-new breakthrough significance for American Western films that have long been a genre. Ang Lee said: "The American West is a masculine world, with only men and animals. All western movies have never been flexible."
