American Old West

The American Old West is generally considered to be located in western North America, usually the Western United States and usually occupying the timeperiod of the late 19th century, especially from the antebellum period to the turn of the century. It has played a significant role in history and fiction. The terms Old West and Wild West refer to life beyond the settled frontier. This terminology could place the setting as far back as the American colonial period, but is usually meant to signify the latter 1800s in the "Frontier Strip" (eg. six U.S. states from North Dakota south to Texas).

Fiction and non-fiction

Old West has had a lasting impression on the American psyche and the fiction concerning the Old West has been a popular genre, featuring authors such as Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. Movies such as those featuring John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, radio dramas, television, pulp novels and comic books all had popular Old West themes. In German culture the genre was so popular that it spawned another, the Kraut-Western, which is alive and well even one century after its debut. Karl May is the best-selling German writer of all time, due to his classic Wild West adventure novels featuring the unforgettable protagonists Old Shatterhand and Winnetou.

Related Topics:
Zane Grey - Louis L'Amour - Movies - John Wayne - Clint Eastwood - Pulp novel - Kraut-Western - Karl May - German

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There is a nonfiction side of the American West, too, as in, for example, Robert Laxalt's memoir Sweet Promised Land, in which Dominique Laxalt, his father, a Basque sheepherder, revisits the old country. The book ends with Laxalt's desire to return to his home in Nevada: "... and he saw the mountains of the West rise up ...". Nevertheless, the untamable mystique of the Wild West lives on with fascination with a simpler world of salt of the Earth values. Of note, Cowboy Action Shooting is one of the fastest growing American sports today, combining marksmanship with the theatricality of an historical reenacting of the gunslinging Wild West days

Related Topics:
Robert Laxalt - Sweet Promised Land - Basque - Sheepherder - Nevada - Cowboy Action Shooting - Sport - Marksmanship - Historical reenacting

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Locations and characters

Other famous locations and characters originate in fiction such as the television shows Gunsmoke and Bonanza, and Western movies and fiction. For example, while Dodge City, Kansas, the setting of Gunsmoke, was briefly a wide-open town and Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were lawmen there, Marshall Matt Dillon and the other regular characters of Gunsmoke are fictional characters. Likewise, while Virginia City, Nevada, was a real Old West mining town, the Ponderosa Ranch and the Cartwright family of Bonanza are fictional. Considerable poetic license has been taken with a number of the actual events and characters such as Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid as they have been portrayed in ways which reflect contemporary concerns more than the historical record. Certain books and movies such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Shane, High Noon, and the novel The Virginian stand out. The American Old West has recently experienced a renaissance period in entertainment via the television series Deadwood.

Related Topics:
Television shows - Gunsmoke - Bonanza - Movie - Fiction - Virginia City, Nevada - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Shane - High Noon - The Virginian - Deadwood

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Western movies

While the Western has been popular throughout the history of movies, it has begun to diminish in importance as the United States progresses farther away from the period depicted. Westerns, by definition, are set in the American West, almost always in the 19th century, generally between the Antebellum period and the turn of the century. The western film genre often portrays idealized themes, such as the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature (usually in the name of civilisation) or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. A sub-genre of Western film, referred to as Spaghetti westerns, emerged in the mid-1960s that removed many conventions of earlier Westerns films - partly intentionally, partly as a result of the work being done in a different cultural background and with limited funds.

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Western movie locations usually form the backdrop that identifies the genre. Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and The Lone Ranger often filmed near Lone Pine, California, where since the early 1920s over 300 movies have been filmed. John Ford pioneered the out of Hollywood on location western, when he packed up the crew and went out to Monument Valley to film movies like Stagecoach (1939). Even when the story involves Apaches from New Mexico and Southern Arizona, Ford filmed it up in Monument Valley far out of the Apache?s territory because he liked the scenery. In the late 1930s filming started in Old Tucson, Arizona, site of now over 300 western movies.

Related Topics:
Tom Mix - Hopalong Cassidy - Gene Autry - The Lone Ranger - Lone Pine, California - John Ford - Hollywood - Monument Valley - Stagecoach - Apaches - New Mexico - Arizona - Ford - Apache - Old Tucson, Arizona

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Western literature

Cowboy poetry is a form of poetry that focuses on the culture, features and lifestyle of the West, both the Old West and its modern equivalents. It is not defined by any particular scheme or structure, but by subject matter. Western novels, or coyboy novels, portrayed the west as both a barren landscape and a romanticized idealistic way of living.

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Semi-Western

Certain fictional works, while certainly not Westerns in of themselves, have undeniable influences of the romanticized old west. These include television series Firefly and role-playing game Cold Steel Reign. However, because the definition of a "Western" is somewhat ambiguous, it can be difficult to define what does and does not include western elements. Some works, such as anime television series Cowboy Bebop, and role-playing game have been noted by fans as having elements similar to those in Westerns, though such claims have generally not been substantiated by their creators. It is a common misconception that Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo was influenced by certain spaghetti westerns, though quite the reverse is true. A Fistful of Dollars, starring Clint Eastwood, was a remake of Yojimbo in a western setting.

Related Topics:
Television series - Firefly - Role-playing game - Cold Steel Reign - Anime - Cowboy Bebop - Akira Kurosawa's - Yojimbo - A Fistful of Dollars - Clint Eastwood

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