Women in Westerns

A detailed Summary of Women in Westerns


Women's roles in western movies are very diversified. Although the roles are very different from each other, they are very stereotypical. Almost all women characters in western movies play one of the following: a mother, school teacher, prostitute, or an outlaw.

Through comparing three western movies, all ranging in different eras from 1932 to 1994, it is clearly shown that whether it's the loving mother or town prostitute,

women characters often play a minor part compared to the men, yet they are very important to the whole development of the film.

Jean Aurther plays a very loving mother and wife in the 1952 film Shane. The opening scene perfectly depicts the stereotypical mother. She stands near a window washing dishes. She is watching her son play outside. A strange man rides up on his horse and begins to talk to the little boy. The woman peers out the window at the hansom mysterious man. As he catches her looking at him she quickly hides her face as if not to be seen.

Her husband then comes out to talk to the stranger. The window and her face is always seen in the background as the two men talk but she often hides from the view of the window. Finally she comes outside and stands next to h


The other women in this film are represented in the same manner. In the town store, women and girls are folding clothing silently as they watch what goes on around them. As a fight breaks out in the saloon that is joined to the store, the women run out and hide for their safety. Men joke around with each other as they complain about their wives taking too long to get ready to go to town. They then admit that it's worth the wait because they are so beautiful.

They are good mothers and wives yet that is all they are depicted as. The women in the movie Shane are flat characters and we only see one side of them thus giving the stereotypical view that women are only valuable for the services they provide for the family.

Stone's character acquires the name "The Lady" while in the first bar scene and that what she is known by throughout the film.

When Mrs. Rogers finds out that the man is actually the well known gunman J.B.Books, she is very angry. She didn't want that kind of presence staying in her home and she is mad that he lied to her about his identity. She, without hesitation, proclaims her disapproval to Books. He then reveals to her that he is dying. Mrs. Rogers feels sympathy for Books and tells him she has no intentions of throwing him out, yet she still put up an angry front.



Some common words found in the essay are:
Lauren Bacall, Ironically Lady, Sharon Stone, Jean Aurther's, Jean Aurther, Westerns Women's, Quick Dead, western movies, Shane Rogers, women characters, loving mother, Jean Aurthur's, characters western movies, shane flat, stone's character, little girl, type character, store women, shooting contest, little boy,

Approximate Word count = 2053
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts

join now Save Paper

Related Essays

  • American Westerns Maverick, the Searchers, Unforgiven ... seen equal to white males. Weinraub states this as typical of Eastwood. Women have evolved in westerns. In the book, The American ... 1282 words
  • Pakastanian Women ... issue. The westerns point of view on this topic is that the Pakistanamp39s shouldnamp39t treat their women they way they do. They shouldn ... 995 words
  • 1950amp39s ... These women were not the accepted role models of the 50amp39s. ... The rise of the westerns became big in the 50amp39s, because people could tune in whenever they wanted. ... 687 words
  • Unforgiven movie paper ... These older westerns bared more emphasis on racism, usually against Native Americans. In Unforgiven the black man was treated fairly, but the women were abused ... 2222 words
  • A Wife For My Son ... many revolutionary discoveries there still exists societies that force women into situations ... an eye opener, I think it will contribute to westerns thinking the ... 1104 words

Professional Essays

  • Tenets of the Romantic Comedy ... p. 1. Characters in different genres act and are portrayed in different ways, like women in Westerns typically being good and unattractive or bad and loose. ... 2383 words
  • Women In Road Films ... above may have been true in road movies of the past, ones where women often represented the same type of female stock characters found in westerns the whore ... 2440 words
  • Lonesome Dove ... ideal in this manner, but McMurtry still invests her with deeper qualities and gives her more of a focal point in the novel than most westerns lend to women. ... 2852 words
  • Thelma and Louise ... on generic conventions on the one hand and the place of women in art and ... conventions: There are elements woven into the script from old Westerns, from doomed ... 2054 words
  • INFLUENCE OF TV ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT ... of television, violence has played a prominent role in television on Westerns, police shows ... Men have outnumbered women there are three times as many men on ... 2443 words
  • Natalie Merchant Gold Rush Brides ... and although the land out West was free, it cost the women their lives ... and a simple context of cowboys versus Indians that American westerns reduced all their ... 289 words


Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

  • "Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
    Jack M.
  • "With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
    Brian P.
  • "I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
    Sara J.
  • "I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
    Rachel W.
  • "I love this site!!!"
    Marie N.
Home Join Now Support
Acceptable Use Policy About us FAQ
All papers are for research and reference purposes only!
© 2002-2009 DirectEssays.com. All Rights Reserved.