The Crowded Prairie: American National Identity in the Hollywood Western (Cinema and Society) - Hardcover

Coyne, Michael D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1860640400 ISBN 13: 9781860640407

Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 1997

Synopsis

Focuses on a group of popular, critically acclaimed westerns, examining their interaction with US society, culture and ideology from the end of the Depression to the Bicentennial in 1976. While exploring their depictions of such issues as intervention in World War II, miscegenation, generational discord, ethnic ascendance, McCarthyism, civil rights, Vietnam, and Watergate, the author shows how the genre veered from sagas of national achievement to bleak visions of life in the US. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Coyne is a writer and film historian. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

From Library Journal:

Coyne (history, Univ. of Edinburgh) brings forth a bracing analysis of what he terms the golden age of Hollywood Westerns, from Stagecoach (1939) to The Shootist (1976). As the title suggests, he targets an academic or highly literate audience, for whom lingo such as "patriarchy" and "Manichacan" signifies much. Minimally, readers must be familiar with most grade A Westerns and television miniseries of the era. Coyne is well versed in this material, and the diligent reader will welcome his ability to emphasize his points through the judicious use of dialog, contemporary critics' reviews, and box office receipts. Equally appreciated are reevaluations of Duel in the Sun (1946), The Big Country (1958), and Warlock (1959). Films are placed in context to their times and each other, but more important, combed for subtexts that create or reflect American identity. Race, male supremacy, dysfunctional families, and Vietnam are all stirred into a stimulating soup. For all academic film collections.?Kim R. Holston, American Inst. for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1860640400
• ISBN 13: 9781860640407
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 260