A fistful of icons : essays on frontier fixtures of the American western / Edited by Sue Matheson.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Western films--History and criticism.

Western films.

Physical Description:

ix, 295 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, NC : McFarland & Company, [2017]

Summary:

After a century of reinvention and, frequently, reinterpretation, Western movies continue to contribute to the cultural understanding of the United States. And Western archetypes remain as important emblems of the American experience, relating a complex and coded narrative about heroism and morality, masculinity and femininity, westward expansion and technological progress, and assimilation and settlement. In this collection of new essays, 21 contributors from around the globe examine the "cowboy cool" iconography of film and television Westerns--from bounty hunters in buckskin jackets to denizens of seedy saloons and lonely deserts, from Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford to Steve McQueen and Budd Boetticher, Jr.

Contents:

Performing the Iconic West: Wild West Shows / Cynthia J. Miller Miller, Cynthia J. 9

Buckskin Fringe and Cavalier Culture in the Hollywood Western / Sue Matheson Matheson, Sue 23

The Urbanized West of Cecil B. DeMille / David Blanke Blanke, David 36

"They taught us to be men": Cigarettes, Westerns and (Mostly) John Ford / Richmond B. Adams Adams, Richmond B. 51

The Good Bounty Hunter: Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive / Kelly C. MacPhail MacPhail, Kelly C. 62

Racialized Markers of Gender and Gendered Markers of Race in 1950s Westerns / Deborah L. Kitchen-Døderlein Kitchen-Døderlein, Deborah L. 74

"Mister, this is cattle country": Livestock and Gender in Western Films / Jim Daems Daems, Jim 86

Ride 'Em Cowboy: Equine Representations in the Western / Stella Hockenhull Hockenhull, Stella 99

Horses for Ladies, High-Ridin' Women and Whores / Maria Cecilia de Miranda N. Coelho Coelho, Maria Cecilia de Miranda N. 113

The Sexual Signification of the Gun in Western Film / Fran Pheasant-Kelly Pheasant-Kelly, Fran 124

Rifles and Things in Winchester '73 / Katherine A. Johnson Johnson, Katherine A. 142

The Cowboy Brew: Coffee and Conflict in the Westerns of Budd Boetticher, Jr. / Christopher Minz Minz, Christopher 152

Cowboy Accommodations: Plotting the Hotel in Western Film and Television / Monica Montelongo Flores Flores, Monica Montelongo 166

When Worlds Collide: Town and Country, Mise-en-Scène in Have Gun, Will Travel / Robert E. Meyer Meyer, Robert E. 177

Executioner, Judge and Priest: The Desert Sublime in Westerns / Helen M. Lewis Lewis, Helen M. 188

Machines in the Garden: Technology and the Western in the 1960s and 1970s / Martin Holtz Holtz, Martin 198

"Dynamite blows two ways": Dynamite in Western Films / Gilles Chamerois Chamerois, Gilles 213

Trippy Pictures: Iconicizing the American Acid Westerns / Alexander Davis Davis, Alexander 231

"Reach for the sky": Western Iconography, the American Frontier and the Story of Pixar in Toy Story / Ashley Sufflé Robinson Robinson, Ashley Sufflé 244

Burying the Past: Cemeteries, Burials and Remembrance in the Western / Andrew Howe Howe, Andrew 257

The Four Archetypes of the Three Burials (of Melquiades Estrada) / Wickham Clayton Clayton, Wickham 271.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780786498048

0786498048

OCLC:

970027321