The Western Essay: Monday, October 29

Overview

In this essay, you will explore the development of the Western genre. It will require you to view a film outside of class and draw on knowledge gained from the films we’ve viewed in class, as well as with the discussions and readings we’ve done. You must turn in notes of your viewing with the essay or you will lose points. Essays should be at least five well-developed paragraphs. Please see the attached rubric, which follows the Six Traits of Writing.

You may use one 4x6 note card to record any notes and an outline to prepare for the essay. You will turn in this note card with your essay, along with notes from your viewing.

The essay will be written in class on Monday, October 29. Be sure to have your note card and notes with you in class that day. If you know you are going to be gone on this day, you must talk to me beforehand to arrange a make-up time. If your absence is unexpected, you must email me on the day of the essay to arrange a make-up time. Otherwise, a grade deduction will occur.

Tips

End your introductory paragraph with your thesis statement, the argument about your film you’re going to prove in your essay. Here’s a simple, but effective model: My Darling Clementine fits the definition of a classic Western because of its portrayal of the decent cowboy hero, the “pure” woman, and the positives of the arrival of civilization in the Old West.

Each of your topic sentences should link directly to your thesis.

Use specific examples from the film – anything from a scene to a particular shot or line of dialogue – to help prove your thesis. Also, make sure to explain in your own words how your evidence proves the thesis.

Re-watch important scenes. Careful attention leads to careful notes, which leads to a strong essay. If you don’t study your film, you won’t do well.

Format

Underline or italicize film titles.

When citing your film for the first time in your essay, list the director and date of release in parentheses, e.g. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992).

Refer to www.imdb.com for names and spellings of characters, actors, etc. There’s no excuse for not knowing a key fact about your film.

Options

1. Choose another classic Western and compare it to My Darling Clementine and elements of the classic Western, illustrating how your film fits the mould. Suggested films: Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939), Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948), Winchester ’73 (Anthony Mann, 1950), High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952), Shane (George Stevens, 1953), The Searchers (Ford, 1956), Rio Bravo (Hawks, 1959), and Pale Rider (Clint Eastwood, 1985).

2. Choose a revisionist Western and demonstrate how the film takes the typical elements of the Western genre and revises them or comments on them. Suggested films: Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992), The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971), The Shootist (Don Siegel, 1976), and the so-called “spaghetti Westerns” of Sergio Leone [A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)].

3. Choose a parody Western and describe how the film makes fun of the characteristics of the typical Western. Suggested films: Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974), Cat Ballou (Elliot Silverstein, 1965), and Rustler’s Rhapsody (Hugh Wilson, 1985).