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Cowboy Classics: The Roots of the American Western in the Epic Tradition Contributor(s): Day, Kirsten (Author) |
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ISBN: 1474402461 ISBN-13: 9781474402460 Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions Published: May 2016 Click for more in this series: Screening Antiquity |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism - History | Ancient - General |
Dewey: 791 |
LCCN: 2016285176 |
Series: Screening Antiquity |
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 6.4" W x 9.4" L (1.25 lbs) 240 pages |
Features: Bibliography, Illustrated, Index |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: In the American psyche, the Wild West is a mythic-historical place where our nation's values and ideologies were formed. In this violent and uncertain world, the cowboy is the ultimate hero, fighting the bad guys, forging notions of manhood, and delineating what constitutes honor as he works to build civilization out of wilderness. Tales from this mythical place are best known from that most American of media: film. In the Greco-Roman societies that form the foundation of Western civilization, similar narratives were presented in what for them was the most characteristic, and indeed most filmic, genre: epic. Like Western film, the epics of Homer and Virgil focus on the mythic-historical past and its warriors who worked to establish the ideological framework of their respective civilizations. Through a close reading of films like High Noon and Shane, this book examines the surprising connections between these seemingly disparate yet closely related genres, shedding light on both in the process. |
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