Updated: 05/02/2002

Most of the information in this lecture comes from Horace Newcomb's first book Television the Most Popular Art. 

The western genre, as with the others was not new with television.  It had been a long time staple of the film industry since silent pictures.

Westerns and mysteries are have been at the center of popular culture for decades, largely due to the worlds created by them and for them.  Those worlds create certain characteristics of the genre that make them different from others.

• The western depends on human reactions to elements of

  • death

  • excitement

  • tension

  • resolution

• Westerns are also based on themes of

  • death

  • trial

  • tests of moral and physical strengths

The world of the western has a very carefully defined cultural system

• it is complex

• all of the characters have to work within the system

• specific things are expected of the characters and what they're supposed to do in specific situations
  

There are different types of westerns:

• Child western -- This was the Hop-a-long Cassidy,  Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, The Lone Ranger

• Traditional Western -- "Stagecoach"

• Adult Western -- "Shane" "High Noon" or Young Riders

   Newcomb quotes John Wayne concerning the difference between the traditional and adult western.  "In the pure western, the problems were solved by shooting the bad guy; in an 'adult' western, you just talk him to death."  p. 63

Obviously people got shot in adult westerns, but there was certainly a lot more talking in the adult western, and much more focus on characterization.  Why characters reacted the way they did in a plot was as important as what happened in the plot.

Important Elements in the Western"

1. Time and Place:

   • Frontier west of the Mississippi

   • Time span of about 50 years, usually after about 1835 to 1885 or 1890

   • Because of the time period, and the stresses associated with it, people become hardened into legends

   • Attitudes become codes

   • All are heightened in the popular western
     

2. Defines a Probem:

   • The central problem

     • establishing order

     • bringing civilization

   • Plots of westerns always involve that central problem: How will barbarism be put down and civilization established.

   • Some say there are only seven basic plots in westerns  (From "Seven Basic Plots" by Frank Gruber in The Six Gun Mystique, by John Cawelti, ed. (Bowling Green, OH: 1970 pp. 34-35 )

     • Union Pacific Story:  This story had to do with the construction of the rail road, the telegraph or a stagecoach line.  Sometimes it involved a wagon train story.  (Wagon Train, Union Pacific, )

     • Ranch Story:  Ranchers vs. rustlers or sheep herders or farmers or even other ranchers. (Bonanza, The Big Valley)

     • The Empire Story: Epic version of the ranch story. (Bonanza,  The Big Valley)

     • The Revenge Story:

     • Custer's Last Stand: The cowboy and Indian story

     • The Outlaw Story:

     • The Marshall Story: (Gunsmoke)

   In each of these, Element 1 (Civilization) is pitted against Element 2 (Struggle against savagery) which leads to Element 3 (Heroic actions) which lead to the resolution.

   The first adult television westerns were introduced in 1955.  The first was Cheyene.  It had a simple format based on the wandering drifter to went from town to town helping out those who were in one kind of trouble or another.  He never went looking for trouble, but could never just stand by and let it happen when he could do something to help those who could not help themselves.  In actuality, he would ride into any one of the above seven plots.  There wasn't a lot of time for character development, and since there were no other protagonists, there were no foils either.   Remember that dramatic series did not have continuing story arcs at this time, so that severely limited character development.

   The next adult western was Gunsmoke.  Here the protagonist stayed put and had a more developed supporting cast.  But the multiple stories could be developed from people who rode into Dodge City or exploring circumstances related to the people around the town.   In this program the relationships between the characters could be developed  over a period of time, allowing the audience to get to know them more deeply. While each episode had its own unique story arc, the audience relationship with the characters grew and developed and the audience believed the characters relationships grew and developed as well.  Gunsmoke was on the air for nearly 20 years.

   In the simpler westerns, the values were cut and dried, very simple and black and white.  In Gunsmoke things were less clear:

   • Miss Kitty had a questionable moral position in the town

   • Dillon hated killing but had to kill somebody in nearly episode

   • The people who supported him didn't always agree with him, and he sometimes made mistakes

   • The regular characters, Doc, Festus, and Kitty became the moral judges of the actions of Matt Dillon

   • They also interpret the actions of the protagonist and the conflict -- Civilization vs. Barbarism

   1959:  Bonanza  :The empire story

   This classic TV western was "Father Knows Best in the West" .  It was the story of the archetypal empire builder, a man of authority, credibility, power, and wisdom.  Ben Cartwright was all of those things.  His boys, Little Joe, Hoss and Adam, are the vehicles for the various plots.  They travel around the country side and run into all kinds of people and trouble (including all of the 7 plots).  In this series, Ben and his boys are the ones who define the elements of the western and the conflict between civilization and barbarism.

   Secondary Problem in the Television Western: Cultural Problem

   In the television western, generally some contemporary cultural problem was transplanted into the story of the western.    It framed our problem on a smaller, more personal, and certainly safer scale.  The solutions the western heroes come up with, are implied to be our solutions.   (Remember our discussion of melodrama)

   The Nature of the Western Hero:

   He is the one who brings order through his actions:

   • he helps others, townspeople or helpless immigrants, etc.

   • he is the only one available who has the skills necessary

   • but he is tainted with savagery

   • he hates to use the gun, but he's willing to do so

   • he is an established authority

   • all of the others in the cast are there to either show is authority or assist him in it