Maybe a new era of Western is emerging, one that uses contemporary settings: Hell or High Water, The Rider, and Wind River would be three good examples. I also loved Longmire, a Netflix series about a Wyoming sheriff, also in a current day setting with plenty to say about the condition of Anerican Indian reservation life.
Interesting piece, Ty. I'd be interested if you looked at these along with the genre through a historical/social/political lens -- Heather Cox Richardson's analysis of the reality of the cowboy life after the civil war and the mythologizing that took place as oligarchs worked to maintain economic and political control right up to the present day. It's got me re-thinking a lot about my naive little girl crush on Roy Rogers, my devotion to the classic tv Westerns (Have Gun Will Travel; Gunsmoke), my teen enthusiasm for The Magnificent Seven, and yes even spaghetti Westerns, and the cultural messages embedded there. It's good to see that some contemporary westerns are shaking up the old stereotypes, but will be interesting to see if and how the genre will evolve.
Thanks so much for pointing to this superb series. I watched The Tall T last night. Great story telling - and in a tight, non-padded length. It's like a gem of a short story: nothing wasted pi r extraneous, but a whole world and every element that makes it up.
Maybe a new era of Western is emerging, one that uses contemporary settings: Hell or High Water, The Rider, and Wind River would be three good examples. I also loved Longmire, a Netflix series about a Wyoming sheriff, also in a current day setting with plenty to say about the condition of Anerican Indian reservation life.
Interesting piece, Ty. I'd be interested if you looked at these along with the genre through a historical/social/political lens -- Heather Cox Richardson's analysis of the reality of the cowboy life after the civil war and the mythologizing that took place as oligarchs worked to maintain economic and political control right up to the present day. It's got me re-thinking a lot about my naive little girl crush on Roy Rogers, my devotion to the classic tv Westerns (Have Gun Will Travel; Gunsmoke), my teen enthusiasm for The Magnificent Seven, and yes even spaghetti Westerns, and the cultural messages embedded there. It's good to see that some contemporary westerns are shaking up the old stereotypes, but will be interesting to see if and how the genre will evolve.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/23/the-oligarchs-mythology-of-cowboy-individualism-bezos-in-a-10-gallon-hat/
Thanks so much for pointing to this superb series. I watched The Tall T last night. Great story telling - and in a tight, non-padded length. It's like a gem of a short story: nothing wasted pi r extraneous, but a whole world and every element that makes it up.