Westerns 美国概况 培训讲解.pptVIP

James Fenimore Cooper;James Fenimore Cooper has rightly been called the first American novelist. ; In his Leatherstocking Tales, Cooper writes chiefly about conflict – man against man, and man against environment, but both are significantly American in setting.;Throughout the novels is the looming fact that man is coping with the frontier, trying to conquer, tame, and possess it; it is this, in fact, which leads to the obvious conflicts of man versus man. ;The Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States (known as the American Old West or Wild West. ; American Westerns of the 1940s and 1950s emphasize the values of honour and sacrifice. Westerns from the 1960s and 1970s often have a more pessimistic view, glorifying a rebellious anti-hero and highlighting the cynicism, brutality and inequality of the American West. ;Themes; The popular perception of the Western is a story that centres on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. ;The Western usually tells a simple morality tale, usually set against the spectacular scenery of the American West. Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in a desert-like landscape. ;Apart from the wilderness, it is usually the saloon that emphasizes that this is the Wild West: it is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), girls (often prostitutes), gambling (draw poker or five card stud), drinking (beer or whiskey), brawling and shooting. ;Often, the vast landscape becomes more than a vivid backdrop; it becomes a character in the film. John Ford – perhaps the most famous director of Western movies - used Monument Valley in Arizona as an expressive landscape in films like Stagecoach (1939).;The films often depict conflicts with Native Americans. Other recurring