Shooting (a) Woman - Comparative Study of Gender Roles in American and Italian Western Movies

Manuela Beyer

ISBN 10: 3638925218 / ISBN 13: 9783638925211

Editore: GRIN Verlag, GRIN Verlag Mär 2008, 2008

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Neuware -Master's Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Sociology - Media, Art, Music, grade: 1, University of Dalarna, language: English, abstract: Sergio Leone, the well known Italian Western director, once criticized the woman¿s role in the Hollywood Western as follows:[T]he woman is imposed on the action, as a star, and is generally destined to be ¿had¿ by the male lead. But she does not exist as a woman. [¿] Usually, the woman not only holds up the story, but she has no real character, no reality. She is a symbol. She is there without any reason to be there, simply because one must have a woman [¿].(Leone quoted in Frayling 2006 : 129)This critique of women in the American Western seems to imply that the Italian Leone himself tried to depict women differently in his Western movies: either to let them completely out or to provide them with a real character, with a reason to be in the film. Is his way of depicting women then prototypical for the other Italian Westerns Is there maybe even a specific Italian way of representing gender roles in Western movies which is different from that of their American counterparts In general, Western movies have been harshly criticized for their depiction of women. Many authors have argued that the Western in general is a genre that focuses mainly on men and masculinity and leaves only small space with narrow stereotypes for women (see for example Mitchell 1996, Tompkins 1992, French 1997).The research questions are:1) Is there a difference in the gender depiction in Spaghetti Westerns and Hollywood Westerns 2) If there is a difference, what are the reasons for this To answer these questions, different theories of gender in movies are addressed, in order to give an overview of the approaches towards such a topic. Afterwards, the Hollywood and Spaghetti Western in general, as well as the gender depictions in them will be theorized. As a first approach to explain the expected differences, the focus will be on the (visual) cultures of America and Italy. The last point in the theoretical section will deal with the connection between nation and gender because this may well be a crucial variable for the gender depiction in the different Western genres. In the following methodological section, the film analysis that is used to examine movies of the two genres will be explained.BoD - Books on Demand, In de Tarpen 42, 22848 Norderstedt 112 pp. Englisch.

Codice articolo 9783638925211

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Shooting (a) Woman - Comparative Study of Gender Roles in American and Italian Western Movies
• Editore: GRIN Verlag, GRIN Verlag Mär 2008
• Data di pubblicazione: 2008
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 3638925218
• ISBN 13: 9783638925211
• Rilegatura: Taschenbuch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 210 L x 148 A x 9 P (millimetri) 210 millimetri di larghezza per 148 millimetri di altezza per 9 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 174 grammi

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Riassunto

Master's Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Sociology - Media, Art, Music, grade: 1, University of Dalarna, language: English, abstract: Sergio Leone, the well known Italian Western director, once criticized the woman's role in the Hollywood Western as follows: [T]he woman is imposed on the action, as a star, and is generally destined to be 'had' by the male lead. But she does not exist as a woman. [...] Usually, the woman not only holds up the story, but she has no real character, no reality. She is a symbol. She is there without any reason to be there, simply because one must have a woman [...]. (Leone quoted in Frayling 2006 : 129) This critique of women in the American Western seems to imply that the Italian Leone himself tried to depict women differently in his Western movies: either to let them completely out or to provide them with a real character, with a reason to be in the film. Is his way of depicting women then prototypical for the other Italian Westerns? Is there maybe even a specific Italian way of representing gender roles in Western movies which is different from that of their American counterparts? In general, Western movies have been harshly criticized for their depiction of women. Many authors have argued that the Western in general is a genre that focuses mainly on men and masculinity and leaves only small space with narrow stereotypes for women (see for example Mitchell 1996, Tompkins 1992, French 1997). The research questions are: 1) Is there a difference in the gender depiction in Spaghetti Westerns and Hollywood Westerns? 2) If there is a difference, what are the reasons for this? To answer these questions, different theories of gender in movies are addressed, in order to give an overview of the approaches towards such a topic. Afterwards, the Hollywood and Spaghetti Western in general, as well as the gender depictions in them will be theorized. As a first approach to explain the expected differences, the focus will be