The Philosophy of the WesternJennifer L. McMahon, B. Steve Csaki Essays about how stories of the Old West reflect—and affect—our beliefs and values. The solitude of the lone rider, the loyalty of his horse, and the unspoken code of the West—for many, Western movies embody America and its values, though the view of the country’s history they present isn’t always accurate. In recent years, scholars had declared the genre dead, but a steady resurgence of western themes in literature, film, and television has reestablished its importance and influence. In The Philosophy of the Western, editors Jennifer L. McMahon and B. Steve Csaki examine philosophical themes in the western genre. Investigating subjects of nature, ethics, identity, gender, environmentalism, and animal rights, the essays in this volume draw from a wide range of westerns including the more recent popular and critical successes Unforgiven, All the Pretty Horses, 3:10 to Yuma, and No Country for Old Men, as well as literature and television serials such as Deadwood. The Philosophy of the Western reveals the powerful role of the western in the American psyche. |
Contents
Deadwood and the State of Nature | |
The Magnificent Seven East and West | |
Back Off to What? The Search for Meaning in The Wild Bunch | |
The Decline of Ethics and the Western | |
McCabe and Mrs Miller | |
Native Americans and the Western | |
The View from | |
Go West Young Woman Hegels Dialectic and Womens | |
McMahon | |
Selected Bibliography | |
The Currency of Clint Eastwoods Westerns | |
Kantian Ethics in High Noon | |
Ethical Consequences in High Noon and | |
List of Contributors | |