Brokeback Mountain and No Country for Old Men: the Contemporary Western Landscape
Emily L. Estes
MAR 465
Final Paper
6 December 2012
Over the past decade, several contemporary Westerns have emerged, presenting a new take on the iconic American Southwest. Some, rather than reinforcing the late 19th century image of fearless cowboys and manifest destiny, have elected to show a grimmer, more realistic depiction of life on the frontier. That is, the west during the second half of the 20th century. This west lacks the promise and freedom of the earlier west; it displays a world that has been the subject of societal exploitation and the enemy of time and weather. It is a world in which the lines between civilization and the frontier have been blurred and thus the faults of each have crept to either side. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men encapsulates this deteriorated ideal: It “unfolds against one of America’s most visceral and mythologized landscapes”, only to reveal in its 1980s Texas setting a countryside that has become rampant with evil and destruction and a cityscape that is in no way different or more safe (Cinema Review). Society has inserted itself into the Western landscape, distorted and adopted its affinity for gun-slinging and lawlessness, and sequentially assimilated itself back within the scope of “civilization”. The result is a terrifyingly violent arena in which no one can be trusted and nothing is certain. Alternatively, in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, the 1960s-1980s Wyoming and Texas setting shows a division between society and wilderness that has not yet wholly crumbled but is beginning to fall apart at the seams. In some remote areas the frontier remains pure and untarnished by civilization; however, the promise of these areas is fleeting and quickly replaced by the harsh reality of the outer modern world. Within these landscapes, the central characters of Brokeback Mountain and No Country for Old Men are trying to preserve both historical and personal pasts while simultaneously coping with the truth of the present;
MAR 465
Final Paper
6 December 2012
Over the past decade, several contemporary Westerns have emerged, presenting a new take on the iconic American Southwest. Some, rather than reinforcing the late 19th century image of fearless cowboys and manifest destiny, have elected to show a grimmer, more realistic depiction of life on the frontier. That is, the west during the second half of the 20th century. This west lacks the promise and freedom of the earlier west; it displays a world that has been the subject of societal exploitation and the enemy of time and weather. It is a world in which the lines between civilization and the frontier have been blurred and thus the faults of each have crept to either side. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men encapsulates this deteriorated ideal: It “unfolds against one of America’s most visceral and mythologized landscapes”, only to reveal in its 1980s Texas setting a countryside that has become rampant with evil and destruction and a cityscape that is in no way different or more safe (Cinema Review). Society has inserted itself into the Western landscape, distorted and adopted its affinity for gun-slinging and lawlessness, and sequentially assimilated itself back within the scope of “civilization”. The result is a terrifyingly violent arena in which no one can be trusted and nothing is certain. Alternatively, in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, the 1960s-1980s Wyoming and Texas setting shows a division between society and wilderness that has not yet wholly crumbled but is beginning to fall apart at the seams. In some remote areas the frontier remains pure and untarnished by civilization; however, the promise of these areas is fleeting and quickly replaced by the harsh reality of the outer modern world. Within these landscapes, the central characters of Brokeback Mountain and No Country for Old Men are trying to preserve both historical and personal pasts while simultaneously coping with the truth of the present;
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