Compare Two Western Films Made at Least Twenty Years Apart on the Basis of the Three of the Five Frameworks Studied in the First Block of the Unit, and the Elements of the Western Genre Studied in the Second Block of the Unit.
Author: Ben Nichols
Student ID: 394990
Course Name: CMM10 Screen History and Research
Assessment 2: Comparative Essay
Description: Compare two Western films made at least twenty years apart on the basis of the three of the five frameworks studied in the first block of the unit, and the elements of the western genre studied in the second block of the unit.
Films selected:
The Great Train Robbery (1903) v True Grit (2010)
Introduction:
When Thomas Edison asked Edwin S.Porter to make The Great Train Robbery (1903) little did either realise that this film would be the beginning of not only the Western genre but an entire movie industry. The silent classic, The Great Train Robbery depicts a famous railroad robbery by a notorious gang while the True Grit (2010) shows us the beauty and savagery of the West through a tale of murder and justice. By analysing these films in the context of technology, industry and audience I aim to shed light on Film history and the Western genre. To compare these two contrasting Western films is an opportunity to look into the history of movie-making and realise how far it has come and what an impact it has made.
The Western Genre:
When Edison films commissioned The Great Train Robbery he was just seeking a vehicle to promote his peep show camera, the Kinetoscope. The commercial success of the film proved the business viability of movie-making but it also gave birth to the most enduring and American genre, the Western. The film portrays the robbery aboard a train by the Hole in the Wall gang. This event had only occurred four years previously, but showed how quickly the frontier of the ‘Wild West’ had been turned into myth and become popular with the people of the civilized Eastern cities. As Buscombe argues, one of the defining characteristics of the Western is the ‘opposition between man’ and ‘the establishment of civilization’ (1986, p.16). People were already enthralled by the lawless and uncivilized West thanks to
Student ID: 394990
Course Name: CMM10 Screen History and Research
Assessment 2: Comparative Essay
Description: Compare two Western films made at least twenty years apart on the basis of the three of the five frameworks studied in the first block of the unit, and the elements of the western genre studied in the second block of the unit.
Films selected:
The Great Train Robbery (1903) v True Grit (2010)
Introduction:
When Thomas Edison asked Edwin S.Porter to make The Great Train Robbery (1903) little did either realise that this film would be the beginning of not only the Western genre but an entire movie industry. The silent classic, The Great Train Robbery depicts a famous railroad robbery by a notorious gang while the True Grit (2010) shows us the beauty and savagery of the West through a tale of murder and justice. By analysing these films in the context of technology, industry and audience I aim to shed light on Film history and the Western genre. To compare these two contrasting Western films is an opportunity to look into the history of movie-making and realise how far it has come and what an impact it has made.
The Western Genre:
When Edison films commissioned The Great Train Robbery he was just seeking a vehicle to promote his peep show camera, the Kinetoscope. The commercial success of the film proved the business viability of movie-making but it also gave birth to the most enduring and American genre, the Western. The film portrays the robbery aboard a train by the Hole in the Wall gang. This event had only occurred four years previously, but showed how quickly the frontier of the ‘Wild West’ had been turned into myth and become popular with the people of the civilized Eastern cities. As Buscombe argues, one of the defining characteristics of the Western is the ‘opposition between man’ and ‘the establishment of civilization’ (1986, p.16). People were already enthralled by the lawless and uncivilized West thanks to