A gun of one's own: gender representation in contemporary Westerns

Freijo Escudero, Luis Antonio ORCID: 0000-0003-2618-4779 (2019). A gun of one's own: gender representation in contemporary Westerns. University of Birmingham. M.A.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the construction of gender in post-Unforgiven North American studio and independent Westerns. This gender framework is developed through the concept of gender hegemony (Connell, 1987). Gender hegemony is presented as a critical theory with which to conceive gender relations and it can be split into the concepts of hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1987) and hegemonic femininity (Schippers, 2007). This critical framework is utilised to analyse how contemporary Westerns are going beyond the paradigm of the Western hero as White, male, and heterosexual. Discussing films such as Brokeback Mountain, Django Unchained, and The Keeping Room, and TV series such as Deadwood, Westworld, and Godless, this thesis addresses how different races and sexual identities are being accommodated within the boundaries of the genre, and contends that the growing number of films that portray such characters go beyond an idea of genre revisionism (Szalosky, 2001). The conflation of race, gender, sexual orientation, and genre modifies the boundaries of the Western, converting it into a site for the representation of diversity. The Western is thus queered and decoded so that it can achieve social relevance in the new millennium, and every identity can wield a gun of its own.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.A.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.A.

Supervisor(s):