Editing Western (genre) (section)

==Characteristics==

===Stories and characters===
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2023}}<!--NO MORE LINKS, PLEASE, this is becoming a SEA OF BLUE-->

The classic Western is a [[morality drama]], presenting the conflict between [[wilderness]] and [[civilization]].<ref name="oxford" />  Stories commonly center on the life of a male [[Vagrancy|drifter]], [[cowboy]], or [[Gunfighter|gunslinger]] who rides a horse and is armed with a [[revolver]] or [[rifle]]. The male characters typically wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned [[Stetson]] hats,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edgerton |first=Gary R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUbcAAAAQBAJ |title=Westerns: The Essential 'Journal of Popular Film and Television' Collection |date=2013-09-13 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-76508-8 |pages=79 |language=en}}</ref> [[neckerchief]] [[Kerchief|bandanna]]s, [[vest]]s, and [[cowboy boot]]s with [[spur]]s. While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include [[buckskins]] and [[Duster (clothing)|dusters]].

Women are generally cast in secondary roles as [[love interest]]s for the male lead; or in supporting roles as [[Western saloon|saloon]] girls, [[Prostitution|prostitutes]] or as the wives of [[American pioneer|pioneers]] and [[settler]]s. The wife character often provides a measure of [[comic relief]]. Other recurring characters include [[Native Americans of the United States|Native Americans]] of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians,<ref name="Butts 2004">{{cite book |last=Butts |first=Dennis |editor-last=Hunt |editor-first=Peter |title=International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxfordshire |volume=1 |isbn=0-203-32566-4 |pages=340–351 |edition=Second |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1RsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA340 |chapter=Shaping boyhood: British Empire builders and adventurers |quote=By the 1840s, of course, adults were already reading tales of adventure involving Red Indians}}</ref> [[African Americans]], [[Chinese Americans]], [[Spaniards]], [[Mexicans]], [[law enforcement officer]]s, [[bounty hunter]]s, [[Outlaw (stock character)#American Western|outlaws]], [[bartender]]s, [[merchant]]s, [[Gambling|gamblers]], [[soldier]]s (especially mounted [[cavalry]]), and settlers ([[farmer]]s, [[rancher]]s, and townsfolk).

The ambience is usually punctuated with a [[Western music (North America)|Western music]] [[Film score|score]], including [[American folk music]] and [[Music of Spain|Spanish]]/[[Music of Mexico|Mexican]] folk music such as [[Country music|country]], [[Indigenous music of North America|Native American music]], [[New Mexico music]], and [[ranchera]]s.

===Locations===
Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an [[arid]], desolate landscape of [[desert]]s and [[mountain]]s. Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting a "mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West".<ref name="Cowie 2004">{{cite book |last=Cowie |first=Peter |title=John Ford and the American West |publisher=Harry Abrams Inc. |location=New York |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8109-4976-8}}</ref> Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways, wilderness, and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a [[shootout]] or [[Fast draw|quick draw]] duel.<ref name="Agnew">Agnew, Jeremy. December 2, 2014. ''The Creation of the Cowboy Hero: Fiction, Film and Fact'', p. 88, McFarland. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-7839-2}}</ref><ref name="Dope">{{cite web |last=Adams |first=Cecil |title=Did Western gunfighters really face off one-on-one? |url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2514/did-western-gunfighters-really-face-off-one-on-one |publisher=Straight Dope |date=June 25, 2004 |access-date=October 4, 2014 |archive-date=August 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818074443/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2514/did-western-gunfighters-really-face-off-one-on-one/ |url-status=live }} June 25, 2004</ref><ref name="Willy">{{cite web |title=Wild Bill Hickok fights first western showdown |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wild-bill-hickok-fights-first-western-showdown |url-status=dead |publisher=History.com |date=July 21, 2014 |access-date=October 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006135032/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wild-bill-hickok-fights-first-western-showdown |archive-date=October 6, 2014}}</ref>

===Themes===
[[File:Lone ranger silver 1965.JPG|thumb|right|200px|The [[Lone Ranger]], a famous heroic [[wikt:lawman|lawman]], was with a cavalry of six Texas Rangers until they all, except for him, were killed. He preferred to remain anonymous, so he resigned and built a sixth grave that supposedly held his body. He fights on as a lawman, wearing a mask, for "Outlaws live in a world of fear. Fear of the mysterious".]]

The Western genre sometimes portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American, inhabitants of the frontier.<ref name="kimnewman">{{cite book |last=Newman |first=Kim |author-link=Kim Newman |title=Wild West Movies |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=1990}}</ref> The Western depicts a society organized around codes of [[Honour|honor]] and personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal [[revenge]] or [[wikt:retribution|retribution]] against someone who has wronged them (e.g., ''[[True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit]]'' has revenge and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which [[social order]] is maintained predominantly through relatively impersonal institutions such as [[courtroom]]s. The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a seminomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter.<ref name="kimnewman"/>  A showdown or [[Duel#United States|duel]] at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns.{{citation needed|date = December 2024}}

In some ways, such protagonists may be considered the literary descendants of the [[Knight-errant|knights-errant]], who stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the [[King Arthur|Arthurian romances]].<ref name="kimnewman"/> Like the cowboy or gunfighter of the Western, the knight-errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds, and bound to no fixed social structures, but only to his own innate code of honor. Like knights-errant, the heroes of Westerns frequently rescue [[Damsel in distress|damsels in distress]]. Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ''[[ronin]]'' in modern Japanese culture.{{citation needed|date = December 2024}}

The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, although some notable examples (e.g. the later Westerns of John Ford or [[Clint Eastwood]]'s ''[[Unforgiven]]'', about an old [[contract killer]]) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress the harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages, or small frontier towns with a saloon. Oftentimes, these settings appear deserted and without much structure. Apart from the wilderness, the saloon usually emphasizes that this is the [[Wild West]]; it is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often [[Prostitution|prostitutes]]), gambling (draw poker or five-card stud), drinking ([[beer]], [[Whisky|whiskey]], or [[tequila]] if set in Mexico), brawling, and shooting. In some Westerns, where civilization has arrived, the town has a church, a general store, a bank, and a school; in others, where frontier rules still hold sway, it is, as [[Sergio Leone]] said, "where life has no value".{{citation needed|date = December 2024}}

===Plots===
Author and screenwriter [[Frank Gruber]] identified seven basic plots for Westerns:<ref>Gruber, Frank  ''The Pulp Jungle'' Sherbourne Press, 1967</ref>
* Union Pacific story: The plot concerns construction of a railroad, a telegraph line, or some other type of modern technology on the wild frontier. Wagon-train stories fall into this category.
* Ranch story: Ranchers protecting their family ranch from [[Cattle rustling|rustlers]] or large landowners attempting to force out the proper owners.
* Empire story: The plot involves building a ranch empire or an oil empire from scratch, a classic rags-to-riches plot, often involving conflict over resources such as water or minerals.
* Revenge story: The plot often involves an elaborate chase and pursuit by a wronged individual, but it may also include elements of the classic mystery story.
* Cavalry and Indian story: The plot revolves around taming the wilderness for White settlers or fighting Native Americans.
* Outlaw story: The outlaw gangs dominate the action.
* Marshal story: The lawman and his challenges drive the plot.

Gruber noted that good writers use dialog and plot development to expand these basic plots into believable stories.