Iconography & the Western Genre

WJEC GCE AS Film Studies Stuart Grenville-Price FM1 Making Meaning Macro Element – Genre

Iconography

Iconography is a means whereby visual motifs and styles in films can be categorised and analysed. It can refer to the dress code of the characters, or to the setting of the film. These connote not only time and place but they also reflect prevailing social values. Dress codes, for instance, tell us about oppositions and conflict in filmic texts. In gangster film the flashy suits of the gangsters…

contrast and create an opposition to the detective in his sober suit. It can reveal much about the values of the film

Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo

Activity******* Study the two pictures above & overleaf.

What do the producers value in the iconography of the gangster in this picture?

What is therefore suggested by the iconographic representation of Detective Colombo and his car?

Major Codes and Conventions of the Western Setting Location Place and time Characters

Mountains, deserts, plains of the American West, Mexico and Canada, Mining camps Cattle ranches, frontier towns.

1865-1890s. End of the Civil War to the end of the Land rush and the ‘closing of the Frontier’.

Cowboys, homesteaders, sheriffs, marshals, outlaws, US cavalary, native Indian warriors, saloon girls, schoolteacher, temperance league, native American women, adolescent girls, the ‘tart with a heart’

Style elements: Landscape photography, long shots of riders and cattle on the plains visual and aural

Technicolour, widescreen Orchestral music, country and western music songs, harmonicas etc.

Sound effects (sfx) of horses, cattle, wagons etc. the musical style of Ennio Morricone for the ‘spaghetti western’

John Wayne Iconography

Weapons of all sorts: colt 45, Winchester rifle, gatling Gun, bows & arrows, lances etc Dress codes: Stetson, chaps, boots and saddles, spurs, cavalry uniform, contrasting dress for saloon girl and schoolteacher, beads, feathers war bonnets Significant objects: horses, cattle, mining gear, railroads etc.

Clint Eastwood Typical plots

Settlers confront native Indians who are defeated by the cavalry Outlaws terrorise frontier town and are brought to book by a law man Lone gunman saves town or farmers Ill-used hero seeks vengeance on villain

Will Smith Set pieces Themes

Chases, gun fights, bar-room brawls, bank raids, train hold-ups, lynchings, attack on native Indian villages etc.

The ‘taming’ of the wilderness.

The ‘frontier’ and the making of America Bringing ‘civilisation’ and ‘law and order’ The bringing of freedom and equal opportunity in the ‘American dream’ The growth of ownership and corporate values

Activity******* Can you identify the same codes and conventions for a gangster film?

Setting – Location – Place and time – Characters – Style elements – Iconography – Typical plots – Set pieces – Themes –

James Cagney