The Creation of the Cowboy Hero: Fiction, Film and Fact

The Creation of the Cowboy Hero: Fiction, Film and Fact
ISBN-10
078647839X
ISBN-13
9780786478392
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
234
Language
English
Published
2014-12-31
Publisher
McFarland
Author
Jeremy Agnew

Description

As business interests have commercialized the American West and publishers and studios have created a compelling image of the West, the expectations of readers and moviegoers have influenced public perception of the cowboy as a hero figure. This book describes the evolution of the Western cowboy hero as a mythic persona created and propagated by dime novels, television and Hollywood. Because much of our concept of the cowboy comes to us from movies, the book's main focus is his changing image in cinema. The development of the cowboy's hero image and his place in the fictional West is traced from early novels and films to the present. His image has definitely evolved along with shifting audience expectations and economic pressures.

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