Women In Westerns Women in Westerns Womens roles in western movies are very diversified. Although the roles are very different from each other, they are very stereotypical. Almost all women characters in western movies play one of the following: a mother, school teacher, prostitute, or an outlaw. Through comparing three western movies, all ranging in different eras from 1932 to 1994, it is clearly shown that whether its the loving mother or town prostitute, women characters often play a minor part compared to the men, yet they are very important to the whole development of the film. Jean Aurther plays a very loving mother and wife in the 1952 film Shane.
The opening scene perfectly depicts the stereotypical mother. She stands near a window washing dishes. She is watching her son play outside. A strange man rides up on his horse and begins to talk to the little boy. The woman peers out the window at the hansom mysterious man. As he catches her looking at him she quickly hides her face as if not to be seen.
Her husband then comes out to talk to the stranger. The window and her face is always seen in the background as the two men talk but she often hides from the view of the window. Finally she comes outside and stands next to her husband without speaking as her husband introduces the little woman to the stranger. This opening scene depicts the woman as inferior to her husband. She is doing housework in the background and is not heard.
She does not speak except for the polite invitation for dinner to the stranger. She then silently leaves the scene to go inside to finish up fixing the dinner. Jean Aurthers character as the typical wife tends to all of the household duties including all of the cooking and cleaning and takes care of the garden. She is always looking after the little boy making sure that he is not getting into any trouble. During the dinner scene the wife does all of the serving at the table.
She sits down as the men eat but does not eat dinner herself and does not speak unless a question is asked by her husband. She serves the dessert and clean up afterward. The other women in this film are represented in the same manner. In the town store, women and girls are folding clothing silently as they watch what goes on around them. As a fight breaks out in the saloon that is joined to the store, the women run out and hide for their safety.
Men joke around with each other as they complain about their wives taking too long to get ready to go to town. They then admit that its worth the wait because they are so beautiful. Women in this movie are depicted as very worrisome. They discourage their husbands from fighting in a begging manner that is over dramatized. They just want everyone to get along and stay away from gruesome fights that might lead to shooting.
They act the same way towards their children as they are always worried about them staying out of trouble and getting to bed at an decent time. They are good mothers and wives yet that is all they are depicted as. The women in the movie Shane are flat characters and we only see one side of them thus giving the stereotypical view that women are only valuable for the services they provide for the family. In The Shootist, released in 1976 only has three women characters in the whole film. Two are very minor characters and one is a main character.
Although two are minor, each woman depicts a very different role. There is the pure, the evil, and the hardworking. The leading lady is also a wife and a mother but she is very different from Jean Aurthurs character in Shane. Mrs. Rogers played by Lauren Bacall is a widowed mother of a teenager who runs a hotel service from her home. Bacalls character is a very stern and orderly woman and is very meticulous about running the hotel efficiently. Mrs.
Rogers puts up a very tough front perhaps due to the trauma of losing her husband only one year prior. She politely invites a stranger to stay in her home, not knowing that he is a famous gunslinger dying of cancer, yet lays down the rules immediately. She has no problem telling anyone her opinion whether it is a man or a woman. When Mrs. Rogers finds out that the man is actually the well known gunman J.B.Books, she is very angry. She didnt want that kind of presence staying in her home and she is mad that he lied to her about his identity. She, without hesitation, proclaims her disapproval to Books.
He then reveals to her that he is dying. Mrs. Rogers feels sympathy for Books and tells him she has no intentions of throwing him out, yet she still put up an angry front. The presence of the Shootist drives out the other lodgers. This angers Mrs.
Rogers but she feels she cant abandon Books in this time of need. She tends to his meals and cleans his clothes and does favors if he asks, but all along she openly voices her distaste to Books about his life style and his actions. There is a connection that happens, perhaps a mutual attraction between the two but Mrs. Rogers worries about what others might think of her. She even breaks into tears in front of her son about Books cancer, but she would never let the shootist see her cry.
She never lets her guard down. Mrs. Rogers tends to Books needs up until the day he died but still did not approve of him. Mrs. Rogers is a very strong character who although still takes care of a mans needs, is very opinionated abo …