Alright. So I hope that I am not stretching too much in this post. When I signed up for this class I realized only a few weeks before class started that all the readings were coming from the old West. So the first thing that came into my mind when thinking of the "wild wild west" is this movie that came out in 1999. It's been years since I watched it, but thank goodness for YouTube.
This is somewhat has a connection to True Grit. The director of the movie, Barry Sonnenfield, used to be a cinematographer for the Cohen Brother, who directed the movie for "True Grit."
The style of this movie is called "steampunk western action comedy." From what I can see, the "steampunk" means that it is set in the 18th century period of industrialized western civilization, but the twist is that everything is powered by futuristic steam-powered machinery.
I guess that this story is a little bit more of your average cowboy story. Will Smith and Kevin Kline are sent west on a hero mission to rescue some important scientists and of course there is a beautiful girl that sometimes gets in the way. New Orleans is their destination, which really isn't what comes to mind when we think of the wild west. But we see the "old culture" in this music video with the girls and the extravagant party, the clothes.
And who doesn't love the sweet sounds of the Fresh Prince and Dru Hill.
This is what the late 90s and Hollywood did to westerns. This movie was a big action blockbuster and at this time in Hollywood, explosions and actions, and Will Smith, sold movies. This isn't exactly a quality example of the old west perception in popular culture. It is just interesting to see how this is so much different from the John Wayne, getting on your horse and making your own adventure story.
I have watched this movie plenty of times with my dad when I was younger. It is not really that great of a movie in my opinion but it does touch upon a new contemporary portrayal of what the wild west was like in general and then how it adapted to a new technologically advanced society. It is a very interesting juxtaposition of what is defined as new and what is old. This can even be related to John Grady having a deep longing for the the past and what the here and now is all about.
ReplyDeleteNice work, Awo. This reminds me that Quentin Tarantino supposedly wanted to cast Will Smith in Django Unchained, but Smith was busy, or maybe wasn't interested in adding such a violent film to his family-friendly brand. [http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/tarantino-says-will-smith-was-first-choice-for-django/295269]
ReplyDeleteI bring this up because Django Unchained is another movie in which the South stands in for the West and western themes (like WWW's New Orleans setting, Django takes place mostly in Tennessee and Mississippi). This seems worth thinking about, since it suggests that the western genre doesn't always *just* have to take place in the American West. Another example would be how Mexico functions in All the Pretty Horses.
When read this post I had a flashback of having seen this movie, I think it might have been of FX or something, but all a can see when I try to remember this movie is Will Smith dressed as a belly dancer to distract Arliss Loveless (the antagonist of the movie). I decided to look this scene up upon being reminded of this movie and I repeat you sentiment thank goodness for YouTube and if you would like to see what I am referring to here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlAKXdrvUKU this scene still makes me laugh. I can’t say I remember much else about the movie, but this type of movie is what people in our generation see as the representations of the west and though we know this is not how it actually was it still has some impact on how we view the west.
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