Iconographic Elements of the
Western Genre
1. setting
a. Modes
of transportation: the stagecoach
itself as an emblem of progress, expansion
b. towns: their presentation, functions,
characteristics
c. Indians
2. the frontier as a meeting of old
and new sets off a resulting series of oppositions
East West
culture nature
past future
community individuality
law practicality
"refinement" "savagery"
3. the hero: his/her acts validate possibilities the
frontier stands for
a. characteristics
and functions: his/her image; relation
to society
b. evolution
of the notion of heroism
4. the law: codes (civil; criminal; moral)
a. representatives
b. values
underlying the law
5. society
a. "types"
in Ford films (as opposed to "stereotypes")
b. social
arenas: what defines them; functions
c. social
rituals and the community: means of
emphasis and significance in Ford's essentially rational view of society