Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor whose accomplishments included the lightbulb and paving the way for motion pictures. Movies provide many functions: (1) escapism and (2) reflection. They can provide escapism from the world’s problems. They also can reflect previous historical events and/or current cultural trends. However, some movies tend to blur the line between fact and fiction. This is prevalent in historical movies, where dramatic interpretation is utilized to invoke specific emotions. Part of a historian’s job is to delineate between the facts and the fiction. For this assignment, you are to utilize skills such as critical thinking and rhetoric. Watch a Western film and make connections to the material presented in the book and course. Visit The 50 Greatest Western Movies Ever Made for good examples of early Hollywood Westerns with strong cultural and political undertones.
Choose one of the topics below to present a slide presentation:
Cultural History in Westerns: Concentrate upon the social, intellectual, gender, race, and artistic aspects or forces in the life of a people or nation.
Include in the presentation: How does the western film you watched, portray the cultural history of the United States in the post-Civil War era?
Political History in Westerns: Films that do not hide their political stance. A few examples of non-Western political films would be “JFK” or “Rambo”.
Include in the presentation: What was happening politically in America when the movie was made? Does the movie reflect some of the same political undertones when the movie was made? How?
The list above are but a few examples of potential films to choose from, but there are many Hollywood Westerns from which you can choose.
Guidelines:
Slide presentation must have 10 slides. Include title and reference slides, but they do not count towards the final count.
The film and other sources are to be referenced and cited in APA 7th edition format.