Westerns

Growing up I never cared much for westerns. To me they portrayed a terrible time in American history where the "heroes" often abused women and minorities. I was sure that the whole lot of them were rotten until I saw True Grit.

My favorite character in True Grit would have to be our protagonist, Mattie Ross. I feel like if I were in her situation I would do exactly the same as her. I wouldn't let two men that I hired tell me I couldn't tag along if I wanted to. I won't let a man give me a bad deal on a trade because he thought I wouldn't know any better. I would fight for what I believed in, and deal with the risks to get what I wanted in the end.

The American mythology imposed by Western films, glorified drinking, womanizing, and protecting your town. There was always a bad guy that would come into a city. They would begin causing trouble, robbing banks, raping women, being terrible people. Then comes in a man on a horse known for shooting bad guys. He always was a little rough around the edges, devilishly handsome, and faithful to the woman he loved.

Westerns told us that when things went bad, the only way to settle things was a shoot off. Everyone in the town would crowd around these two gunslingers and watch to see who had the fastest draw, because what else were they going to do? Other than shootouts the other crowd gathering celebrations involved hanging people, dancing, and bar fights.