Superhero movies v.s Western movies
Last semester, I took the course Hollywood and American film. There was a long essay assignment where we could pretty much write about a topic, anything about film. At first I thought I wanted to do an essay that explored the aspects of horror films, and what makes them so intriguing even though we get a negative emotions from them (fear, anxiety, etc...). But then my partner Justin said he was wanting to a paper discussing the similarities and differences of superhero and western films. I did not realize just how similar they are until I started researching it. Below I will copy and paste the conclusion paragraph of my essay just so you can get the gist of where our heads were at. I thought this paper topic was relevant to this week's theme of superheroes.
In conclusion, the Western and Superhero genres can be both compared and contrasted with reasonable arguments. Both genres proved to be extremely popular during their time. They were able to capture audiences through battles between forces and they both included action. Despite all of these similarities, there are obvious elements that draw them apart as well. The location of Westerns were always in the west. Superhero films were often based in busy cities, or even fictional settings. Western films also were limited to the special effects they could use, due to the lack of technology during the 20th century. Superhero films are known for their CGI and effects that enhance their movies. Lastly, the heroes in Westerns are very different from the heroes in Superhero films. They are realistic and easier to connect to the audience since they are human and what they do are things that anyone can do. No human can acquire the powers of the Superheroes in films. Ultimately, whether the Western and Superhero genres are more similar than alike is irrelevant. The important part is to recognize these factors and realize that things can be more related or distant than anyone knew.
Funny enough, I just did a report on this exact topic last year. I found a thing online where Steven Spielberg said that superhero flicks are gonna go the way of the Western and die out. Here's a section from it that holds some particular relevance:
ReplyDeleteSpielberg compared the superhero film’s success to that of the western, stating that “we were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western”. What this shows is a misunderstanding on Spielberg’s part of the difference between the western and the superhero film. On a basic etymological level, a western is about stories primarily set in the Old West. These are films where the setting is a central element of the narrative - with the ranch, saloon, or town itself serving as a character with as much importance as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. So while there are Western character-based films (i.e. Shane, Johnny Guitar), the vast majority are going to be setting-centric. Superhero films differ in that every single one will be character-based. Just based on titles alone, every major comic book superhero film of the last 10 years centers around the protagonist(s), and when the film involves some kind of event, it’s placed as a subtitle (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: Civil War).
A main reason why Westerns grew stale was because there wasn’t an overabundance of source material to draw from. There’s only so many Wyatt Earp memoirs that you can adapt before running out of mainstream Western narratives. It’s only through true experimentation that genres can persist onwards, and the trouble with experimental Westerns is that the setting will still remain the same. A supernatural western like High Plains Drifter is still going to take place in the classic mining town setting. Superhero stories differ in that you can tell any narrative that you desire – any setting imaginable that our heroes can interact in. Just compare the scenery of Hellboy II to that of The Dark Knight, one including a supernatural fantasy-infused Ireland versus a gothic and gritty Gotham City. While one genre is mostly restricted to characters interacted with vastly similar settings, the other is free to have its characters anywhere in the entire galaxy. There’s also the fact that superhero films have over eight decades worth of source material to draw upon for inspiration. From pulp heroes like Doc Savage and Flash Gordon to recent creations like Kick-Ass and Ms. Marvel, studios and filmmakers have a plethora of stories just waiting to be told.