WHY DOESNT MODERN AUDIENCES WATCH WESTERNS? IS IT BECAUSE THINGS ARE NO LONGER SEEN IN “BLACK AND WHITE”? IS THE GOOD GUY VERUS THE BAD GUY A CLICHE?MAYBE AUDIENCES HAVE LOST THIER APPREICIATION FOR THE “RUGGED INDIVIDUAL” OR THE LONER WHO PLAYS BY HIS OWN RULES,IN THIS MODERN SOCIETY WHERE WE ARE EXPECTED TO ASK PERMISSION FROM OTHERS TO GO TO WAR.MAYBE WE ARE JUST TO FAR REMOVED FROM THAT TIME? I JUST WONDER HOW A GENRE THAT WAS ONCE SO POPULAR COULD DIE SO QUICKLY.ANY THOUGHTS?
its not dying out. there are westerns coming again: deadwood, bandidas etc…
That’s almost always a cliché I think. But I don’t believe that’s the problem. Many movies are about good versus bad, right versus wrong etc. It’s just the form that varies. And all westerns aren’t about good/bad.
I hope and think that the western form will return big time. It has never died, much like punkrock ;D.
I think one of the reasons for the western genre being so “gone” after the 70s is just that there were so fucking many. all stories have been told a thousand times, the genre was just over-saturated, especially the spaghetti western, which in the end parodied itself even.
only in the recent times have directors begun to revive the genre. Kevin Costner did a great job at telling “new” western stories in a more authentic way. and there have been numerous attempts at bringing western back for entertainment (deadwood, bandidas…)
and Enzo Castellari is actually planning a western to be shot in mexico !
I agree with Sebastian, the reason the genre faded out was simply burn out. Look at the history of the western. From the time movies began in the early 1900’s thru the 1970’s, the western was the dominant movie genre. Hundreds of films, big budget and “B” movies and dozens of TV shows, at one point in the '50’s there were 30 western TV shows on American television at the same time. There have been comedy westerns (Blazing Saddles, Support Your Local Gunfighter) Sci-Fi westerns (The Wild Wild West,Brisco County Jr.) and of course foriegn made westerns ( our wonderful spaghetti westerns). People simply got tired of them. Another reason (I believe at least) was the coming of “Star Wars”. When the original film was realesed in "77 all of a sudden kids, who for generations wanted six shooters and cowboy hats now wanted light sabers and blasters. After “Star Wars” came a revivial Of “Star Trek” and movies like “Close Encounters”, hell, even 007 went to outer space in “Moonraker”, so now the old frontier became -to quote Captain Kirk- the final frontier, and the western faded. In recent years I’ve noticed that the western is poised on the brink of a comeback. Comic Books, computer games, novels even web sites like this one are proving the old horse still has some life. All we need now is a GOOD movie to start the ball rolling again. I know Brad Pitt is making a “Jesse James” movie and the gorgeous Salma Hayek is making “Bandidas”. Keep your fingers crossed and hope these are good movies and they make money, because if they do, the western will ride again!
good point
Yeah factual western deseapper as mass production but never completly
and there is many hidden western like MadMax2
or Firefly - a space western
One of the main reasons is blazzing saddles.People wouldn’t take westerns seriously and the western stopped making money.