Source: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
American social development has been continually beginning over again on the frontier. This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character. The true point of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the Great West . . .
-Frederick Jackson Turner, “The significance of the frontier in American History,” 1893.
“America is a land of heroes…it is a place where greatness is born, where destinies are forged and where legends come to life. This is the country where children learn names like Wyatt Earp, Davy Crockett, and Annie Oakley. The American nation was carved out of the vast frontier by the toughest, strongest, fiercest, and most determined men and women ever to walk on the face of the Earth. Our ancestors braved the unknown, tamed the wilderness, settled the wild West, lifted millions from poverty, disease and hunger, laid down the railroads and ladies and gentlemen, our ancestors built the most exceptional republic ever to exist in all of human history and we are making it greater than ever before.”
President Donald Trump, State of the union address, february 4, 2020
What kinds of people, virtues, and forms of violence must be normalized for the frontier to function as an American origin story—and how do those norms persist after the frontier is “closed”?
Week 10
Day 1 (4/13): Agrarianism, Conquest, and the Myth of the Frontier
Frederick Jackson Turner, ‘Significance of the Frontier in American History’ (1893)
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West program, 1893
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and the Frontier Thesis (Story Map)
Jessica Machado, “Trump Just Gave Americans a Lesson in White History,” Vox, February 5, 2020.
Discussion Questions [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Day 2 (4/15) – The West in 20th-Century Popular Culture
Reel Injun (Neil Diamond, 2010). [The film was removed from vimeo, but you can stream it on tubi. You might have to enter your age and gender to gain access.]
The Western Film and American Myth (Story Map)
Discussion Questions [1] [2] [3] [4]
Week 11
Day 1 (4/20): Evolution of the Western Film Genre after 1970
Prior to class, you will watch a revisionist Western film produced after 1970. In class, we will gather in small groups to discuss what makes your chosen film distinctive and how it revises conventions of the classic Western genre. See this page for guidance. On Wednesday, each group will share its findings with the rest of the class. Following is a list of possible films, though it would be best if we narrowed down the number of films studied to four or five:
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- “Unforgiven” (1992) – Directed by Clint Eastwood, this modern classic deconstructs the myth of the Old West, portraying aging gunslingers facing the consequences of their violent past.
- “Dances with Wolves” (1990) – Directed by Kevin Costner, this epic Western tells the story of a Union Army lieutenant who befriends a Lakota Sioux tribe during the Civil War era.
- “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (2007) – Directed by Andrew Dominik, this film offers a psychological exploration of the relationship between the infamous outlaw Jesse James and his eventual assassin.
- “No Country for Old Men” (2007) – Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, this modern Western thriller follows the tense cat-and-mouse pursuit between a hunter, a drug deal gone wrong, and the relentless hitman tracking him.
- “True Grit” (2010) – Directed by the Coen Brothers, this remake of the classic Western follows a determined young girl seeking justice for her father’s murder, accompanied by a grizzled U.S. Marshal.
- “Django Unchained” (2012) – Directed by Quentin Tarantino, this violent and subversive Western follows an enslaved man, Django, who teams up with a German bounty hunter to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. The film blends Western tropes with the history of American slavery, challenging genre conventions while maintaining its pulp sensibilities.
- The Revenant (2015) – Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, this is a visually stunning and intense revisionist Western based on the true story of frontiersman Hugh Glass. The film is set in the early 19th century during the expansion of the American frontier.
- Hell or High Water (2016) – Directed by David Mackenzie, this is a modern revisionist Western that combines crime drama elements with the themes and landscapes typically associated with the Western genre. The film takes place in contemporary Texas and reflects on issues such as economic desperation, moral ambiguity, and the persistence of frontier mythology in modern America.
Day 2 (4/22) – Group presentations on Western films
These presentations will be brief and relatively informal. Please be prepared to explain how your film two brief scenes from the film to share with the class.
Week 12
Day 1 (4/27): The End of the Frontier — or Its Return?
Grandin, “Trump Dreams of a New American Empire,” New York Times, Jan. 21, 2025.
