Gun.Smoke Western Videogame

I found this interesting Western video game called Gun.Smoke created the year of 1985. I used to play this shooting arcade video game with my brother when I was little, and to be honest I had no idea that this video game was a Western genre, and it is impressive to know this now as I find it very interesting. In this game the character to play as, is a considered a cowboy and while on the game it uses a horse as well, so they technically play together as a team. The game consists to this cowboy as it appears that he takes the law into his own hands against the bad guys. The game contains a three-way shooting system, which sometimes it might limit the player’s control, but it is enough to get the bad guys and also the horse is a great help as it protects the player for at least three shots in a row.

Now that I kind of understand the game better, the cowboy is a symbol of the idealized man, the hero that seeks to get off the bad guys and see a better world. As I mentioned above, the primary character of the video game is a cowboy who tries to kill the bad guys and seeks to bring order to the uncivilized place. In addition, his figure of a cowboy is complete as the horse is always with him and is trying to help him to achieve his goals, to take down the bad guys and to win the game. Comparing it to the actual definition of a cowboy on a western genre means that this cowboy is trying to do something good for the world and also take action into his own hands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx0GnNPK0nE

Modern Cowboy/Western

The archetype of the cowboy and the western plays out in unconventional ways in many modern books, films, and television shows. A good example that casts to cowboy as both a good guy and an outlaw is Breaking Bad. The show ran 5 seasons from 2008 to 2013 and tells the story of a man who is desperate to make sure his family is taken care of after he is gone. Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher, husband, and father to a teenage son with cerebral palsy and a newborn daughter when he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He discovers his health insurance will not cover treatment and embarks on a misguided trek to treat his illness and provide for his family's future by amassing wealth quicky, using a skill he has taught for years: Chemistry. With the help of a former student, Jesse Pinkman, and insider knowledge from his brother-in-law (a DEA agent), he evades the authorities and becomes the kingpin of crystal meth. It's a story of good vs evil and challenges the viewer's morality.

Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico this series is sometimes coined a neo-western. The series has 2 distinctly different settings. There is the wild west which is represented by several desert scenes: cooking in the RV and meetings with dangerous characters. The show also largely takes place inside of civilization in the city. This series has 2 distinctly different cowboys. Walter is an unconventional cowboy. He is both the hero and the anti-hero. An almost invisible man, in the beginning, transforms into a powerful figure, a family man that is also an outlaw. In contrast, you also see him transform and age, becoming more fragile and frail as his cancer progresses. The other cowboy character in the series is Hank Schrader. Hank is a man's man, a devoted, albeit brash, husband; the hero special agent who is cleaning up Albequerque by getting the meth off the streets.

There are numerous ways to connect this series back to the video. Lance talks about the mythos of the cowboy. Both Walt and Hank display "the cultural values of what it means to be a man." Aspects of them are both idealized. Walt and hank both have an insatiable desire to provide for and protect their families. They are both men who bring order: Hank as a law enforcement agent and Walt in his quest to get rid of the "bad guys", the murderous thugs that control the meth market and sell an inferior product. They both have many of the attributes of the cowboy: white, male, masculine, self-reliant, and both dealing with foreign threats: Hank within his dangerous role as a special DEA agent, and Walt in his rise to kingpin, defeating the dealers and powerful organizations in the drug world. Breaking Bad fits the genre of a western in numerous ways. They face external threats in the form of gangs and drug lords from Mexico. Walt also "stakes new territory" several times throughout the series, defeating and removing obstacles in his way. A powerful connection from the video is a bit that describes an attribute of a western is "civilizations ways are not useful or relevant." Walt feels as though the way things are supposed to work has failed him and his family. He's been the good man but the only way to survive is to "break bad."

Link, the Cowboy

In the Legend of Zelda series, the player acts through a character known as Link- the mute protagonist with an affinity for smashing jars. In the most recent installment for the Nintendo Switch, Breath of the Wild, Link wakes up in an unknown "frontier" that is overrun by evil.

The region that he wakes up in is known as The Great Plateau, where he meets a mysterious man who explains that he's been in stasis for 100 years, however Link has no memory of his purpose, and now he has to form a new identity, starting in the Great Plateau. This is fairly reminiscent of cowboys fleeing where they're from to forget their past, and start anew. The Great Plateau might as well be the Wild West. This is the first game in the series to be Open World- that is, a game where the player can decide when they wish the story to progress, and can explore the different regions/frontiers. In this game, Link has to acquire resources, clear out enemies to make things safer for the people that still live in Hyrule, and he even gets weapons and can ride a horse. Cowboys are known to bring order to a lawless land, which in his absence, Hyrule has become. The enemies may as well be the same "foreign invaders" that cowboys defend against, as well as the corruption- Calamity Ganon- that has taken the castle, and left Hyrule with no true leaders which . Civilization as Link knew before he went into stasis has been erased, and all that's left is small towns and groups that are incredibly spaced out and affected differently by what is going on, which is representative of the towns on the frontier. Link has to move through the frontiers and bring order and law back, has weapons and resources that he collects through his journey, and protects against external and internal threats to the land- Link is an elven cowboy!

Robin Hood, a Cowboy?

Robin Hood

Robin Fitzooth otherwise known as Robin Hood was on a personal quest to bring justice to a corrupt Nottingham and Prince John along with his crooked sidekick the sheriff. All very cowboy like behaviors right?
Eventually Hood left Nottingham and moved into near by Sherwood Forest to conceive a plan to right the wrongs of Nottingham.  Hood was an excellent archer and a would get justice for the murder of his father and the mismanaged authority.  The story and character of Hood is good verses evil and as in many other tales good prevails.  Hood was not a typical iconic looking  "Cowboy" wearing a wide brimmed hat with a gun, and stirrups.  Was he a cowboy wearing tights?  A spoof was made of this tale in later years; Robin Hood: Men in Tights, a must see clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59JnM4JKNQ , does this make him less manly?   In fact the only similarity between a "Western Cowboy" would be getting around on a horse.  Hood in the story carried out the same duties associated with "Cowboy".   As in any good story after good triumphs over evil, the hero gets the girl.  This tale is no different, ending with Hood and Lady Marian

The marriage of Lady Marian and Sir Robin Hood

This tale is no different, ending with Hood and Lady Marian living happily every after.

The Story of Robin Hood 

https://youtu.be/u99fcv16-7U
Image of Robin Hood
 https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4PuJ86NyqfpwrFRM4WSblAZZR8i6AzJcW1AAMzzPWH5zTRhicGA
Image of Hood and Lady Marian
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSsCWtVffgOHaQ-4NcFFnnI9YYmCV_RQBic7hXtbRYb2MBp7Snp1g
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59JnM4JKNQ

Frank Castle, Cowboy.

Netflix’s The Punisher series is based off of Marvel comic character Frank Castle, who is an anti-hero who is seeking revenge with whoever was responsible for his family’s murder. For the sake being of this blog post, I will be specifically referring to the Frank Castle which is depicted in the Netflix series, not the comic version of him. I believe the series parallels that of the Western genre.

Frank Castle (i.e. the Punisher) is a cowboy. He embodies that of a hyper-ideal image of masculinity in the Western sense. He is, as the cowboy criteria within the “Cowboy and Western in Popular Culture” video describe, white, male, masculine, and self-sufficient. For physical attributes, the Punisher has a very deep voice, almost to the point where it sounds a bit hoaky. He’s brooding and muscular, miserable within his introspection as he becomes a brick wall without emotion (the peak of toxic masculinity entering around the fact that processing grief and emotion in a healthy manner would be a sign of weakness). As for the Westernization, Frank Castle may not have nationalism in the sense that he feels as if he has been failed by his country, but before the tragedy in his life, he was a proud marine. So, in this sense he would make more of a Jesse James (Jesse James: The Outlaw) than a Jace Pearson (Tale of the Texas Rangers Radio Program). He’s the lone wolf trope who works alone because he feels as if danger is around him so often that he wouldn’t want to bring anyone else down with him. He is, then, surrounded by danger in that it is him versus common criminals, corrupted authority figures within law enforcement, or super villains (within the Marvel universe, of course).

Frank Castle’s character mirrors many famous tropes of Westerns. He has a code-of-honor so to speak, in that he does not kill women or children. How admirable. It is a little wishy-washy in the sense, but within masculinity, there is that obligated sense of responsibility to protect women and children, or, those who are weak (We’ll save the feminist argument against this tired ideology of viewing women as fragile flowers for another time). But, he does embody the romantic notion of fighting for a cause, and to defend the damsel in distress, and take her away from the uncivilized danger in which she finds herself in and take her to a utopian place where they can live quietly. Probably on a ranch or something.

Although Castle is not equipped with a horse or cowboy hat, these icons are swapped for a bullet-proof vest with a skull spray painted onto it, and any car that can easily be hijacked.

He roams the country due to being an outlaw, thus moving through the new frontiers of America, and once he “rides into town,” he takes justice from both internal and external threats into his own hands. There is no shortage of gun violence, however. There are even a few scenes in which the Punisher finds himself in a duel.

Image Sources:

https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/marvel/278737/the-punisher-season-2-complete-marvel-universe-easter-eggs-and-reference-guide

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/frank-castle-fully-unchains-the-punisher-in-latest-trailer-for-season-2

Indiana Jones the Cowboy

The typical Western movie takes place in the Wild West, has a cowboy that saves the day, and usually includes and intense standoff at the end of the film. These cowboy movies are not made as much as they once were, but there are still many movies that follow the same movie of a typical western. One of these movies is Raiders of the Lost Ark with the character of Indiana Jones. The 1981 classic stars Harrison Ford as archeologist Indiana Jones who goes on an adventure against the Nazis to find the Ark of the Covenant. The movie is not a western and Indiana Jones is not a cowboy, but many of the themes and characteristics line up. One similarity is the idealized man and romance with the attractive woman. Young Harrison Ford can be described as what women want and what men want to be like and he is paired up with an attractive female counter part in the film. Early on in the movie she is kidnapped by the notorious Nazis and throughout a good chunk of the film he is attempting to rescue her. This lines up right with a cowboy in a Western because the cowboy is usually a young, good looking actor like Clint Eastwood who is trying to save a pretty girl from the clutches of evil. Another parallel is that he is trying to restore justice and manages to escape many dire situations. In the movie the Nazis want to use the Ark for personal gain, but Indiana wants to see it preserved and be kept safe in a museum. During his journey to see this happen he is often trapped in what appears to be the end of his voyage, but somehow he always manages to escape in miraculous fashion. This is the same in cowboy movies as the cowboy always prevails when it looks like the end and also always is trying to do the right thing. The most obvious example of the typical cowboy and Harrison Ford's character lining up is the physical appearance. Just like the typical cowboy he is white, masculine, self efficient, and even shares the common grizzled beard. To go along with these traits Indiana is also an American who is fighting foreign threats like Nazis and Egyptian natives much like a cowboy who often fights foreigners like Native Americans. The last similarity that I'll discuss is the shared adventure aspect. The cowboy is always on a wild thrill ride that brings him all over the place. Indiana Jones is on a constant adventure in this film, he is in many different countries, and always finds trouble fighting on villains. I can not think of a movie in recent history that is more closely related to a cowboy in a western than Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Cowboy & The Western

In The Titanic, Jack Dawson could be considered somewhat of a cowboy figure. He is a poor artist who travels the world and avoids order. He wins tickets onto the ship where he meets his love interest, Rose. The Titanic hits an iceberg and begins to sink. Dawson takes action and tries to save Rose and himself.

Jack Dawson is the first person that came to my mind when thinking about non-traditional cowboys not based in the wild west. He is a character who is handsome, strong, and who leads his group. He is masculine, self-sufficient, and, as most cowboys are, he's a white male. Dawson fits both types of cowboys described in the video. He is an explorer, exploring as many parts of the world as possible. He is also a wanderer for similar reasons. He was an orphan and he continues to travel, not having much of a home.

The type of Western described in The Titanic would be that it has an internal threat. The internal threat is unconventional because it is not a person. The internal threat is the iceberg that causes the ship to start sinking. What makes Jack a cowboy here is when the iceberg hits, he takes action. He does everything to save Rose until his dying breath.

Sheriff Woody... the well-known cowboy Who stars in Disney's Toy Story sequences 1-3. Woody, he is a cowboy doll and favored most by his owner, Andy. Woody is a cowboy in many different ways that it cannot be denied. You can tell by woody appearance that he is a cowboy. He wears brown cowboy boots and a flannel with a cow printed vest, is it possible to be anymore “cowboy” like? Not to mention his famous phrases like "you're my favorite deputy "and "there's a snake in my boot!"

 It was said in the video that cowboys are adventure seekers and explorers. Sheriff Woody is most certainly a cowboy, considering these are the few traits Cowboys carry. Sheriff Woody is also white and a male, these are the "attributes of a cowboy" as stated in the video. Cowboys do not have to take place in the past, nor do they have to take place in the west. The setting of this movie does not take place in the West... nor does it take place in the past, but rather inside a modern-day toddler’s bedroom.

Justice Ain't Gonna Dispense Itself

As much as I really wanted to talk this week about John Marston from "Red Dead Redemption" he is actually an extremely typical Western cowboy character existing in a very classic rendition of the Old West atmosphere. So instead, I'll switch gears to another cowboy heartthrob who's just one of many varied characters in a video game I'm obsessed with lately:

Jesse McCree from Overwatch

Three guesses what the belt buckle stands for! (source)

Since in my discussion post I argued that it would be completely plausible for an Old West cowboy to be able to live in today's world, I'll further my point by using McCree as an example that's already in practice.

For those who haven't heard of Overwatch, the timeframe of the game takes place about 60 years from now, during which time the heroes (playable characters) are called back to their initial positions in a United Nations-style task force called "Overwatch" which was created in order to fight against the Omnic resistance - the Omnics being sentient robots who are fighting for their own rights. It turns into a pretty ugly war between the Omnics and the Overwatch force, taking many casualties and ruining many cities around the globe.

Jesse McCree gets involved in Overwatch only after the gang he belongs to - the Deadlock Gang - is infiltrated in a sting operation by Overwatch commander Gabriel Reyes (Later, Reyes becomes Reaper). The Deadlock Gang had long been holding the American Southwest captive to its illegal activities for decades and they mostly dealt in arms and munitions. On one of the game maps (called Route 66), the gang has blown up a bridge in order to obtain a nuclear warhead from a military cargo train passing overhead.

Route 66 map on Overwatch, note blown up bridge over the canyon. (source)

After most of the Deadlock Gang is captured, including McCree, he (much like John Marston) decided that he had enough of that life and wanted to atone for his wrongdoing by fighting for noble reasons and justice. Overwatch's leaders, Reyes specifically, wanted to recruit him to their cause and McCree accepted, though he later went into hiding when infighting between Overwatch members began its downfall. I'd also like to mention the fact that he'd lost part of his arm and had a robotic one to replace it, this sort of thing being the norm in this future era since a lot of the characters have robotic appendages or systems to use to their advantage.

John Marston from Red Dead Redemption (source)

The similarities even between McCree and other cowboys are not to be ignored either, since his "Deadeye" ability is the exact same that Marston uses in "Red Dead" and they look very similar to each other. McCree also has notable voice lines that are direct references to other Western movies and characters, for instance: "I'm the quick... you're the dead," he says at random in the game lobby (The Quick and the Dead), or, "I'm not good, not bad, but I sure as hell ain't ugly." (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly). He also has several different "skins" or outfits in the game that hearken back to other classic Old West characters.

Here you can see what McCree sees during "Deadeye," also notice his robotic hand. (source)

So, here we have McCree, who in the year (est) 2045 or so is running around the Southwest with a gang of bandits, dressed in chaps, spurs, and a ten gallon hat, with his signature weapon being a six shooter known as the Peacekeeper. His "ultimate" attack ability is called "Deadeye" and when activated he shouts a classic throwback to many a standoff: "It's High Noon" and then yells "DRAW!" while simultaneously shooting any of the enemies he's locked on to. A tumbleweed appears behind him and gently rolls across the ground nearby. Yet it all takes place 60 years from now and no other characters think that he's odd or out of place. It's still very normal for the southwestern United States to look and operate much like it did in the 1800's with some modern upgrades alongside.

Western Themes in Mad Max: Fury Road

The first film with a western narrative that came mind was one of the best, in my opinion, to come out last year, Mad Max: Fury Road. Set in a post apocalyptic world, Mad Max tells the story of Max, an outsider and loner, as well as a group of very strong women, who escape captivity from an evil leader of a corrupt society and his "war boys". The movie then becomes an extended chase scene (with amazing cinematography). Underlying this action is the group’s desire to free this society and give back control of its resources, most importantly water, to its people. 

I think this movie has many western themes and motifs. Replacing the American frontier is a post apocalyptic world. Its desolate landscape conjures up images of the American southwest. Water is scarce and there’s a battle for control of limited resources. This, I think mirrors the cowboy in the American west securing its resources and land. Through this battle Max and the women attempt to bring order to the constant chaos of an uncivilized place. He and the society he finds himself in are under threat from corrupt and hostile forces. Max’s character has all the elements of a cowboy. He’s white, self-reliant, strong, stoic and very independent. He’s also at heart a moral character. At one point he wants to set out into the landscape on his own. In the end, however, he decides to protect those in danger and accompany the group of women in order to follow through with their plan to bring order to what’s left of society. As Jennifer Moskowitz point’s out in The Cultural Myth of the Cowboy, or, How the West Was Won the myth of the cowboy began as a need to pull together a fractured nation. The world in which Mad Max takes place is also fractured and chaotic. Its in need of a figure around which a community can coalesce. One of those figures is Max.

http://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/spring_2006/moskowitz.htm

http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2015/06/19/the-road-western-the-mad-max-series-and-its-latest-installment-fury-road/

Photo: http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/bs0a2p6jyovlotmmwlre.jpg

Module 3 Example: The Cowboy of Mars

PROMPT
Explore and discuss a cowboy or Western motif in a narrative (film, TV series, novel, comic, video game, etc) that isn't a straightforward cowboy or Western.  In your post, you should

• Briefly explain the narrative (1-2 sentences).
• Discuss how a character is a cowboy and/or how the narrative fits the Western genre.
• Identify specific aspects of the narrative that connect with the ideas in the video on The Cowboy and the Western in Popular Culture.

Relevant Tags:  Cowboys, western, 

Example:  The Cowboy of Mars

As I mentioned in the video, cowboys and westerns do not have to take place in the West or in the past.  They can take place in the future and The Martian is a good example of that.  In this movie (adapted from a novel), the main character, Mark Watney finds himself unexpectedly stranded on Mars when his crew takes off without him.  Stuck in a hostile environment with very little food and shelter, he must find ingenious ways to survive long enough for a rescue team to capture him.  




Initially, you might not think Watney (played by Matt Damon) to be your typical cowboy.  After all, he is not saving townfolk and he is not fighting "bad guys." However, let's look at some of the things that character does.  First, he is existing in a place where life (for humans) is still being worked out and Mars is largely a hostile world--he cannot survive without his spacesuit.  Add to this the many long shots of sand and rocks and it feels very much like "the west" but with a red tinge.  As for Wattney, he is white, male, and certainly masculine (in earlier parts of the film, we see a very buffed Damon--mostly to contrast with the second half of the film, but it's made clear--he's quite strong and a very capable man).  Now in the film, he doesn't deal with foreign threats per se, but as the botanist, he is the only person among the crew that could make life or sustain life in the long run, so in that capacity, he is there to tame and bring order to the planet.  Though he is ultimately in need of rescue, he needs to be the fully idealized man to survive on the planet long enough to hitch a ride from his cremates and his ability to survive against the hostile Mars renders him a cowboy.