English 300: The Western
Midterm Exam Study Sheet
In studying for the midterm, be sure that you know the authors of the literary works we have read and the directors and release dates of the films. READ THE ASSIGNED READINGS. The quiz you took last week did not indicate that you had completed all assigned readings. The exam will include fill-in-the blank questions about terminology, names, and dates; identifications of characters, situations, and objects/motifs from the films and literary works; two or three short essays based on questions similar to those listed below; and a technical and thematic reading of a film clip.
Terminology from Film Art and class discussion for which you are responsible:
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mise-en-scene and its elements
cinematography
continuity editing
prop
motif
three-point lighting
low-key lighting
high-key lighting
key light
fill light
back light
chiaroscuro
cast shadows
attached shadows
deep space
shallow space
deep/shallow focus
racking focus
short-focal length (wide-angle lens)
middle-focal length (normal lens)
long-focal length (telephoto lens)
planes of the image
superimposition
matte shot
aspect ratio
pan
tracking/dolly shot
crane shot
tilt
high-angle shot
low-angle shot
straight-on angle
Master shot
close-up
medium shot
American shot
long shot
establishing shot
eyeline match
shot/reverse shot
on-screen space
off-screen space
point-of-view shot
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Literary terms
focal character: a character in a film or literary work whose range of knowledge is closely followed by the narrator; a character through whom perceptions are filtered in film or a literary work
range of knowledge: Do we know more or less than the character knows? If we know more, our range of knowledge is “wider” than the character’s; if we know less, our range of knowledge is narrower. Some characters have a wider range of knowledge than others.
metaphor: The representation of one thing by another related or similar thing. A metaphor is a trope, or figure of speech, that expresses a relationship of resemblance between two things.
metonymy: Like metaphor, metonymy is a figure of speech based on substitution, a trope. Whereas in metaphors two things are related by resemblance, (my love literally resembles a fire, for example, because both burn), in metonymy the two terms are related through (sometimes arbitrary) association or proximity. Objects in films and literature often have both metonymical and metaphorical meanings at the same time.
ideology: A set of ideas or a system of thought, often at least partially unconscious, by which we judge the world. This set of ideas, shared by a social group, are often taken for granted as natural or inherently true.
point of view: The vantage point or stance from which a story is told; the eye and mind through which the action is perceived and filtered. There are two general narrative points of view, first person and third person, which depend on whether the narrator stands within the story or outside it. The most common third person narrative perspective is called the omniscient point of view. An omniscient point of view allows the narrator to read the thoughts of the characters. In limited or restricted omniscience, only certain thoughts, or the thoughts of certain characters, may be available to the narrator.
Essay Questions
1. What is “Manifest Destiny”? What are some of the important historical events of the 19th and 20th Centuries that are important background information for understanding Western films (check the links on the “Working Notes” page of the web site)? Discuss how specific films or literary works illustrate “Manifest Destiny.” For example, how is the replacement of the Indians by figures like Ryker and then the homesteaders shown to be “good and natural” in Shane (or, using different types of characters, in The Searchers)?
2. Are there moments in any of the films or literary works where that Manifest Destiny is placed in doubt? What specific scenes or narrative devices in The Searchers, for example, might serve to undermine Mrs. Jorgensen’s claim that the Anglos—“Texicans”—belong on the land?
3. What scenes and images does Hell’s Hinges use to depict Blaze Tracy as a “good bad man”? How is Reverend Henley represented as a “bad good man”? Look at Question 5 and think about how Tracy and Henley work with respect to the figure of the outsider-hero.
4. Describe the representation of women and ethnic minorities in Hell’s Hinges. Discuss in detail specific scenes representing women and minorities and how these individuals and groups of people fit into the overall meaning of the film. How does religion figure in the way women and minorities are depicted?
5. The outsider-hero (“intruder-redeemer”), partly civilized, partly savage is a recurrent figure in the Western. Describe how these “heroes” are represented, including costume, behavior, social interactions and final destinies. How does a figure such as the Ringo Kid both differ from and anticipate someone like Ethan in The Searchers? Compare Shane as an “outsider” figure to Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine.
6. What kinds of “oppositions” does Schatz (55) describe the Western as setting up? How are those oppositions resolved? Describe some people and places who seem to be important in the reconciliation of opposites. The saloon is a familiar locus for these kinds of issues. Discuss how the saloon settings in The Westerner, My Darling Clementine, and Shane).
7. What are the major differences between the story and film versions of Stagecoach? Think of the differences in characters, situations, and outcomes. Why might Ford and his writers have chosen to make these changes?
8. How is social hypocrisy depicted in Stagecoach? Compare the “Petticoat Brigade” in Hell’s Hinges to the “Ladies’ Law and Order League” in Stagecoach. How do the two films convey different attitudes about these two groups in visual terms?
9. How is mise-en-scène used to depict the social differences and alliances between the characters in Stagecoach? Discuss, for example, the scenes inside the stagecoach itself, the scene around the dinner table, the childbirth scene, etc.
10. What is the role played by the image of Lily Langtry in The Westerner? How does “mimetic desire” regulate the relationship between Cole and Bean? How does that ostensible desire for a woman serve to mask the film’s homoeroticism (if you think that there is homoeroticism in the film)?
11. In both The Westerner and My Darling Clementine, Walter Brennan’s character represents the excesses of patriarchy and the problem of establishing law in the West. Discuss several scenes where the rule of this violent, clannish male is established and undermined.
12. Working from Question 10, describe how socially appropriate masculinity helps Earp establish law and order in Tombstone. (See Creekmur’s essay.) How is Doc Holliday (as well as the Clantons) a problematic character in his way of living his masculinity? How do elements like theatricality, costume, and props serve to lay out these problems for the film viewer?
13. What role do the two women play in the dynamics of the relations between men in My Darling Clementine? How are the women set in opposition in terms of race and culture? (E.g., how is Chihuahua linked to animals in the film? What do you make of Earp’s remark that she should get back to the Apache reservation, “where she belongs”? How is she dressed and lit, as compared to Clementine?)
14. How does the stump scene in the novel Shane differ from the same scene in the film? What are the different roles men and women play in these two versions? Be sure to discuss the language of the novel and the visuals of the film. Discuss the significant differences between two of the other scenes adapted from the novel to the film.
15. What is the “initiate hero” (Schatz) and what role does he play in films such as Shane? The Searchers? Discuss how point of view is handled in each film with respect to this initiate-hero.
16. How does Shane both support the nuclear family as a positive and valuable entity and imply that the nuclear family is somehow lacking something essential? (These are concerns that were being voiced in America in 1952, when the film was released.) How is this conveyed visually and aurally in the film? How do other westerns, such as Stagecoach, reflect the anxieties and social problems of the period in which they were made?
17. How are Blaze Tracy, Reverend/Captain Clayton, Ethan Edwards and Tayo "divided characters”? What visual elements are used to convey their internal and external divisions?
18. Ford draws a number of equivalences between the white and Indian cultures in The Searchers. For example, the ending of the film seems to place the whites and Indians in the position the other group occupied at the beginning of the film. In addition, Ethan is specifically identified with the Indians he hates through costume, behavior, knowledge, etc.--indeed, you might call him Scar’s “double.” Similarly, Laurie and Look are explicitly compared and contrasted as young women on the verge of marriage. Choose one or two of these or other equivalencies you see drawn between whites and Indians in the film and discuss their thematic importance. Be sure to discuss visual elements and dialogue in support of your thesis.
19. How does The Searchers raise questions that it doesn't answer, for both the audience and the characters in the film? How does this film answer some of the questions it raises through visual means? You may refer to Lehman’s essay on this topic, but try to add some original insights of your own.
20. Trace the motif of the “arch” or “doorway” in The Searchers. What is the significance of the repetition of the arch pattern as doorway, cave, wigwam entrance, and so forth in the film? Be sure to discuss a broad range of specific instances in which this visual pattern appears and include a reading of the meaning of this pattern. Again, you may refer to Lehman’s essay on this topic, but try to add some original insights of your own.
21. How are The Searchers and The Return of Navajo Boy both stories about “returns”? What deep meanings do those returns have in each of these films? Is there an implied critique of The Searchers (and other Westerns’) representation of Native Americans in The Return of Navajo Boy? How does the latter film depict the industrial elements of Hollywood film in their intersection with Native American lives?
22. How does Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative set up the kinds of images and fears of Native Americans that are depicted in later Westerns? How do you read the “truth” of Rowlandson’s story? What, for example, are we to make of her account of the Indians’ cruel treatment of their prisoners? Would there be a context that would change the way the reader perceives the behavior of the Indians?
23. How does Ceremony differ from The Searchers in its depiction of a warrior’s return home? What is the importance of the ceremony in both the novel and in Ford’s film?
24. Reflect on the role of religion in the works we’ve studied. How is religion used to justify certain actions? How is it shown as an active force in forging communities? In re-integrating individuals to communities? Which films and written works present religion positively or negatively? Which have complex representations of religion?
25. Replace the word religion with violence in the previous question (#24) and discuss its implications in 2 films we’ve examined in class.
26. How are the notions of “hybridity” and “miscegenation” treated in the works we’ve studied? Where have we seen miscegenation presented as menacing? How has the Western hero evolved as a hybrid of different cultures and modes of life? How does Ceremony present a complex view of the issues of miscegenation and hybridity?
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