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G. CAWELTI
JOHN
University of Chicago
Prolegomena
to
the
Western
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more complex serious one. But is a television western really different in kind from any other work of art? Indeed, it is perfectly
obvious that the commercial and organizational circumstancesunder
which a television western is produced establish differentaesthetic
rules and limitations from those encountered by the isolated poet
in his garret, or his university office,but why should this lead us
to assume that the Western is not primarily an artistic construction
similar in nature if not in quality or complexity to a play by
Shakespeare or a novel by James Joyce. And if it is an artistic
construction, how will we ever arrive at an understanding of its
cultural significance by treating it as something else?
2) The consequence of assuming that the popular work is
generically differentfrom the serious one is that we must then
make it into something other than a work of art. Here we inevitably
start riding our own special hobby horses. The theologian sees
the Western as a religious ritual, the sociologist as a skirmish in
the class struggle,or a hidden bit of political rhetoric, the humanist
as a decadent offshoot of some form of traditional culture, the
psychologist as a maneuver of the psyche, the anthropologist as a
contemporary trope of some primitive myth. We are confronted
with an embarrassing wealth of mutually exclusive versions with
no way of bringing them together into a single, coherent analysis.
II
An essay on the Western by Mr. Peter Homans suggests a way
of resolving some of these difficulties,though, in the end, it too
falls into the trap of reducing an artisticconstruction to a simplistic
cultural explanation.6 Mr. Homans approaches the Western by
attempting to understand it as a unified construction before he
tries to determine its cultural significance. His method, therefore,
involves three main steps: (1) isolation of the characteristicelements
- setting,characters,events, themes - of the Western; (2) analysis
of the characteristic way in which the Western organizes these
elements into an ordered pattern or plot; (3) determination of the
cultural significanceof this pattern. Using this approach, Mr. Homas
concludes that the basic pattern of the Western is a plot "in which
evil appears as a series of temptations to be resisted by the hero most of which he succeeds in avoiding through inner control. When
6Peter
"Puritanism
Revisted:
AnAnalysis
of theContemporary
Homans,
Screen-Image
inPublicCommunication,
Studies
no.3 (Summer
Western,"
1961),pp.73-84.
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for explaining why each event and character is present in the work,
and why these events and characters are placed in the setting they
occupy. If some element remains unexplained, it is clear that the
organizing principles have not been adequately stated.
Ill
Mr. Hornans' careful discussion of a typical Western plot seems
to me an excellent proof that such an analysis can be carried on
carefullyand objectively. Unfortunatelyin the case of Mr. Homans'
analysis,a confusion between a typical Western plot and the Western
as a popular form leads to a breakdown in his methodology and
finally to an unwarrantedly simplistic conclusion. The reason for
this is that there is an important differencefrom a methodological
point of view between the Western and say, a novel by Henry
James. The latter is aunique construction shaped by a highly
individual artist, while the former is a general type with many
differentparticular versions. In studying the cultural significance
of a work by Henry James we are dealing with the vision and
creative power of a unique individual. In other words, a novel
by James is, because of its uniqueness, a type in itself. However,
in analyzing a popular form like the Western, we are not primarily
concerned with an individual work, such as a single episode of
Gunsmoke or a particular novel by Zane Grey, but with the cultural
significanceof the Western as a type of artistic construction. This
is simply because the circumstances in which a Western is produced
and consumed do not encourage the creation of unique individual
works of art, but lead to the production of particular realizations
of a conventional formula. Therefore the culturally significant
phenomenon is not the individual work, but the formula or recipe
by which more or less anonymous producers turn out individual
novels or films. The individual works are ephemeral, but the
formula lingers on, evolving and changing with the times, yet still
basically recognizable. Therefore, a popular form,like the Western,
may encompass a number of standard plots. Indeed, one important
reason for the continued use of a formula is its very ability to
change and develop in response to the changing interests of audiences. A form which cannot be adapted like this will tend to
disappear. One good illustration of this is the immensely popular
nineteenth century form of the moralistic, sentimental novel of
seduction which grew out of Richardson's Pamela. In the twentieth
century the cultural patterns which made this form of narrative
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meaningful and exciting have changed too much for the form to
adapt to them. Other popular formulas, like the Western and the
detective story, have thus far proved more adaptable to changing
cultural needs.
The trouble with Homans' analysis is that he takes one typical
plot for the Western. There are many Westerns of the type Homans
describes in which an outsider comes into a community, is tempted
by evil, overcomes the temptation, destroys the evil and leaves
again. On the other hand, there are a good many Westerns in
which the central action is the initiation of the hero into the world
of men - as in stories of the dude-become-hero variety - or in
which the plot hinges on the resolution through violence of a
conflict between love and social prejudice - as in Owen Wister's
classic The Virginian. What we need are plot analyses comparable
to those Homans has given us of the several standard Western plots.
From such analyses we shall be able to discern more clearly than
before the general outlines of the form by discovering those patterns
which run through all the types of Western plot. In addition,
these plot models would certainly tell us a great deal about the
changing significance of the Western, for I have no doubt that,
if we were able to classify the types of Western plots, we would
find that certain plots have been particularly popular at different
times. Being able to trace changes within the form should enable
us to discover many important things about changes in the culture
which produced it, and there is no better way of defining these
changes than through the comparison of plots.
But what of the form itself? What is the Western and how
can it be objectively defined in such a way that we can relate it to
the culture or cultures in which it flourishes? In a sense, the
Western as a form is simply the sum of the various plots which
creators of Westerns have used. Thus, as I have suggested, one
way of defining the form is by generalization from careful analyses
of the various types of Westerns which have been created. Yet, the
Western also seems to be something more or at least something differentfrom any or all particular Westerns. Differentas they are in
characters,events, and even settings,we have no difficultyin recognizing a fundamental similarity between The Virginian and Gunsmoke. Furthermore, it seems reasonable to predict that if the
Western retains its popularity, new versions differentin many re-
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has changed over the last century and a half from the Leatherstocking saga, to Wister and Grey's romantic tales of the hero who
becomes fully assimilated into the society, to our present-dayfondness for elegaic tales of gunfighterswho are sacrificed for a society
which no longer has a place for them. These changes as well as
the differentkinds and levels of meaning in the basic formula need
to be explored and defined more carefully if we are to arrive at
an adequate cultural interpretation of the Western and other popular formulas.
What needs to be attended to, then, is the serious study of
the popular formula as a complex artistic structure with many different levels and kinds of meaning. Once the character of these
structures has been more thoroughly and completely defined we
need to examine with greater care both the many changes which
have taken place in these formulas and the different kinds of
meaning which they embody. In addition, I suggest that we undertake to make comparisons between the pattern of the imaginary
world which defines the Western formula and the characteristic
patterns of other popular forms not only from the arts but from
other areas of culture such as sports,politics and manners. If artistic
constructions are a way of giving shape or pattern to human experience, it is quite possible that we will find reflectionsof similar
ordering principles in other aspects of the culture. Above all, I
feel we must get away from the assumption that an artistic form,
even a popular formula is dependent upon some single deeper
economic or psychological or social motive, instead of a relatively
autonomous means of giving order to a great variety of values and
experiences. This is why it is so important to understand a popular
formula as an artistic whole. It is the way in which the formula
orders and shapes character, action and theme which is of primary
importance. If we had a fuller and clearer understanding of the
ordering principles which govern the imaginaryworld of the Western
and other popular formulas,we would, I feel, have a better understanding of the patterns of experience which dominate our culture
and shape the lives of all of us.
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