The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance- Chris Jones

In the film 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" we are presented with two characters who could possibly fit into the archetype of the alpha male cowboy. However through an examination of Matheson's article we can see a clear distinction between the two and the true alpha male cowboy becomes obvious. First we have Liberty Valance who is an outlaw in the movie and rules the town through power and fear. He is said to always have ornate clothing on, all black, and his hat has a silver lining on it. Matheson immediatly comes to mind in that she says how the villain in a western movie is an overdone version of the alpha male cowboy. Valance fills this idea because he makes a point to look impeccable at all times, but that same fact is what makes it obvious to us that he is NOT the alpha male cowboy. The alpha male cowboy is not meticulous about his appearance, he can be dusty and he won't care about it, however we never see an alpha male cowboy as "dirty". Valance has taken this idea of not being dirty and taken it to the extreme and now just presents us a clear juxtaposition to the true alpha male cowboy, Tom Doniphon. Doniphon is an outsider in the town, generally accepted by the people but he never strives to be accepted like Valance does. Doniphon's appearance is less well kept than Valance's but he is still generally clean. This is the exact example which Matheson uses in her article to show us the difference between the alpha male cowboy and the pretender because the alpha male cowboy does not strive to be accepted, nor does he preen over how he presents himself. The alpha male cowboy is an alpha male not through an active effort by him but instead is an alpha male because his true personality make him one