Matheson's "The West - Hardboiled..." Matt C

Sue Matheson's article "The West-Hardboiled..." discusses the what it means to be a Western movie and the simple elements that people find enjoyable to watch. To put the article quite simply, the point is to show the difference between what makes a man a hero or a villain. Duty, discipline, self-sustaining, are but a few of the characters that would define a man to make him a hero. What gives away the difference between the hero and villain:in one word, appearance. The way the hero dresses, dirty with sand and dust on his clothes, unafraid to get himself messy to show he knows the meaning of hard labor, defines the attitude he takes toward others. Conversely, the villain dress in a more fancy, with suit and ties so that he may show he has power and is civilized. But civilized does not mean always mean what American deem it too mean. In a Western the term civilized serves as a more savage word, where "might is right" (Matheson 895) and man is more a beast with hidden agendas.

In the West survival is the only thing that matters and one must do what one has to to live in the harsh land. A mans appearance will will lead him to his attitudes toward others and his personality overall. The same villains who dress to appear civilized may perhaps do this to cover up their intentions and goals, "In Wayne's Westerns, however, dandyism is often not a matter of display, but a means of concealment" (Matheson 895). Villains are "...severely disabled psychopaths. They are manipulative, callous, remorseless, parasitic, pathological liars with poor behavioral controls.... which disable them socially, enable them professionally" (Matheson 892) . Heroes are not without there own flaws however, and they share many of the same qualities as villains sometimes because that is how they survive. The main quality that defines the hero is the same willing to disobey lawlessness in order to maintain order. As Matheson says "In the West, a man 'who settles his own problems' is indeed the sum of his actions" (897). The hero must distance himself from society so that he may do what is needed to restore the peace. Antisocial behavior is what must be accomplished if the hero is to do what is necessary.

At the time the movies were what people wanted to see happen, what they wanted to live like. Westerns put the world in perspective for men, where they can create ''a world devoid of any meaning but the one man himself creates'" (Matheson 896). Corruption and individualism run rampant throughout the story lines of the Western and people wanted to see that. The hero tries to right the wrong that the villain did to them and redeem himself in his own eyes, no matter what methods the hero must adopt to succeed in his task. Matheson emphasizes these key point by noting that the hero will do what he needs to to succeed, it is "on the frontier where vices become virtues.... (902). Quite simply this means that lying and cheating and stealing may be necessary if the hero is to live to see is duty done.