Western Reality VS. Myth

You should watch clips of a Hollywood western of your choice and prepare a report that contrasts the romanticized Hollywood version with the reality presented in your textbook. You should do this on your blog and comment on three of your classmates' blogs.



I watched the movie Hondo featuring John Wayne. In Hondo, Hondo is a cowboy by the name of Hondo Lane. Hondo is mysterious, strong and powerful. Hondo is looked up to because he lived with the Apache Indians for 5 years. Hondo also seems to have a lot of wisdom because he has many deep conversations with Angie (another main character in the movie). Hondo came to Angie in the beginning of the movie wanting to buy a horse because his had run away. In reality, a cowboy would not have been able to afford a horse. Also, the westerner was very smart and he knew how to do many things around the homestead such as take care of horses and sharpen axes. Hondo is seen as very brave because he has a very bad temper so he defends himself regularly. In the movie Hondo, the cowboy is pictured as being happy and his fights with the Indians are always turning out for the better. However, the western myth is not always what the movies display them to be. The Western Myth as described in this movie was created by the numerous legends of westerners such as Buffalo Bill, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Calamity Jane. In reality, the western life was not as glorious as the “Western Myth” made it out to be. The inhabitants of the West experienced the same amount of hardships as the inhabitants of the East. The western life was not anything to be romanticized. Rather than being an aristocrat, the cowboy was usually lowly paid. Majority of Americans did not consider the real aspects of the cowboy life such as the tedium, the loneliness, the physical discomforts, and the few opportunities for advancement (Brinkley 456). Also, the inhabitants of the West did not usually have a good education. The West was seen as the “last frontier” and the last opportunity to start anew. However, the West was not the “last frontier,” America would continue to explore and find new places to start anew even though the Western lands had been settled.