Recent Book Release

Geschichte - Mythos - Identität: Zur globalen Zirkulation des Western-Genres

Author: Thomas Klein

Publisher: Bertz und Fischer (Berlin)

Language: German

Paperback, 90 photos

Pages: 316

ISBN-10: 3865053920

ISBN-13: 978-3865053923

Available: March 11, 2015

The Western is considered the "American genre par excellence." The book, however, shows how the U.S. Western started a global spread of Hollywood and it affected other national cinematography. European Western variations emerged in the 1960s. Although many historical films of other countries do not tell the myth of the Wild West and the U.S. Frontier - yet we take these films in many ways as true Westerns tales. In Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, India and Japanese films there is told a similar, but its own colonial and postcolonial history imprinted; and from the US-Western-known figures are interwoven with other national identities. Based on three central elements of the Western - the figure of the outlaw, the landscape and the standard situations (eg Shootout Saloon Scene) - transnational variations of the Western are studied with cultural studies and genre theory to current hybrid films in the same vein. Thus, it is shown that the Western can be understood as a global genre.

I asked author Lee Broughton about the book since he has a copy. He replied, “316 pages.  A good number of mostly black and white pictures (there are 4 pages of color pictures in the center).  The emphasis appears to be on Australian Westerns, a variety of South American Westerns, Japanese Westerns, Social Bandit Westerns, Outlaw Westerns and Landscape though American and Italian Westerns do get a mention too. I don’t read German so I have not read the book.”