The
Western has always been inextricably linked to the USA, and studies
have continually sought to connect its historical development to changes
in American society and Hollywood innovations. Focusing new critical
attention on films produced in Germany, Italy and Britain, this timely
book offers a radical rereading of the evolutionary history of the
Western and brings a vital international dimension to its study. Lee
Broughton argues not only that European films possess a special
significance in terms of the genre’s global development, but also that
many offered groundbreaking and progressive representations of
traditional Wild West ‘Others’: Native Americans, African Americans and
so-called ‘strong women’. The Euro-Western
investigates how the histories of Germany, Italy and Britain - and the
idiosyncrasies of their respective national film industries - influenced
representations of the self and ‘Other’, shedding light on the broader
cultural, historical and political contexts that shaped European
engagement with the genre.
Testimonials and reviews:
Sergio
Leone once observed that “the Western belongs to everyone”, not just to
Hollywood. Broughton’s bold, perceptive and well-informed study looks
closely at West German ‘Winnetou’ films, middle-period Italian Westerns
and British Westerns between 1939 and the early 1970s, to discover
strong counter-cultural representations of Native Americans, African
Americans and women. Broughton also explores the reasons why. The
analysis of A Town Called Bastard and Hannie Caulder in particular is a tour de force - Sir Christopher Frayling, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, Royal College of Art.
Within
this book Lee Broughton considers the diverse meanings Westerns have
obtained through contact with various historical, cultural and political
contexts - avoiding a merely US-centric framework - and in doing so
contributes to the much-needed discourse that places the genre within
global networks of cultural blending. What provocatively and
intriguingly emerges is that, where progressive representations of
ethnicity and gender in Westerns were concerned, the Europeans got there
first - Austin Fisher, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies,
Bournemouth University.
Broughton’s
uniquely comparative study traces the legacies of national traumas in
European Westerns of the 1960s and '70s. He locates a counter-politics
to contemporaneous Hollywood productions in allegories of race and
gender on screen, and in doing so expands the critical conversation
about regional revisionism in an important and fascinating genre -
Joanna Hearne, Associate Professor of English and Film Studies,
University of Missouri.
A
hugely important book for its foregrounding of the Western as a
transnational phenomenon. It sheds new light not only on the European
Western, but also on the Hollywood Western and the ongoing dialogue
between the two - Sean Holmes, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television
Studies, Brunel University.
Broughton’s
book is an impressive piece of scholarship, exemplary in the breadth of
material covered in the course of examining the genre as a whole. He
does a real service to readers seeking an understanding of the post-war
European genre system - Louis Bayman, Lecturer in Film, University of
Southampton.
The
European Western in Broughton’s analysis gains its rightful place in
the history of the genre, and, as his study convincingly argues, for
good reasons - Katarzyna Nowak-McNeice, Research Fellow, Universidad
Carlos III de Madrid.
Further books by Lee Broughton:
Reframing Cult Westerns: From The Magnificent Seven to The Hateful Eight (Bloomsbury, 2020)
Critical Perspectives on the Western: From A Fistful of Dollars to Django Unchained (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016)
No comments:
Post a Comment