A myth invented by Hollywood: the Far West as we imagine it never existed

When we talk about the West We mean the Western territory of the United States which during the 19th century was gradually conquered by white citizens allocated on the western coast. The “wild” characteristics of the West have aroused the fantasy of the public and since the end of the 19th century the Western genrewhich developed through theater, cinema, literature and other art forms, describing the American western territory as a place where they raged Pistoleri and Cowboy. The reality was different and, although the Far West (“distant west”), was actually distant from the centers of political power and the Washington government could not fully control it, the territory, composed among others by the current Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada and California, was not the place without law told by cinema and literature. The West, as we mean it, “He ended” roughly in the early 1900sin the sense that the conquest was completed and the territory was fully integrated into the United States.

Because the Far West is called that

The West (which literally means west), also called Far West (“Distant west”) or Wild West (“Wild West”) was the western part of North America. Its exact extension changed over time, as the “frontier” moved, that is, the border of the territory controlled by whites. Generally considers itself as West The territory between the rocky mountains and the Pacific coast. As we know, the United States was born on the eastern coast where they were The thirteen original colonies.

The West was annexed in several phases to the territory controlled by Washington and was then populated by “white citizens”: the expansion to the west took place during the 19th century and already at the beginning of the following century it could be completed. In some periods, as on the occasion of the gold race in California in the middle of the century, migrations to the west were particularly intense. The expansion was also characterized by the construction of the railway lines that since the late 1980s connected the eastern coast to that of the Pacific, and by the wars conducted by whites against native populations, which were made harmful and confined to special reserves. The pioneers, that is, the first American who pushed to the West, were generally people animated by a spirit of adventure and desire to enrich themselves.

The western genre: from Buffalo Bill to today

The conquest of the West had all the characteristics to arouse the attention of the public: exotic environment, characters capable of challenging the authorities, etc. The Western genre He was born already at the end of the 19th century with a show organized by some characters who had participated in first person, with different roles, in conquering the West; The creator was William Cody, better known as Buffalo Billan American soldier who had distinguished himself in the bison hunt (in English called buffalo). The show, inaugurated in 1883 with the title of Buffalo Bill’s Wild Westhe staged events that actually took place, but strongly idealized. Among the protagonists of the show there were some well -known characters: the head Sioux Sitting bull, the adventurer Calamity Jane And others. The show was very successful in the United States and was later exported to Europe.

During the 1900s, the Western genre has been “exploited” by numerous Art forms And media: literature, theater, comics, figurative arts, video games. The cinema was one of the main forms of expression of the western genre, giving life to the first films set in the “wild west” since the dawn of the seventh art, such as The Great Train Robberry of 1903. The western genre belongs to masterpieces such as Red shadows (1939), Noon of fire (1952), Wild pile (1969), in addition to the Italian western, also known as Spaghetti Westernamong which The good, the ugly, the bad And Once upon a time there was the Westboth directed by Sergio Leone.

The western genre tells above all stories of Indians, outlaws, cowboys and sheriffs, sometimes connected to the construction of the railways or to the American civil war. Western stories can be set in a period very extensive time, ranging from the independence of the United States in the early 1900s. From a geographical point of view, the setting ranges in thewhole territory between Canada and Mexicoeven if most of the stories are located in the portion of the United States between California and rocky mountains. Some elements of the films and other western stories have become real icons: the saloonin which there are men who play poker and drink whiskey, the Cowboy hatthe Colt gunsThe Boots with the spurs.

Because the Far West of films and comics is an invented place

The Far West of the films and comics is largely an invented place, different from how the western territory of the United States was during the 800. First of all, the West has not always been the same: The characteristics of the territory gradually changed due to the expansion of the Americans, consequently, a literary and artistic genre that describes the territory always in the same way cannot be realistic. In addition, the Western genre presents the territory as a lawless place, while, in reality, it was progressively subjected to the control of the government. Some figures told by the western are strongly idealized: i cowboythat is, the mandians who led the cows to the pastures, were very different characters from how they are described by the cinema, which presents them as adventurers lovers of poker and whiskey. The cowboys were in fact poor peoplewho agreed to do a very hard job, and in general they were busy following the herds and did not have the opportunity to go to the saloon.

Even their clothing, with a large -tense hat, the pointed boots and jeans – which for us represents western clothing par excellence – was not always the same. Furthermore, the genre rarely pays attention to fate of the indigenous populationswhich were exterminated not so much with the wars, as by the diseases brought by the whites, against which they had not immune defenses, and were then confined to the reserves.