Rules of a Western
coffeeem had an excellent entry yesterday about expanding the Western as a genre. It made me think about what I've been doing lately with Cowboys and Aliens and how I stumbled over the genre at the very beginning.
When I first started talking about the Cowboys and Aliens gig with Jeremy Mohler (who I also work with on Baeg Tobar), I got to thinking about what a Western is, and how adding aliens, in fact, breaks a lot of rules. The first volume of Cowboys and Aliens (which is still available on DrunkDuck as well s in print) does a really stellar opening comparing the invading aliens to the Euro-American "invaders" of the West, and while I loved that imagery, continuing too far along that path leads to potentially demonizing the heroes. So what does it mean to be in a Western that's also Sci-Fi (as opposed to a Space Western, which is a separate genre itself).
The first thing I did when I realized I was having trouble conceptualizing the new story was write to Jamie Hutchinson, my Literature of the American West professor. It had been maybe eight years since I took his class, and I needed a refresher. His e-mail was stunningly helpful.
"Is it meant to be satirical and parodic (can it help but be satirical and parodic?)? If I were you, I'd watch a bunch of classic western films to get a feel for the typical plots and characters. Is it cowboys and Indians you're after? Gunfighters? Settlers and pioneers? Coming of age? Tall in the saddle (moral courage)? The passing of the west? The quest for freedom and independence? Anti-heroes? Outsiders? Gamblers and reprobates? Land of opportunity? Wilderness as threatening? Morally uplifting? A MAN'S world? A white man's world? Don't fence me in?"
Suddenly, my notions of the Western, having condensed after eight years away from the course, expanded dramatically. The genre is important, of course--the West is a setting--but focusing on the tropes is less helpful than focusing on the themes and those aspects that clearly reveal those themes. When the themes--the core--of the genre are the focus, there's far more room to play with the tropes. I hope this means the genre still has a lot of life, whether in the Old West or in space, as I don't think I'll ever stop enjoying it.
When I first started talking about the Cowboys and Aliens gig with Jeremy Mohler (who I also work with on Baeg Tobar), I got to thinking about what a Western is, and how adding aliens, in fact, breaks a lot of rules. The first volume of Cowboys and Aliens (which is still available on DrunkDuck as well s in print) does a really stellar opening comparing the invading aliens to the Euro-American "invaders" of the West, and while I loved that imagery, continuing too far along that path leads to potentially demonizing the heroes. So what does it mean to be in a Western that's also Sci-Fi (as opposed to a Space Western, which is a separate genre itself).
The first thing I did when I realized I was having trouble conceptualizing the new story was write to Jamie Hutchinson, my Literature of the American West professor. It had been maybe eight years since I took his class, and I needed a refresher. His e-mail was stunningly helpful.
"Is it meant to be satirical and parodic (can it help but be satirical and parodic?)? If I were you, I'd watch a bunch of classic western films to get a feel for the typical plots and characters. Is it cowboys and Indians you're after? Gunfighters? Settlers and pioneers? Coming of age? Tall in the saddle (moral courage)? The passing of the west? The quest for freedom and independence? Anti-heroes? Outsiders? Gamblers and reprobates? Land of opportunity? Wilderness as threatening? Morally uplifting? A MAN'S world? A white man's world? Don't fence me in?"
Suddenly, my notions of the Western, having condensed after eight years away from the course, expanded dramatically. The genre is important, of course--the West is a setting--but focusing on the tropes is less helpful than focusing on the themes and those aspects that clearly reveal those themes. When the themes--the core--of the genre are the focus, there's far more room to play with the tropes. I hope this means the genre still has a lot of life, whether in the Old West or in space, as I don't think I'll ever stop enjoying it.