This essay seeks to track the evolution of empathy within revisionist westerns and exposing the truths underneath the idealistic myths of white settlement in the Old West. And whether or not each of the films compared were successful or not in it’s attempt at empahty.
The three films:
True Grit (2010 version by Cohen Bros.): empathy towards women, main character Is female (teen girl) who holds her own. Shows reality of sexism and prevalent sexual assault thinking by men (as seen in the scene with Maddie and Matt Daemons character where he says he coulda forced himself onto her). Empathy towards natives (as seen in the hanging scene where the native man is shown in a more realistic manner where they cut him off, denying him his last words because they view him as less than the white man)
Dances with wolves: empathy towards native Americans, empathy towards the buffalo and the land itself.
Django Unchained: empathy towards Black Americans, via a revenge film of Django against the racist south – using extreme language and imagery as a way to emphasize the brutality that Slaves faced, and to reveal the violent awful truths within those times, that history would rather forget. And the vengeful ending seems to act as almost a tribute to the valid rage modern-era black Americans must feel in post-slavery, yet still very un-just times.
The essay needs to be approx 2000 words, and include a min of 1 citation from each of the 3 mentiioned films, as well as 3 or the supplied readings.
