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The Contemporary Western
An American Genre Post-9/11
by John White
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Book Presentation:
A distinctive examination of post-9/11 films in relation to the Hollywood western
The September 11th attacks in 2001 and the subsequent ‘War on Terror’ have had a profound effect on American cinema, and the contemporary Western is no exception. In this book, John White explores how films such as Open Range, True Grit and Jane Got a Gun reinforce a conservative myth of America exceptionalism; endorsing the use of extreme force in dealing with enemies and highlighting the importance of defending the homeland. Placing their characters within a dark world of confusion and horror, these films reflect the United States’ post-9/11 uncertainties, and the conflict between civilised values and the brutality employed to defend them.
Case studies include:
• Open Range (Kevin Costner, 2003)
• True Grit (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2010)
• Jane Got a Gun (Gavin O’Connor, 2016)
• The Lone Ranger (Gore Verbinski, 2013)
• The Revenant (Alejandro Iñárritu, 2016)
• Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2013)
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones, 2005)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
About the Author:
John White teaches film studies at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. He is co-editor of Fifty Key British Films (Routledge, 2008), Fifty Key American Films (Routledge, 2009) and The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films (Routledge, 2014). He recently contributed chapters to books on Budd Boetticher and Delmer Daves in the Edinburgh University Press ReFocus series, and is the author of Westerns (Routledge, 2011) and European Art Cinema (Routledge, 2017).
Press Reviews:
White's discussion, his notes and bibliography, guide readers through the distinctive scholarship on the historical film since 9/11.– Mike Kugler, Northwestern College, Great Plains Quarterly
The Contemporary Western offers a judicious interjection into a scholarly field currently dominated by transnational explorations. In refocusing the critical lens on the Western as a specifically American form, it illuminates the complex interplay between post-9/11 politics and established mythologies, demonstrating the genre’s continuing ability to shape the ideological perceptions of America’s popular-cultural imaginary.– Matthew Carter, Senior Lecturer in Film, Manchester Metropolitan University
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
> From the same author:
A Level Film Studies (2025)
The Essential Introduction
by Sarah Casey Benyahia and John White
Subject: Film Analysis
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