As we come ever closer to the season seven premiere of Scrubs, the best TV show you’re probably not watching, I find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on other films, nonetheless dated Westerns. In the words of Dr. Bob Kelso, “It’s a hip-hop world son. Either keep up or get out of the way!” My point? Western’s are just not relevant in this day and age. I’m not so ignorant as to proclaim that watching Western’s has no benefit on people, any great movie can teach you something. But everything that makes a Western a Western is old-fashioned, dated, and is not something you would find in the 21st century.
The greatest problem with the Western is that the characters are becoming completely un-relatable. Making the protagonist in “Unforgiven” an old washed up cowboy certainly broke genre traditions, but the movie was forced to enter the fantasy realm because of it. Imagine William Munny in the modern day. For the sake of comparison, I’ll pick the most absurdly atrocious movie I can think of, “Pootie Tang.”
If you can fathom it, imagine William Munny plucked out of the Wild West and thrown into Pootie Tang’s world. He’d be an old man on a horse in the ghetto overwhelmed by moral decay. Even when ignoring all advances in technology, our culture as depicted in Pootie Tang is drastically different than the old West. The language barrier would be an enormous learning curve. Pootie would cry, “I'm going to sine your pitty on the runny kine!” Now considering I don’t even know what that means, how would you expect the likes of William Munny to? Or any character from a Western movie. The problem is the audience is more sophisticated than they are.
“Pootie Tang” is not a fair comparison because it represents today’s culture with 0% accuracy, but it does capture our state of mind. I don’t dislike Western’s, but I think as they age they’re beginning to feel antiquated. Unless Western’s can find a way to appeal to the modern world, they will very quickly become a dead genre, if they not already are. It’s a hip-hop world son. Either keep up or get out of the way!
The greatest problem with the Western is that the characters are becoming completely un-relatable. Making the protagonist in “Unforgiven” an old washed up cowboy certainly broke genre traditions, but the movie was forced to enter the fantasy realm because of it. Imagine William Munny in the modern day. For the sake of comparison, I’ll pick the most absurdly atrocious movie I can think of, “Pootie Tang.”
If you can fathom it, imagine William Munny plucked out of the Wild West and thrown into Pootie Tang’s world. He’d be an old man on a horse in the ghetto overwhelmed by moral decay. Even when ignoring all advances in technology, our culture as depicted in Pootie Tang is drastically different than the old West. The language barrier would be an enormous learning curve. Pootie would cry, “I'm going to sine your pitty on the runny kine!” Now considering I don’t even know what that means, how would you expect the likes of William Munny to? Or any character from a Western movie. The problem is the audience is more sophisticated than they are.
“Pootie Tang” is not a fair comparison because it represents today’s culture with 0% accuracy, but it does capture our state of mind. I don’t dislike Western’s, but I think as they age they’re beginning to feel antiquated. Unless Western’s can find a way to appeal to the modern world, they will very quickly become a dead genre, if they not already are. It’s a hip-hop world son. Either keep up or get out of the way!
1 comment:
WTF? haha. Pootie Tang was a good movie...i'm not seeing any connections to the western though. haha. If you want a movie that depicts the culture of the old west with 0% accuracy, watch Blazing Saddles....
~PSH
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