Posted: 17 July 2019 at 1:15am | IP Logged | 3
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Eric Sofer wrote:
It's hard for me to think of many westerns recently (Young Guns? Cowboys and Aliens? Any of the OK Corral bunch of films?) |
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Westerns are not limited to the time period in which they take place, but the tropes and themes that run through them. HELL OR HIGH WATER (2016) is an excellent example of a film that takes place today but is in all other ways a Western. Not speaking to or about you specifically, but people want to root Westerns in the Old West specifically and anything that doesn't happen between the very narrow window of 1860-1910 isn't considered a Western. But that's simply not true. Although the general populace may not recognize a movie that they're watching is, in fact, a Western doesn't negate the fact that it's still a relatively healthy and active genre. As healthy and active as traditional Westerns created by Hollywood studios circa 1910-1975? No. But neither are war films (although that's what any zombie film is about even tangentially), or gangster films (although the success of SICARIO and its sequel would prove otherwise) or musicals (certainly not as popular now as in the 30's-60's but what are many animated films but musicals?).
At the end of the day, Hollywood (the industry) isn't cranking out four pictures per month per studio like they used to do for decades. Some studios are lucky if they release four films a year. So it's obvious that some genres are going to get short shrift. But to think that any one genre is doomed simply because there aren't enough of them released in a given year isn't looking at the whole picture nor at the ways traditional genres are being updated and rejiggered for a modern audience.
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