DG- Main Points of "The West: Hardboiled"

In the beginning of her analysis, Matheson makes the distinction that there are Westerns, and then there are Wayne’s Westerns. Granted, most Westerns do have John Wayne starring in them, but throughout the writing, Matheson keeps comparing Wayne’s Westerns to the others. Matheson then goes on to explain how Wayne’s Westerns can be put in the category of film noir. These Westerns use the view of the landscape to convey the actor’s feelings and emotions in the movie. Matheson uses The Searchers as an example when the shots of the vast landscape and the effect of the red sand, “reinforces the bloody nature of vengeance, the force that motivates Ethan Edwards” (890).
Another main point Matheson makes is that many of the norms, ethical standards, and laws of Wayne’s Western films were completely opposite to that of the real majority society. Matheson writes, “the dirtier their faces, the darker their hearts” (892). John Wayne looked like a rough scary looking man, but to others, this meant he was noble and courageous. On the other hand, the man with the fine suit and cleanly shaven was always portrayed as the villain in these Westerns. Matheson draws on to the example of the villain Lomax in El Dorado. She writes, “Lomax is clean and impeccably dressed in an expensive skanky leather shirt […] He is too clean” (894). Men obsessed with money and profit, dressed like they were about to head on Wall Street were the exact opposite of this culture in Wayne’s Westerns. Therefore, they are paradoxically portrayed as scoundrels.
In regards to ethical standards, Matheson describes that Wayne’s Westerns completely flip-flop the laws and rules of Eastern society. The law of the gun significantly outweighs the law of the courts. Matheson explains that these Western stress that if a man is not taking matters into his own hands, he is not a true and just man. She writes, “In the West, a man ‘who settles his own problems’ is indeed the sum of his actions” (897). This code of men that is produced in these films transcends any law put down by any sheriff, or higher authority thereafter. Matheson goes on to say that “character traits generally considered elsewhere to be vices become virtues. Lying, for example, is a virtue on the frontier” (900). Characters in Wayne’s Westerns use these vices to their advantage and then these are considered virtues.
To finish her writing, Matheson describes the relationship of Wayne’s Western’s hero and his sidekick. She says that no matter the gender the sidekick is always “feminized” (903). To illustrate this, Matheson gives the example of Stoddard in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. She writes, “He [Stoddard] then spends a good deal of his time in Shinbone wearing an apron and washing dishes. Liberty Valance even goes so far as to identify him as ‘the new waitress’” (903). Since Stoddard does not know that in the West he is his own moral center, Wayne treats him like a woman and he is portrayed very femininely.