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About Western Movies (or Westerns)

Western movies, or westerns, represent an American film genre. Westerns in general are art works (films, literature, sculpture, television and radio shows, and paintings) devoted to telling tales set in the American West, often portraying it in a romanticized light. While the Western has been popular throughout the history of movies, it has begun to diminish in importance as the United States progresses farther away from the period depicted. Western movies, by definition, are set in the American West, almost always in the 19th century, generally between the Antebellum period and the turn of the century. Many incorporate the Civil War into the story, even though the west was not impacted by the war to the extent that the eastern part of the country was. The setting of a western movie may extend further back to the time of the American colonial period or forward to the mid-twentieth century. They may also range geographically from Mexico to Canada. Many westerns involve semi-nomadic characters who wander from town to town, their sole possessions consisting of clothing, a gun, and possibly a horse. The high technology of the 19th century, such as the telegraph, printing press, and railroad, may appear, occasionally as a development just arriving, and usually symbolizing the impending end of the frontier lifestyle which will soon give way to the march of civilization. The Western takes simple elements and uses them to tell morality stories, usually setting them against a spectacular American landscape. In some western movies, the scenery becomes almost the star of the film. - The preceding paragraph was derived from a full article available from Wikipedia and its use is governed by the GNU Free Documentation License 1.2.