Western Literary Reactions to the End of the Studio System: Critical Regionalism, Film Violence, and Regional Production
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Authors
Lutrick, Landon
Issue Date
2018
Type
Dissertation
Language
Keywords
Critical Regionalism , Film History , Genre Theory , Western American Literature
Alternative Title
Abstract
This dissertation asks what connections between film and literature exist beyond shared thematic content. As outlined below, the answers to this question have implications not only for western American literature and film—my two primary areas of focus—and for theories of critical regionalism. In recent years, critical regionalism has become vital for scholars exploring the connections between the local and the global. I argue that the roots of some place-based aspects in western literature run back to the mid-century end of the studio system. Because the decline of the studio system made filmmaking riskier financially, filmmakers used the appeal of violence to draw reliable audiences to theaters. Taking the changes to the western film genre wrought by the end of the studio system as a starting point, I argue that western authors resist the sensationalized image of the West by opposing homogenous, nihilistic film violence through the use of place-based sensibilities and strategies. Using four celebrated western writers—Charles Portis, Leslie Marmon Silko, Larry McMurtry, and Cormac McCarthy—my dissertation highlights the ways western writers have worked to create a more authentic vision of the West, as opposed to the desolate, amoral vision presented by post-studio films. My dissertation takes two fundamental questions as a starting point: Why are western literary characters suddenly in the 1960s faced with such violent situations in a region supposed to hold so much promise according to the western myth? And, why do characters react against their violent setting rather than integrating themselves into it? These questions have been thoroughly explored in the context of the multi-faceted social upheaval of the 1960s. By closely reading the ways these authors use place-based sensibilities to offset exaggerated violence, my dissertation pivots from the carryover effects of industrial change in the film industry to the important thematic response in western literature. Taking a critical regionalist perspective, this dissertation argues that western literature and film are bound together by more than their shared thematic or adapted content. In fact, that thematic content is an avenue for exploring how the film industry, not simply films themselves, shapes other forms of cultural production, such as literature.Methodologically, this project is situated at the overlap of genre theory, film history, critical regionalism, and western literary studies. By establishing connections between literature as a form of cultural production and the seemingly disconnected industry behind cinematic production, my dissertation analyzes western literature beyond an exchange of cultural trends and values. In doing so, I establish a deeper understanding of the complex network that makes up western American culture, what Neil Campbell calls “the rhizomatic West.” Tracing these lines of flight then connects regions with the forces of global capital. I argue that to fully understand the West, we must understand material forces that drive western imagery on the page and on the screen.Methodologically, this project is situated at the overlap of genre theory, film history, critical regionalism, and western literary studies. By establishing connections between literature as a form of cultural production and the seemingly disconnected industry behind cinematic production, my dissertation western literature to an analysis that moves beyond an exchange of cultural trends and values. In doing so, I establish a deeper understanding of the complex network that makes up western American culture, what Neil Campbell calls “the rhizomatic West.” Tracing these then connects regions with the forces of global capital. My dissertation explores how the West is shaped culturally and economically by global economic forces. I argue that to fully understand the West, we must understand material forces that drive western imagery on the page and on the screen.