I like some superhero films. I cannot stand westerns.
Yes I know. But really only the Spaghetti westerns, and their progeny. The parallels between the genres have little to do with that.
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There is little doubt that Kurosawa’s influence was pivotal postwar.
But what do I know.
Which is influential on literally ALL WESTERNS SINCE THEN. But hey… can’t let a little thing like facts rule the day.
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Or you could be like Kubrick, and film in London.
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Well they’d been making westerns for 60 years at that stage, being the most successful genre for 30, and films critiquing the genre reinvigorated it to the extent that it’s still viable today. One topped many critics best of lists this year. This wouldn’t be the case had they kept with the hero, cowboy, white hat, manifest destiny assumptions.
I actually think the more significant influence of spaghetti westerns was their violence and nihilism rather than anti imperialist critique. Django for example was barely if at all politically concerned and riddled with inconsistencies. It was however gleefully, laughably, luridly violent. You can see why Tarantino admired such a silly piece of shit. Surely some were critical, but a big part of it is that a lot of the creation mythology of America flies over the heads of Europeans. It really wouldn’t make the cut.
Also, relating to the making of them mentioned above, typically a spaghetti western was made at Cinécitta and on location in Almeria. Which would have been pretty cheap too! And boy do many of them look it.
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I simply belong to the “mediocre white man” group here, but my concentration in Film & Media Studies tells me that my film professors (yes, even the churlish screenwriting professor) would agree with @Mindysan33 .
Learn to let go sometimes, folks.
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You should watch “Tampopo” - plot: a cowboy trucker leads a noodle chef through a traditional martial arts training motif (but with noodles instead of kung fu).
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Ask and ye shall receive.
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I can’t help but mention this weird info (taken mostly from Ron Goulart’s history of Pulp Fiction) - that in the early days of pulp, the readers were split between rural and urban. With urban readers favoring the detective/police hero, and rural readers favoring the cowboy hero. The detective heros dressed like detectives, but the cowboy heros tried to outdo themselves with elaborate costumes. Red leather, masks, fringes - there was a sartorial arms race to make the cowboy heros stand out from each other. During the depression, when the rural folks moved to the cities looking for work, the two genres mixed - meaning colorful costumes coming to the urban heros. So, in a way - superheros are detectives dressed like pulp cowboys.
Anyway - I’d recommend that Goulart book to anyone who has an interest in pulp fiction.
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Costuming for superhero films is more interesting though without the burden of historicity.
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In America “slavery was bad” is a political statement
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I think he was referring to this Django:
True, the bad guys are ex-confederates who dress in pseudo Klan outfits, but I don’t recall slavery being even mentioned.
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Well that’s confusing, never mind then
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The classic “colorful leotard with briefs over tights, sometimes accompanied with a cape for extra flourish” look traces its origins to old-school circus acrobats so there’s a 19th-century basis for that look too.
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Although not well known in the US, except to spaghetti western aficionados, the original Django was phenomenally successful elsewhere. It had only one official sequel, but many, many films (especially if they starred Franco Nero, star of the original) tried to pass themselves off as related by putting Django in the title.
So, I suppose, there are many Djangos, as these various films could be very different from each other.
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COMING SOON: Into the Djangoverse
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Making it a statement against fascism using historical espys. Political but from a European perspective.
Just like the concentration camp reference in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
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Django was to Spaghetti Westerns what Hercules was to Pepulum. A stock name used in American titles regardless of the hero’s name in the original.
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I think tirade might be going a little far, especially when compared to other much more Marxist westerns, but I wouldn’t say there’s nothing political to it.
ETA:
Yeah, but the Italians also played this game plenty. Titles apparently could not be trademarked in Italy at the time.
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