Abstract

As a distinctive cultural figure, Western heroes, in the portrayals of classic Westerns, Tuner’s “frontier thesis”, once have prevailed among Americans. In glory days of Westerns, western heroes are the representatives of advancement, justice, and courage via their stereotypical elements and embellishment of Western Myth. However, time witnessed different presentations of western heroes. Since 1970s, encountering both domestic and overseas difficulties, Americans started to re-examine history, which influenced the themes of Westerns different from those of the golden 1920s. This evolution reflects the nuances of mainstream culture and conception of history of American society, indicating that Americans gradually wake up from their dream of self-complacency. Nowadays, Westerns are more like a set of Americans’ reflections on that period of history, revealing us different profile of western heroes.
This paper, through chronologic comparisons and analyses, taking Unforgiven as an analyzing sample, aims to explore Americans’ reflections on western heroes. It starts with the introduction part in which the basic concepts of western heroes and the Westerns are given. Chapter two gives brief introduction of the director, actor and producer of Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood and the film itself. Chapter three examines four major aspects of inflections on Western heroes thoroughly, including heroism, Western Myth, exaggeration and prettification, and female figures in Westerns. The conclusion part tells that Western heroes function to enliven and sustain particular nationality and western culture. The evolution of such heroes enlightens us with the development of Americans ideology in such aspects as multiculture, codes of morality, and re-examination on history.

key words: Western heroes; Unforgiven; reflections; heroism; Western Myth

摘  要
 
  西部英雄是美国独有的文化人物。因为在经典西部片中的人物写照，加上自特纳以来的“边疆假说”，牛仔形象曾经一度风靡全美，在西部片的黄金时代，西部英雄都有着典型固化的表现元素的定型人物塑造。在西部开发拓荒历史的固化观念下，加上对现代西部神话的人为加构，西部英雄俨然成为进步正义勇敢的代表。而对作为文化聚焦点的西部英雄，在美国不同的历史文化时期有着不同的解读。美国70年代以后面对内外交困的状况，这促使美国人对历史进行重新审视与反思，这些反思投影到对西部片解读的变化与演变，反映了美国社会主流历史观与价值观的细微变化。西部英雄从往日的传奇到今日披上浓烈的悲剧性色彩侧面也反映出美国人已经逐渐从自我沉浸的英雄主义，西部神话以及盲目夸大的描述中清醒过来。现在的西部片更多的像是美国人反思和内疚的集合，体现了西部英雄的另外一面。本文以《不可饶恕》作为分析样本，从历时性对比分析出发，探究美国人对西部英雄的反思。
本文分为三部分。第一部分介绍了西部英雄以及西部片的起源和发展。第二部分简要介绍了电影《不可饶恕》创作背景及其重要意义，以及其导演兼主演克林特伊斯特伍德的基本情况。第三部分则重点分析美国人对西部英雄的反思的几个主要方面。结论部分总结了这些反思与解构背后有着深刻的社会文化含义和原因。

关键词：西部英雄；不可饶恕；反思；英雄主义；西部神话