Alternative Female Gender Roles
on the Frontier
In
the essay Go West, Young Woman! By
Gary Heba and Robin Murphy, the authors argue that the concrete
stereotypes found in traditional westerns provide an excellent
measure of social change. (326) Due to the strong backing placed
behind gender roles, both post-westerns and late westerns have drawn
on former ideals in order to emphasize alternative identities. High
Noon and Firefly both
intentionally draw contrast to the traditional roles found in
the western genre in order to defy expectations and strengthen
characters.
