The Western was America’s bedrock mythology – and greatest movie genre – for the first 70 years of film history. But, during a tumultuous period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the “revisionist” Western took up a fiercely critical argument with the past: In the disillusioned age of the counterculture and Vietnam, you could no longer distinguish heroes from villains by the color of their hats.
Movie reviewer, author and speaker Robert Horton will be at the Olympia Timberland Library on Thursday, May 16 from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. to lead a conversation asking how films reflect the history and culture of their times.
Horton’s perspective is that because of the dramatic changes seen in Westerns, the genre forces us to look critically at our own myths: Why do we need the clarity of “good guys” and “bad guys” at certain times? Why do we sometimes embrace a more ambiguous view of human nature? How do these movies challenge us – and what happens when a movie forces us to question our long-cherished beliefs?
Horton has written and talked about films for over 30 years. He reviews movies for The Herald in Everett, KUOW-FM in Seattle, and a number of national publications. His books include “Billy Wilder: Interviews and Frankenstein.” Horton is a member of the 2012-2014 Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, www.humanities.org/programs/speakers. He has taught film at Seattle University and blogs at http://roberthorton.wordpress.com.
Sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Friends of the Olympia Timberland Library, the program is free of charge and open to the public. The library is located at 313 8th Ave., Olympia. For more information, contact the library at (360) 352-0595 or visit www.TRL.org.
