The western, one of Hollywoods great film genres, has, surprisingly, enjoyed a revival recently in Asia and in other parts of the world, whilst at the same time declining in America. Although the western is often seen as an example of American cultural dominance, this book challenges this view. It considers the western from an Asian perspective, exploring why the rise of Asian westerns has come about, and examining how its aesthetics, styles and politics have evolved as a result. It analyses specific Asian Westerns as well as Westerns made elsewhere, including in Australia, Europe, and Hollywood, to demonstrate how these employ Asian philosophical and mythical ideas and value systems. The book concludes that the western is a genre which is truly global, and not one that that is purely intrinsic to America.
Part I: Eastern Westerns
1. Tears of the Black Tiger and the Southeast Asian Western
2. Sukiyaki Western Django, Asian Flavour of the Western Circuit
3. The Good, The Bad, The Weird and the Manchurian Western
4. Let the Bullets Fly, a Chinese Revolutionary Western
5. No Mans Land and Wind Blast, Post-Westerns in the Chinese West
6. Sholay, The Westerns Passage to India
Part II: Westerns Inside and Outside of Hollywood
7. Django Unchained as Asian Western
8. Dharma and Sexuality in Brokeback Mountain
9. The Magnificent Seven, the Prototype Eastern Western
10. An Asian Reading of Two Australian Aboriginal Westerns, Jedda and Mystery
Road
11. Rasa in Once Upon a Time in the West
12. Rasa and Dharma in John Fords The Searchers
Stephen Teo is an Associate Professor in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
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