The Modern Western Is A Contradiction

Kodi Smit-McPhee in “The Power of the Dog.” KIRSTY GRIFFINKIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX It seems paradoxical that both “The Power of the Dog” and “The Harder They Fall” have appealed to today’s audiences that are, in part, eager to see more evolved images on-screen yet have flocked to a genre that is mired in hyperheterosexuality and whiteness. “The Power of the Dog” has many of the makings of early Westerns, including its vast landscape, though it explores the interior lives of two queer men locked inside the genre’s white hypermasculinity. “The Harder They Fall” has all the trappings with its rampant violence… Read Full Article