Westerns: the genre that fell in on itself

 Westerns were the most popular genre in America in the 50's and 60's but unlike other genres have never been able to make a real comeback and there are a few reasons for that but I have a theory in real life the "western era" was a relatively short period of time only lasting around 30 years which leads to western productions whether intentional or not sometimes looking uninspired or copied because unlike with other genres say first world war films westerns almost always had the same story track even making certain actors famous for mainly playing western roles like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood combined they have made 162 westerns this causes a big problem if a genre which for decades has been dominated by very similar story threads and actors when people want something different there isn't alot of places to go. obviously writers still went different places with westerns but there was mixed success too different poo western too similar unoriginal. 

Next there is fatigue in the 30s tonnes of westerns came out due to them being fairly cheap to make which was ideal because of the depression then there was a revival in the 60s some say because this was a time America was true so people escaped through westerns to escape things like: communism, nuclear fallout, civil rights movements, the Vietnam war, Watergate, westerns were an escape for people into a fantasy land because as many people know the wild west wasn't really like how it was portrayed in Hollywood. But in both the 30s and 60s audiences  often due to an overindulgence in this one genre with too many flooding the market audiences grew bored of them not completely obviously but because they wanted something different. So you may ask why hasn't there been other resurgences of Westerns? because there were new things to idealise America is a young country so when times were tough they had a very limited history to look back on for hope for the future but eventually they gathered more history to idealise and look back upon if needed maybe in decades people will look back on the 2010s as the decade superhero movies were the replacement to westerns. audiences had and will get more and more rabbit holes to go down to escape their reality the more recent the better because it's easier to collect hope from  something more recent.

Then there is the cultural view people nowadays when they think of westerns think of most often the 60s because that when the best ones undeniably came out the 60s was their heyday but for the previous reasons and others instead of the industry trying to reach back up to that highpoint for whatever reason 60s became synonymous with Westerns so in the decades after even now to an extent whether consciously or subconsciously executives and people in general will feel that they are old fashioned and antiquated. This is due to the reasons stated above and the next reason

Westerns ran their own course early Westerns were often set at the start of the Western period then later Westerns took a look at the end of the Western period this was forced on by the limited time period and setting but ended really interestingly Westerns ended themselves later ones which looked at cowboys with nowhere to go as America as we now it slowly approached like Shane or the searchers or how the west was won ended up unintentionally leaving future Westerns with little or nowhere to go to continue there story. Why doesn't this happen to say War films well beyond the fact that they weren't ever as formulaic as Westerns were because of the more intense period of time you can explore it alot more and still leave lots of stories for future filmmakers if that makes sense. The Wild West was a 30 year founding period for America and not alot happened even in early Westerns this was apparent because as America likes to say Truth and Justice prevail and the good guys were almost exclusively in cases town sheriffs. One of the most apparent ways the Western era of the sixties was over was when Unforgiven starring Clint Eastwood came out one of the biggest stars of the Western genre playing for one last time as an old cowboy who has no place to go as America is forming its almost a perfect metaphor in a way as the genre got old so did the actor starring in them.

Westerns are coming back but not as we know them older style westerns are still coming out with recent examples being Django Unchained, The revenant, The magnificent seven, true grit, lone ranger remakes and the ballad of Buster Scruggs. The new Westerns are more exploring the emptiness of America what I mean is because America is so big entire towns and villages are still fairly remote Wind River is set in rural Wyoming and Hell or High Water set in rural Texas how are these still Westerns if they are set in the modern day? Because even though they are set in the modern day the only thing that is really different is the time its still rural empty landscapes still gun fights still lone heroes standing up to the bad guys watch Wind river or hell or high water and then watch a classic like Shane or a fistful of dollars and you will probably understand what I mean. 

Westerns will probably never particularly come back if at all being replaced by more modern Westerns but the films will still come out I don't really have a proper way to end this because this was an idea that popped into my little head and i had fun with it maybe there will never really be an ending because like Westerns my idea will ride of into the sunset with a melancholy feel and as the end of this post approaches have nowhere to go.......