Cowboy Myth the Female Cowboy in Johnny

Cowboy Myth

The Female Cowboy in Johnny Guitar

The myth of the cowboy continues to thrive in cinema and on television. It is difficult to maintain the mythological characteristics of the cowboy when the qualities inherent of a fictional cowboy are applied to a nonfictional person or situation. In Johnny Guitar Vienna exemplifies mythological characteristics of the cowboy while redefining the myth at the same time.

In "The Man in the Black Hat," Ruud Kaulingfreks, Geoff Lightfoot, and Hugo Letiche[footnoteRef:1] seek to explore how the mythological cowboy draws upon concepts of individualism, sociality, and morality. In the article, Kaulingfreks et al. argue that the cowboy "flees from the domination of man over man and finds freedom through living beyond society."[footnoteRef:2] This characteristic can be found in Johnny Guitar's Vienna, a woman who refuses to live by society's rules and runs a saloon on the outskirts of town.[footnoteRef:3] In Johnny Guitar, Vienna aims to become successful as a saloon owner, not in the present, but rather in the future with a proposed expansion of the railroad system that is sure to make the town grow and prosper. However, while Vienna is in favor of a railroad being built nearby, she faces opposition from Emma Small, a local cattle rancher, who contends that cattle ranchers, including herself, will be forced to give up valuable land if and when a railroad is built. [1: Ruud Kaulingfreks et al., "The Man in the Black Hat," Culture and Organization 15(2), (2009): 151. ] [2: Ruud Kaulingfreks et al., "The Man in the Black Hat," 152. ] [3: Johnny Guitar, YouTube, directed by Nicholas Ray (1954; United States: Republic Pictures). ]

Moreover, Kaulingfreks et al. contend the cowboy "is a hero of civil society, but his heroism is both dependent upon and reinforces a specific type of morality wherein goodness is only achievable in the individual as opposed to the collective."[footnoteRef:4] In Vienna's case, she not only faces opposition from Emma, but also from other townspeople whom Emma has convinced to oppose Vienna; additionally, Emma also takes the opportunity to falsely accuse Vienna of robbing a bank and attempts to get her hanged in order to completely destroy Vienna's power of persuasion. In the film, Vienna's support of the expansion of the railroad and subsequent growth of the town is demonstrative of her forward-thinking behavior. She, unlike Emma and other cattle ranchers, is not concerned with selfish reasons, i.e. hoarding land, but rather seeks to evolve the community, which can be considered to be an honorable trait. Because no one else in the community shares her future views, Vienna thereby exemplifies her individuality through her behavior and mores. [4: Ruud Kaulingfreks et al., "The Man in the Black Hat," 152.]

Kaulingfreks et al. also contend that cowboys' "behavior can be seen as extolling individualism, particularly through a marked disregard of social conventions, although this is not expressed in overt aggression directed towards the social."[footnoteRef:5] It can be argued that Vienna's behavior disregards social conventions on different levels. For one, Vienna is an independent woman who lives life on her own terms and socializes with whomever she pleases including criminals and gunslingers. On the other hand, Vienna's independence as a business-owner and entrepreneur instills fear in townspeople and cattle ranchers who do not share her vision of the future and do not recognize the endless opportunities that are afforded through the building of a railroad. In "The Cultural Myth of the Cowboy, or, How the West Was Won," Jennifer Moskowitz[footnoteRef:6] further argues that the cowboy is representative of both nationalism and capitalism. These cowboy traits can be seen in Vienna as her support of the construction of a railroad promotes nationalism by creating a path that connects the more industrialized East to the developing West. Additionally, Vienna promotes capitalism through her recognition of the opportunities that are attached to the expansion of the railroad and the growth of the town. As a mythological cowboy, Vienna also aims to "illuminate a moral ideal toward which a people aspire, binding together generations and communities, and helping us to understand how we are to live in the world and treat one another."[footnoteRef:7] [5: Ruud Kaulingfreks et al., "The Man in the Black Hat," 153.] [6: Jennifer Moskowitz, "The Cultural Myth of the Cowboy, or, How the West Was Won," Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture 1900 to Present, 5(1), (2006), accessed 13 August 2012, http://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/spring_2006/moskowitz.htm] [7: Jeffrey Lockwood, "Why the West Needs Mythic Cowboys," High Country News (2008), accessed 13 August 2012, http://www.hcn.org/issues/372/17740.]