According to Manne’s definition of misogyny (the ‘police force’ which works below the fabric of society to uphold the patriarchal status quo): This can be easily explained, and is beautifully explained by Kate Manne in The Logic of Misogyny. When writers create stories about women seeking vengeance, they tend to make them true underdogs, whereas we accept men who set out to avenge a villain like a superhero, asking “Well, who needs saving today?” This may have changed in recent decades (for better or for worse) but male viewers were initially alienated by Thelma & Louise while women found it empowering (as a cohort). There’s something alienating about a woman with a gun and a chip on her shoulder. Linda Williams has said that when a female character (or female duo) lights out to seek vengeance, the audience expects her motivations to be stronger than it might be if she were a man. Consider this a kind of gender inverse of Thelma & Louise, in which two women are similarly alienated, then escape from all things masculine. As we watch them, the audience becomes aware of the depth of the vengeful main character’s alienation from the ‘sivilisation’ once equated with anything feminine. Ethan and Martin wander over the Southwestern landscape.

Another example of a Revenge Western is The Searchers (A John Wayne film from 1956) in which An American Civil War veteran embarks on a journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches. Revenge stories grip us because of their mythic excess. She knows exactly what she wants and exactly who she must see in order to get it. Mattie is so capable that she solves any technical difficulties off-screen. Some of these Revenge Westerns also include elements from a classic mystery story, though not True Grit.

In other words, this is the Western equivalent of a cat-and-mouse story. Like almost all stories from the Revenge Western subgenre, the plot involves an elaborate chase and pursuit by a wronged individual. Matilda by Roald Dahl is the ultimate revenge fantasy. We see it in stories for all audiences, including in stories for children, in which they tend to be super popular. If there are 7 basic plots of all Western stories, True Grit can be considered a Revenge Western. Thematically, it’s not a western but a crime story. Are you talking about the setting, the plot or the themes? Setting-wise, it’s a western. In 1969, True Grit was widely thought to be a parody of a western. The Coen Brothers remake is not a western at all.

The Western is itself a blend of genres, using the American West of the 1800s as a setting. Listed on IMDb as Adventure, Drama, Western. What can storytellers learn from True Grit? Genre Blend of True Grit For all we know, she’s going to fully recover, limbs intact. The 1969 film ends with Mattie’s arm in a sling. The Coen Brothers adaptation is more faithful to this dark detail, depicting Mattie at the end with no arm. The novel is a first-person narrative recounted by a one-armed old maid. The Coen Brothers also modernised Charles Portis’ novel by turning it into a mumblecore, which I understand better with subtitles, but the 1969 actors were stage trained, and speak with clear enunciation. The two versions are very similar in plot. Turns out the 1969 film is benign enough to watch with my cowboy-loving primary school aged daughter, who loves it to bits. The 1969 original stood the test of time, so they said. When iconic Australian film critics Margaret and David reviewed the 2010 film True Grit they did enjoy it, but couldn’t see the point of a remake.

True grit movie