The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The film 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' is typical of its genre through the iconographies, narrative aspects, representations, ideologies and technical conventions that it uses. There are many other similar aspects, making its genre easily identifiable.

Iconographies - The film uses iconography to establish the genre. Iconographies are visual symbols, that the audience decode to establish the genre of the text. Western films use many different iconographies to establish the genre, for example the costumes that the characters wear, with the typical cowboy wearing a stetson, jeans, a shirt and spurs. With the personality of each character being tellable by their clothing, as the villains usually wear mostly black clothing. Another iconography used are props, with handguns being the most common prop in western films, in addition to sheriff badges, cigarettes/cigars and horses. The location of western films is also crucial, with most set in isolated locations and saloon bars. Monument Valley in America was a popular filming location in western films. These visual codes allow the reader to establish the genre of the text almost instantly, and adjust their expectations accordingly.
        
Narrative aspects - The audience of the text will be able to identify the genre through the storyline and narrative aspects. Western films usually contain the same basic storyline, with a villain arriving in town, and stand offs with the hero and the villain, with the hero usually winning and receiving female attention as the prize. The title of the film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" implies the Propp theory. This is confirmed in the above clip, as there are 3 characters having a shoot out, with it being clear who are the good and bad characters by features such as clothing and actions, although there is no dialogue til the end if the scene. This is binary opposition, as it shows the two different types of characters against each other, in the form of the hero and the villain.

Representations - In Western films, males are over represented, as they are shown as strong and always participating in violence, whether being shown as a bad character, or a good character in a position of trust, such as a sheriff or a hero, showing that whether a good or bad character, violence is shown in all types of characters. Women characters in the films are often a prize at the end of the violence, for the hero character to gain. They are shown as damsels in distress, sometimes taken/kidnapped by the bad character and are saved by the hero, with the outcomes usually ending positively for the 2 main characters, the hero and the princess.

Ideologies - Although each Western film has a different storyline, ideas and beliefs, the basic plot is the same, and often contain males fighting to hold their power, which appears to be the main theme in Western films. Western films are also set in a similar location and feature the same type of music, props and clothing, easily making films easily identifiable as being part of the western genre.

Technical conventions - The music of the film also helps to determine the genre. The music in Western films is usually instrumental to build tension, or with slight singing, but in a different scenario. The diegetic sounds are usually rather sharp and sound slightly muffled, due to the technology at the era they were filmed in. The camera angles are usually fast cuts in the shoot outs, as demonstrated in the video clip above. The fast cuts of extreme close-ups to the eyes are edited in post-production and are to create suspense for the viewer. Western films are usually shot in the same kind of way.