John Ford Western Research

There have been many outstanding directors and works in more than100years’ history of American Westerns. John Ford and his Westerns were the most representative among them. The whole life of Ford as a director of Westerns almost contained several important developmental stages of the entire genre’s history of Westerns. Regarding "Stagecoach"(1939) as the starting point, this paper will focus on the systematic combing, in-depth analysis and comprehensive study to Ford’s Westerns from four aspects:the theme, the narrative, the visual effect and the genre.There are two changes of the theme in Ford’s Westerns:the reversal of civilization and barbarism, the clarifying of the history and legend. And the inside and outside of deep-seated reasons can be found behind these changes. In addition, Ford’s works have also expressed two constant themes:the nostalgia for the tradition, the vision for the future.On the basis of the western literature of American, there have been full use and innovation of the classic narrative mode in Ford’s Westerns. The change which is from the Binary Opposition mode to the Two Heroes mode has also appeared in the pattern of characters’relationship.Ford’s Westerns have always been known for the distinctive visual style, especially in the space, composition and the scene scheduling.Ford’s works have demonstrated a strong sense of the genre, such as:the learning from the elements of other genre, the cultivating of the genre’s stars, the choosing of dual identity of the director-producer.