E-resources
Peer reviewed
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Horne, Thomas A.
Journal of film and video, 10/2013, Volume: 65, Issue: 3Journal Article
In a culture used to the updating of the Western hero to fighter pilots in Star Wars (1977), Top Gun (1986), and Space Cowboys (2000), for example, the link between Bush stepping out of the jet in full fighter uniform and the symbolism of the Western hero could not be missed. ...just as Western films have long provided mythic examples of courageous men who subdue vicious outlaws, as in the original 3:10 to Yuma, which could be used to support American policies such as the Cold War, they also have a history that dates at least to the Vietnam War of debunking the myth of the Western hero and the idea of American exceptionalism that the hero carries.
