Representations of the WestIt usually begins with an empty, grimy street, a vast silence interrupted only by the creak of a gently swinging wooden saloon sign; a lone figure with a cowboy hat placed low over his eyes, his hand positioned just above the hilt of his gun, walks slowly toward our view. Another dark, frightening figure emerges from the shadows at the other end of the street. A classic scene of Western confrontation is about to play out – an act so common that it has often been spoofed, yet remains a custom that rarely fails to captivate its audience. The birth of the Western film happened at almost exactly the same time. time as the border closes. Many people believed that closing the border also meant closing how the border affected the development of American identity. However, this was not the case. The West has been represented in different ways throughout the history of cinema. Westerns showed many different aspects of the West, from train robberies to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show to the many confrontations between cowboys and Indians. Cinema helped share with Americans the many different aspects of the West. And while many of these portrayals don't always show audiences the truth, they all helped shape American film culture. The history of the West is almost as old as the film itself. In May 1894, Thomas Edison began recording several different attractions on film, including acts from Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. In addition to these shows, Edison also filmed two fictional scenes, Cripple Creek Bar-Room and Poker at Dawson City. With these few dancing images, the Western film was born. In 1903, the Edison company made a short silent film...... middle of paper ......ng Sioux and then informally became involved with the tribe. The depiction of Indians in Westerns will probably never do justice to Native Americans, because whether they are depicted as nightmarish devils or as victimized saints, they are depicted more as figments of the imagination of white American culture than as a authentic native of the frontiers. Westerns are the major genre that defines the American film industry, a sentimental homage to the beginnings of the vast and untamed American frontier, the line between sophistication and simplicity. It is one of the oldest, most enduring, and most uniquely American film genres. And while there is sometimes a lack of reality in these films, there has never been any doubt that Westerns have been one of the major contributors to our identity as a nation in the world of cinema...