Review of Shane (1953) by Catherine N — 13 Jan 2011

I had the pleasure of watching Shane for the first time with Joshua who had read the book for school. The story, told from the point of view of a young boy in homsteading with his parents in Western cattle country, tells the tale of a loner/gun slinger named Shane attempting to leave violence behind and turn over a new leaf.

While set in the American Mythic west, I would contend that is film doesn't follow the genre conventions of the Western as neither Shane nor the boy are ultimately brought I in to civilized society.

While the villainous cattlemen are put to right and order is established in the small Western town, churches are not built, single men are not getting married and guns still abound. This narrative fits closer with the initiation of boys into mail society as expounded upon in Terrance Real and Carol Gilligan's "I Don't Want to "Talk about It: The Secret Legacy of Male Depression.

" It is bar room brawls, gun fights and funeral that make a man of the young boy. His new world cannot support the man who wants to leave fighting behind. There is no redemption for Shane who as a realized Man must wander the plains.