The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly/Navajo Joe

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Navajo Joe both introduce a much more violent western. Both films placed a much larger emphasis on the "other" and lessened the appeal of the white, alpha-male cowboy. In Navajo Joe, the alpha male and "other" roles are reversed. Joe, instead, assumes the role of the alpha male and saves the town from a band of outlaws as he seeks revenge for the brutal massacre of his village. In a cultural studies sense, the spaghetti westerns are much more realistic in their depiction of the implications of manifest destiny. Where other westerns seemed to imply Native Americans as savages, Navajo Joe portrayed the white men as reckless, killing innocent people and committing countless crimes. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is overwhelmed with violence. In one scene, Angel Eyes directs much of this violence towards a women, a level of disrespect that had never been seen in westerns before. Overall, both films seem to suggest that the nation was much more violent than it was made out to be. Other countries viewed America as being inhuman in their actions taken against others, especially with regards to Native Americans, blacks, and women. While filmmakers in the United States sugar-coated our actions, the spaghetti westerns laid them out on the line for what they truly were. While America defended it's view as being "divine" and rightful in the sense of imperialization, other countries were critical of this. This criticism shown through in such spaghetti westerns.