Hold It Real Still: Clint Eastwood, Race, and the Cinema of the American West

310 Pages·2022·3.184 MB·English

by  Lawrence P. Jackson

Hold It Real Still
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Hold It Real Still
Clint Eastwood, Race,
and the Cinema of the American West
Lawrence P. Jackson
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2022 Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2022
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jackson, Lawrence Patrick, author.
Title: Hold it real still : Clint Eastwood, race, and the cinema of the
American West / Lawrence P. Jackson.
Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021045395 | ISBN 9781421444130 (hardcover) | ISBN
9781421444123 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Eastwood, Clint, 1930– —Criticism and interpretation. |
Western films—History and criticism. | Race in motion pictures. | Black
people in motion pictures.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.W4 J33 2022 |
DDC 791.43/6278—dc23/eng/20220318
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021045395
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more
information, please contact Special Sales at [email protected].
To my Mom and Dad, my sons Nathaniel and Mitchell,
my friend Christian Allen, and the Saponi,
wherever they may be
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Contents
Introduction 1
1
Black Representations in the Western 10
2
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Critique of the Colonial Aftermath 41
3
“That Damn War”: The Outlaw Josey Wales
and Reframing the Civil War 79
4
“Hold It Real Still”: Black Containment and Structures of Inequality
in The Outlaw Josey Wales 106
5
“Their Slaves, If Any They Have, Are Hereby Declared Free Men”:
Ride with the Devil and the Contraband as Decorative Adjunct 130
6
“I Am That One in Ten Thousand”: Django Unchained
and the Black Exceptional State 175
7
“Why Don’t They Kill Us?” Django Unchained
and the Politics of Deadly Force 207
Conclusion
The Return of the Native 227
Acknowledgments 245
Notes 249
Index 289
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Hold It Real Still