April 2025
My grandfather Hector O. Valencia was born in April 1932 (probably) and died in April 2015. He never could go out to the movies all that much due to his PTSD, but he loved westerns. So I decided that this month, I wanted to spend it how I've spent his birthday every year for the last ten years: watching westerns, and thinking about him. This year, I saw one western a day for the entire month of April ; fifteen that I have seen before and fifteen completely new to me*. So why do I love westerns? I think they are such a fascinating intersection of so many themes: outlaws vs lawmen, the veneer of sophistication next to aboriginal tradition and values, male violence and female isolation, poor & impoverished immigrants and Civil War veterans of both sides looking for that oft promised american dream, and the simple brutality of the West—where the laws of god and man don't mean much when you're staring down the barrel of a Colt Peacemaker. Like everywhere in the world, t...