The Romance of Competence: Rethinking Masculinity in the Western

Discussions of masculinity in the Western regularly characterize it as in a state of crisis, pointing to heroes hamstrung between ideologically opposed models of manhood, one endorsing commitment to community and family, the other advocating freedom from them. Yet, the metaphor of crisis, with its suggestion of irresolution and immobility, fails to account for the competence of heroes who display behavior from both models. Such heroes realize their goals precisely because they combine behaviors from both models as their strategies for success. The heroes of postwar Westerns thus redefine masculinity as they transgress the limitations of the two models to create a new ideal of masculinity that incorporates all manner of behaviors, provided that they lead to male success.