1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

The class, prior to the film, primarily discussed the works of primarily Ford and the evolution of the western genre. From its roots in New Jersey/New York in "The Great Train Robbery" "westerns" would move out west to match their genre ambiance. Ford would go on to make several westerns that circled around a hero, more than not John Wayne, who started out to be the quintessential "good guy" but would eventually evolve, until the end of the westerns during the seventies. This evolution would become that of an anti-hero who the obeys by his own moral code and leaves the justifications of his actions to the audience watching the film. "Stagecoach" was primarily, because it was an earlier film, a movie with the "known good guy" who may have only followed by his own moral code but still had an obvious role as the "good guy" in the film. 

2) Find a related article (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) 
and summarize the content. You may use the library or the internet. 

The evolution of the western can be measured up into three different waves, according to the article. The first wave of films came from the original westerns, the silent westerns that would define the genre for its first thirty years. "The Great Train Robbery" becomes the poster movie for the genre until the creation of the "talkies". The second wave comes from the beginning of the talkie westerns including "Stagecoach" which saved the dying genre; these movies would re-create the genre. The third wave is that of the adult psychological westerns during the post war era. These movies introduced themes like the antihero where the line of good and evil was frayed. After this wave the genre began to die out, most likely due to the end of the rural-urban transformation period. During this time, there was no need to see westerns when many people had lived in suburbia for years.

Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the 
related article but do not plagiarize any content.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11schatz.html?ref=magazine&_r=0

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the article support or 
change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

The article adds on to the reasons why we needed the western genre in a post war time. The article points out the rural-urban transformation, that took place after World War II, became the reason behind the rural simpler time known in westerns. " By the 1960s, the western had peaked both as a viable Hollywood commodity and as a national myth to ease America's rural-urban transformation, in part brought low by a combination of market saturation and generic exhaustion."

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a 
result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article. I am less 
interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I 
am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director. 

"Stagecoach" flat out saved the western genre. For this reason alone "Stagecoach" should be held at a higher standard than other films. Beside that point the film itself was quite good, it is a Ford film so the script can be a bit dry at points, but the idea of the movie was a fun, exciting one. "Stagecoach" created movies like "The Searchers" "The Rio Bravo" and the spaghetti westerns. "Stagecoach" almost reaches back to the old silent films, how John Ford was taught in the art of filming, because of this we get the up close action shot of John Wayne and scenes like this. 

Plagiarism Statement: Attach this to the end of every journal assignment.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 1) (x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any 
other class. 2) (x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other 
classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 3) (x ) If I used any passages word for word, I 
put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 4) (x
) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in 
the text of the paper. 5) (x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally 
read. 6) (x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in 
another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 7) (x ) I did not 
so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 8) (x ) I 
checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and 
ideas used in my paper. 

Name: ____________Alex Lukasiuk__________________________ Date: ________10/7/14__________