What is it about?
In the film western "Hell or HIgh Water," the overarching metaphor for men (and this is primarily a world of men) who repeatedly confront the socioeconomic forces pitted against the values they want to uphold—family, law, even the spurious American dream—is the Comanche, to which several characters lay claim. Though the ex-con Tanner most directly asserts the eponymous enmity of the Comanche to the interests and forces arrayed against him and his brother’s family, it is the indigenous deputy Alberto who most clearly articulates the serial history of conquest, destruction, and exploitation of the region. "Hell or High Water" gives us not just a rueful lament for the Old West of film mythology but a tart critique of the genre and of the real-world exploitation of the region’s people and the devastation of the American dream they cling to
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Why is it important?
The article underscores how this contemporary neo-western has adapted the conventions of the film western genre to address contemporary social and economic issues.
Perspectives
I enjoy the way intelligent pop culture can capture the zeitgeist and comment on current sociopolitical and socioeconomic problems. Writing about "Hell or High Water," which is so well written and directed, gave me great pleasure in this regard: It rejuvenates an old form to treat new material of some urgency in the US.
Douglas Green
Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Appropriating the Comanche: Hell or High Water and the New Southwest, Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, March 2020, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/zaa-2020-0008.
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