“The Way to Dusty Death”: The Feminist Revision of the Western in Nomadland

Abstract

The Western film genre is founded upon patriarchal and capitalist conditions embedded deeply within structuralist analyses. The portrayal of the solitary, white male cowboy—with its themes of rugged individualism and phallocentric mannerisms—has affected the depiction of women, people of color, and other marginalized groups across media. These prejudicial structures, though applied throughout the genre, has seen revision in recent productions, most notably by feminist directors of the modern era. In Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, Western narrative elements and cinematic techniques have been amended to favor genuine testimonials from affected individuals of economic collapse caused by the hubris of industrialists and the male-centered world that instigates it. Zhao’s cast offer division from gender binaries within the careless wilderness through the presentation of predominantly female and collectivist characters and her utilization of a performative documentarian approach that brings forth neorealist motivations of truthful representations of sidelined groups in this decayed West.