Steele Family misogyny

Most Westerns are morality tales. The best of them are able to give the flavor of life in the old west while at the same time dealing with issues of the day. A well-written Western is able to make its point within the rules of the genre.

One might also suggest that there were Women's Lib and all the other movements of the second half of the 20th century because enough people in the postwar era believed there should be change. Those themes were often woven through Westerns. The appeal of Westerns wasn't their authenticity, that's for sure. lol It was the discussion of issues and modern dilemmas in an entertaining and nostalgic way with interesting characters and action-filled plots.

The complicated social ideas presented by the Westerns that were created from the McCarthy era of the 1950s to the present day made them very different from the simple Oaters of the previous era where the Good Guys stopped the Bad Guys from doing some sort of criminal activity. In WWII that was a metaphor for what we were doing in the world, with no doubt in many people's minds that it was a just war against a great evil.

The closing of the West to homesteading was seen by many as a sobering change in our national perspective, losing the feeling that there was always land to the west where a person could remake his or her life. That led to the creation of myths about that time, when men were real men and women were real women. Writers began to use those myths the way folklore has always been used, to teach a lesson. The early lessons were crudely crafted and you had no doubt whom you were supposed to emulate and who was weak, cruel, and dishonest. The later lessons were far more sophisticated and were much more likely to be about the dignity of all humans and equality under the law, the value of doing the right thing even if you gain nothing from it and might even end up dead, and the need to be the one who keeps your head when others are forming into the proverbial angry mob ready to burn down a house or lynch someone merely for being unpopular or different. Some Westerns were even downright subversive. High Noon certainly was.

Badly written Westerns, in my view, make no effort to adhere to the genre and are simply modern dramas with actors in funny clothes.

Any idea where I can watch this episode? I'm curious about it because it's supposedly based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Any suggestions for viewing it online would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Major Adams had reservations about Doctor C. Ames Willoby (played by Jane Wyman). And Carol Ames Willoby, MD like Kitty Albright, succeeds with The Major.

Jean Holloway and Norman Jolley were the best writers on Wagon Train.

Wow! What a disgusting point of view. You must be a really sad guy and I would bet that you don't get many second dates. Were you the product of an abusive father?

We are all forgetting that these shows were written and produced many, many years ago in a different time and place. Why don't we just enjoy them for what they are and not try to analyze them in today's context.

While there was some violence and mysogeny in Wagon Train it wasn't nearly as bad as what we see today or, even in some of the other shows of that era.

At least some of the Wagon Train episodes attempted to convey good moral stories.

You took the words out of my mouth about judging programs of a bygone era by the standards of today. Another thing to remember was there were times when a doctor was needed and it did not matter what the sex of the doctor was. There were not many times when someone was dying or in extreme need of medical attention that he/she would refuse the only doctor around regardless if it was woman or not white. Once again, standards were different and another thing was standards of modesty were verrrrry different then and that was another barrier that women doctors had to overcome. Some things do get better with time.

I didn't see that scene but it has to be less lurid than the introductory sexual murders in shows such as Criminal Minds and CSI.