Movie heroes and their prototypes: the Hollywood myth about cowboys turned out to be far from reality

Elements of a cowboy image: hat, scarf, plaid shirt

The dashing heroes from American Westerns, scorching from two-handed colts, are nothing more than fiction, another Hollywood myth that significantly distorts reality. In fact, in the daily life of cowboys there was much less heroism, romance and firing from revolvers. What really were the dashing guys of the Wild West, who became symbols of American culture?

The screen image of a cowboy is a handsome macho man of European appearance, hung with weapons. In fact, a third of the cowboys were black, freed and sought work, and a quarter were Indians! Not all of them could afford weapons: a cowboy (that is, a “shepherd”) earned an average of $ 25 a month, and weapons at that time were more expensive. Continue reading →