Guardians of the Galaxy, released in 2014, is an intergalactic western with the standard outlaws as well as the typical group of “bandits.” Western films are typically characterized by the plot line: a stranger walks into town and messes things up for the citizens and themselves. I would consider Guardians of the Galaxy a western movie in theme¬—not in setting, as the movie is set in space not the western deserts of Earth. I found a popular review and academic article that work together in harmony to prove my claim of western genre. The actions of characters in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Fistful of Dollars, a spaghetti western, are thematically parallel as well. Obviously the two movies have a lot more to contrast, but I will focus on the similarities for the purposes of this paper. Although Guardians of the Galaxy is not a true western, it holds many of the same characteristics and plot points implemented into the western genre.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a story of an earthling who lives in space along with other aliens in the galaxy. Chris Pratt’s character “Star-Lord,” or Peter Quill is abducted from Earth as a small child after his mother passed away from cancer. Quill, the main character, stole an orb in order to sell it on his own, crossing Yondu who happens to be his childhood kidnapper. Many powerful people in the galaxy want the orb to control the universe, including Ronan and Thanos. Ronan and Thanos were stereotypical bad guys who enjoy destroying planets and slaughtering things. Thanos’s daughter Gamora set off after Quill to try to take the orb to sell. Other characters like Rocket, Drax, and the tree humanoid Groot were introduced in the plotline around the same time. The whole crew was a band of misfits and thieves and murderers who ended up together through necessity more than the pleasure of each other’s company. Ronan obtained the orb, which was revealed to contain an infinity stone at the climax of the movie. The “Guardians of the Galaxy” worked together to get the orb back in order to restore peace in the galaxy and prevent the destruction of planets. The guardians of the galaxy returned the orb to the space police like good citizens of the universe would.
The genre of Guardians of the Galaxy seems to be an obvious superhero movie on the surface, but Quill is not the typical superhero with his criminal background. Guardians of the Galaxy fits better in the Western genre. The American Movie Classics website described westerns as one of the most flexible genres (“Western Films”). The origins of western cinema are in samurai movies such as Seven Samurai or Yojimbo, both movies directed by Akira Kurosawa. Westerns may also have been influenced by the stories of medieval knights in Europe. Both samurai and medieval subject material exemplify chivalry and doing the right thing in the end. I would consider Peter Quill the “outlaw” character in the movie who walks into town.
The popular review written by the The Atlantic praised Guardians of the Galaxy for mocking the generic superhero movie. The author Kilkenny also commended the movie for its refusal to value power and wealth over more important things like intergalactic peace. The main characters were all hurt by the society in which they lived and came together to become the guardians of the galaxy. All of the characters had baggage and were not perfect. Kilkenny emphasized the importance of teamwork as a theme throughout the movie as she wrote, “the power of the ‘We’ over that of the ‘Chosen One’’’ (Kilkenny, par 3). She made the point of the effectiveness of making the characters equal as no one was more “super” than the others. All of the characters carried stories of trauma and pain, but no one’s story was more tragic or put on more of a pedestal.
There were no academic articles that I could find analyzing Guardians of the Galaxy specifically. I chose an academic article which questions what makes a western film a western. The key points the article touches on were that western genre movies do not have to be set in the west. Clark Mitchell characterized the genre as holding the traditional family as a central value and underscoring gender roles. He disregarded the importance of setting and focused specifically on central themes as he argued that the movie A History of Violence, a gangster movie, fits into the Western genre (Clark Mitchell, 2018). Some of the footnotes listed below the article also revealed people’s thoughts that Star Wars fit better into the Western genre than science fiction because of its commonalities with westerns. Guardians of the Galaxy did not really have traditional gender roles common in western film as Gamora and her sister Nebula were two of the scariest characters in the movie. The movie did show the family values discussed in the article. All of the main characters did not have living blood relatives to call their families, but they had each other and utilized some of the familial values like sacrifice and welfare of the household. The guardians of the galaxy all acted like a family, initially arguing and aggressive, but then they united and bonded over common goals like saving the galaxy.
On the surface, Guardians of the Galaxy and Fistful of Dollars are extremely different. Guardians of the Galaxy has very bright and saturated colors throughout while Fistful of Dollars has muted colors for the desolate desert. Fistful of Dollars also does not give exposition or depth to the main character tagged as the “man with no name”. The most obvious difference between the two movies though is that Guardians of the Galaxy is set in space, while Fistful of Dollars is set in the typical western backdrop. The plot lines are fairly similar though as Clint Eastwood walks into town as the Stranger and decides on which family he should assist. The Stranger debates which side he should join as he reaps benefits from each side. Eastwood’s character mirrored the actions of Sanjuro in Yojimbo as Yojimbo was a major influence on so-called ‘spaghetti westerns’. Pratt’s character in Guardians of the Galaxy also walked the thin line between two sides and debated which side to give the powerful orb. Selling the orb would have made Quill and the other main characters rich, but turning it into Nova Corps would save a plethora of planets from destruction. The music used in each movie is viewed as iconic in their own ways. Fistful of Dollars used the Japanese influenced drum music throughout to pay homage to Yojimbo’s soundtrack. The music arranged for Yojimbo has survived in westerns to this day. Guardians of the Galaxy used recognizable songs from the 80’s to pay tribute to the old comic book days from which the movie has its origins.
Guardians of the Galaxy may seem to be a nerdy comic book hero movie, but it holds the traditional American Western film values of genre. The critic Kilsberry pointed out that family as a concept had stressed importance in Guardians of the Galaxy. Western genre as described by writer Mitchell Clark stresses family relations as a central theme in Westerns. Therefore, Guardians of the Galaxy is a Western genre movie with the makeshift family present in the plot line. American culture thrives on the underdog story that Guardians of the Galaxy tells throughout the movie for all of the main characters. The characters are real and damaged like everyday people. They seemed very human even though none of the characters were one hundred percent authentic. All of the characters held all of the human characteristics that appeal to American audiences. The movie was literally out in the galaxy, but the characters acted as normal humans as that is relatable to audiences.