TRUE GRIT

The values of the book and movie from 2010 are very similar. It focus on this idea of strength and what it takes to survive this idea of the Wild West. The American mythology about the Wild West is that it is so untameable and unpredictable. You either get killed by men or the wilderness. This world of the Wild West only real has one type of person, there is no room for weakness (only in women). He is American Adam who is smart, strong, and brave. It’s very bad when man don’t do manly things, that make them brave and tough. They can’t be embarrassed or seen as a joke; which makes everything a pissing contest to show all the other men that you’re American Adam too. A good example of this the scene when LaBeouf gets mad a Rooster for making him look stupid in front of Mattie, which then turns into a shooting contest with cornbread. But this book is also about revenge. If you piss off the wrong people, revenge is inevitable because the West is about justice in the eye of the beholder. But If you're the opposite of the American Adam you’re an Eve or someone that deserve to be taken advantage of. I think the mainstream population of a Western culture is about perception of toughness and heroics. Which gives some of the characters like LaBeouf a fakeness which rubs people the wrong way, he tries to be the American Adam. I think both Mattie and Rooster cut through that idea of mainstream. Mattie is shown as mentally strong and smart busnesswomen at only 14. She is not the typical female role of a western. She's not put in a box of a gender role which goes against the mainstream. She's just has characteristics not specific to a gender. She is a child savior but also the American hero. She’s the one with the grit she seeks for her revenge for her father's murder.