From Painting to Cinema

Archetypes of the European Woman as a Cultural Mediator in the Western genre

Bibliographic Data

ID21974841
AuthorsOlga Kosachova (0000-0002-0030-7892, Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume14
Issue4
Pages83
Publication date2025-07-23
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArts (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2076-0752 • E-ISSN: 2076-0752
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/arts14040083
OpenAlexW4412598963
LanguageEN
References cited10

The Western genre has traditionally been associated with American identity and male-dominated narratives. However, recent decades have seen increasing attention to female protagonists, particularly the European woman as a cultural mediator within the frontier context. This study aims to identify the archetypes of the European woman in the Western genre through a diachronic and comparative analysis of the visual language found in European painting from the late 17th to early 19th centuries and in 20th–21st century cinema. The research methodology combines narrative, visual, and semiotic analysis, with a focus on intermedial and intertextual parallels between visual art and film. The study identifies nine archetypal models corresponding to goddesses of the Greek pantheon and traces their transformation across different aesthetic systems. These archetypes, rooted in artistic traditions such as Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism, and others, reappear in Western films through compositional, symbolic, and iconographic strategies, demonstrating their persistence and ability to transcend temporal, medial, and geographical boundaries. The findings suggest that the woman in the Western genre is not merely a central character, but a visual sign that activates cultural memory and engages with deep archetypal structures embedded in the collective unconscious

Archetype · Art · Art history · Literature · Mediator · Movie theater · Painting · Biographical and Historical Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Medicine

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