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Abstract

In this essay, I analyze how cable channel AMC's antihero Western drama Hell on Wheels centralizes its narrative around life at the edge of civilization. I juxtapose my analysis against the community experiences I observed and experienced growing up in a small “Western” town. Specifically, I inspect how the show's (im)moral elements that emphasize Western themes of community, religion, and justice may not be melodramatic so much as sobering reality and a reflection of everyday survival for small towns and those who struggle within them.

Keywords

genre studies Hell on Wheels utopia/dystopia mythic landscape the western narrator religious power in Westerns

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The Western's Edge

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