Tombstone and My Darling Clementine

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Brandi Waller May 18, 2011 History 344 Final Paper Tombstone and My Darling Clementine are both films that are based on the historical figure Wyatt Earp and the celebrated gunfight at the O.K Corral. While both films were intended for entertainment purposes, they also bring an historical reference. Each film was made in different decades, My Darling Clementine (1946) and Tombstone (1993) and although they are similar in nature they also differ greatly in plot. I will examine these differences to determine how each film accurately reflects Wyatt Earp, in addition to other aspects including the myth surrounding the violence, the treatment of authority, villains, and non-white people. Also I will examine the relationships between men and women and how women in general are treated in each film. As the film Tombstone opens the narrator gives a brief yet historical background about Earp and the town Tombstone. Setting the timeframe to 1879 the film narrator explains that because of the economic explosion in the West this spurred the Great Migration. However, it also triggered the violence that infested the city of Tombstone turning it into an “armed camp”. The wave of violence that we see in the film is inaccurately represented according to Richard White, It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own where he states that “during the peak years of cattle towns, the average number of homicides was only 1.5 a year from each town.” However, the films representation is the opposite since the narrator depicts murder rates higher than modern day Los Angeles or New York and the opening scene is of the film is a gun fight which results in murders including a catholic priest which is caused by the cowboys. Another example of this exaggerated violence occurs in both films. In My Darling Clementine when Earp and his brother first arrive in town an Indian man named Indian Charlie is

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