True Grit

Abstract

John Trafton's review of Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit (2010) argues that the film reinterprets the Western genre through a contemporary lens, particularly in relation to justice, revenge, and moral ambiguities arising from post-9/11 American military interventions. Unlike traditional Westerns that glorify righteous violence, True Grit interrogates the ethics of vengeance and state-sanctioned punishment, reflecting broader societal anxieties about war and retribution. Trafton praises the Coen Brothers’ departure from conventional tropes, emphasizing moral complexity through Mattie Ross’s pursuit of justice. The film’s cinematography and narrative structure subvert classic Western conventions while engaging with genre theory, political studies, and auteur theory. Ultimately, True Grit is positioned as a politically engaged Western that transcends nostalgia by addressing modern concerns about justice and violence.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)