WILD WEST
The Wild West is one of the most influential periods of American history culturally. While in the real world, the frontier was often a place where violence was little, but when it did happen, was gruesome and grotesque; in the fantasy of the Spaghetti Western violence is somewhat controlled and the outlaws and cowboys who often duel do so in an almost chivalric fashion.
In our world what we perceive as the Wild West has been warped by this popular culture into more of a fantasy. That is the Wild West that I've fallen in love with. The idea of riders at sunset looking out for a vile bandit with 6 notches on his pistol, aching to add another. That's the real spirit of the West to me. Freedom beyond measure. After all, the states where these stories would have taken place in are often the size of entire european countries. Arizona is nearly the size of France! Imagine riding from Basque to Calais as fast as you can on horseback, then make most of that a desert... yikes.
Of course it's also important to note that the Wild West of our world, the real one, was a time of great brutality and despotic attacks on people, especially American Indians (or Native Americans), who, as settlers moved West, would often be seen as more of a speedbump than anything else.
