Legenda Dzikiego Zachodu – czy był taki jak znamy go z literatury i kina?

Wild west is a topic, which is often seen in movies. When we think of it, we usually think of
cowboys or horses. Western films often show stories filled with fights, horse racing or
shooting. Characters always wore cowboy hats, mustangs and leather boots. But what was it
really like? Well, some storylines which are often seen in movies are true, such as gold rush,
civil war or fighting Indians. But the rest of it – not exactly. First of all, in movies we can see,
that everyone in the wild west had a gun by their side. As a matter of fact, carrying guns was
heavily against the law of wild west. In most cities they were simply banned. Criminality,
contrary to a popular belief, was not common at all. Stories, when a bunch of robbers were
escaping from the sheriff after they had stolen money from the bank rarely happened. During
over hundred years history of wild west according to some sources such thing happened only
twelve times. Many white actors have portrayed residents of this territory. Unfortunately,
hardly ever people of colour were seen on a screen. Nothing could be further from truth. In
fact, in 19th century wild west was a multicultural centre. In one of its cities, people of 56
different nationalities lived, including people from Sweden, Germany and even China. The
Men that lived in the wild west weren’t tall and muscular. They were usually pretty short – an
average male was 5’3 tall. They were usually herding sheep or farming. To sum this up,
cinema truly misinterpreted the true colours of wild west, which in reality was much more
peaceful than movies together with many books show.