Horse opera

Horse opera

"Horse opera" refers to a western movie or television series that is extremely cliched or formulaic (in the manner of a soap opera). The term, which was originally coined by silent film-era Western star William S. Hart, is used variously to convey either disparagement or affection. The name "horse opera" was also derived in part from the musical sequences frequently featured in these films and TV series which depicted a cowboy singing to his horse on-screen. It should be noted that this term is quite loosely defined; it does not specify a distinct sub-genre of the western (as "space opera" does with regard to the science fiction genre).


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • horse opera — ☆ horse opera n. Slang WESTERN (n. 2) …   English World dictionary

  • horse opera — noun a) A theatrical production, film, or program on radio or television depicting adventures of characters in the American Old West; a western. Th …   Wiktionary

  • horse opera — n. a Western movie. (See also oater.) □ They’re showing a series of old horse operas at the theater tonight. □ Haven’t I seen this horse opera before? About a hundred times maybe? …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • horse opera — horse′ op era n. sbz western 8) …   From formal English to slang

  • Horse Opera (album) — Infobox Album Name = Horse Opera Type = live album Artist = Riders in the Sky Released = 1978 Recorded = Genre = Western Length = 36:02 Label = MCA Producer = Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg… …   Wikipedia

  • horse opera — {n. phr.} A Western movie in which cowboys and horses play a major part. * /John Wayne played in many horse operas./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • horse opera — {n. phr.} A Western movie in which cowboys and horses play a major part. * /John Wayne played in many horse operas./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • horse opera — Synonyms and related words: 3 D, Cinemascope, Cinerama, Marchen, Technicolor, Western, Western story, Westerner, adventure story, allegory, animated cartoon, apologue, bedtime story, black and white film, cartoon, chiller, cinema, color film,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • horse\ opera — n. phr. A Western movie in which cowboys and horses play a major part. John Wayne played in many horse operas …   Словарь американских идиом

  • horse opera — noun a film about life in the western United States during the period of exploration and development • Syn: ↑Western • Hypernyms: ↑feature, ↑feature film • Hyponyms: ↑spaghetti Western * * * noun, pl ⋯ eras [count] …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”