| Sumario: | With their references to "wolves," the films that comprise Taylor Sheridan's "modern American frontier trilogy," Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River, invoke David Grossman's trichotomy of a society of sheep protected from predatory wolves by sheepdogs. By characterizing the 21-century American West as a "land of wolves," these films assert the uselessness of these dog guardians. Instead, they reify cynicism, sidelining the canine guardian in favor of "wolf behavior." Moreover, in their consistent recourse to this "wolf masculinity," the trilogy reveals troubling, populist implications when applying this simplistic paradigm to complex society.
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