Why have Westerns faded in popularity?

     My questions is "Why have Westerns faded in popularity?" A few decades ago the Western genre was a very popular genre in film. Numerous Western classics were spawned between the 1940's and the 1960's, but now new Western films hitting movie theaters are few in number. And while there have been a few good Western films that have been popular, such as True Grit, they are few and far between. I really want to know what about it is about the Western genre that has made it fade from popularity. It could have something to do the fact that people aren't interested in the old west, it could potentially have something to do with the gender roles that are often in such films, etc. I would also like to see if I can draw parallels to similar genres that are also fading away. To do this I am going to primarily need statistics about the films; I need to see things like box office numbers and things like that. I'm not entirely sure how I will research this at the moment, but I'm sure that once I begin my research everything will come together.

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