Horse opera

{{For|the album|Horse Opera (album){{!}}''Horse Opera'' (album)}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2023}}

A '''horse opera''', '''hoss opera''', '''oat opera''' or '''oater''' is a Western film or television series that is clichéd or formulaic, in the manner of a (later) soap opera or space opera.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pringle |first=David |title=Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0313308468 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cLbvA_WyBRMC&pg=PA36}}</ref>

The term, which was originally coined by silent film-era Western star William S. Hart in 1916, is used variously to convey either disparagement or affection. The term "horse opera" 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). However, "horse operas" often incorporate aspects of both the soap opera and western genres. While used sparingly, in the 2010s the term "oat opera" has been used to describe films like Duel at Diablo,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hoberman |first=J. |date=2014-08-15 |title=Pioneer in France and on the Frontier |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/movies/homevideo/sidney-poitier-in-paris-blues-and-duel-at-diablo.html |access-date=2025-06-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> as well as series such as Yellowstone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garvin |first=Glenn |date=2018-06-15 |title=Kevin Costner Goes Back to the Well of Westerns in Yellowstone |url=https://reason.com/2018/06/15/kevin-costner-goes-back-to-the-well-of-w/ |access-date=2025-06-24 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{Wiktionary-inline}}

== See also ==

* Space opera * Soap opera * Spaghetti Western * :Category:American primetime television soap operas {{Film genres}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Horse Opera}} Category:Film and video terminology