1969 Mattie Ross played by Kim Darby

After watching both the 1969 film and the 2010 film, one of the stark contrasts is the differences of the Mattie Ross portrayals. Kim Darby plays Mattie Ross in the 1969 film, but doesn't quite portray her as the young teen with grit. Throughout the film we see her overshadowed by John Wayne's portrayal of Rooster Cogburn. The 1969 film makes it seem that the movie is about Cogburn when in reality it is about the growth of Mattie Ross. Charles Portis, author of the novel, wrote True Grit distinctly different from the run of the mill western by having Mattie Ross emerge “as an unusually engaging character who successfully meets a number of ordeals, [and] proves her grit both to herself and those about her”(Shuman). The 1969 film completely undermines the original novel text and makes it a film where John Wayne is yet again the hero and forces Mattie Ross into a Damsel in Distress type character.

2010 Mattie Ross played by Hailee Steinfeld

Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross in the 2010 film. Her portrayal is more accurate to what was written by Portis. She was a spitfire teen with the affinity for revenge and truly represented the girl with grit. She was forced to look past the fact that she was a 14-year-old girl in a man's world, in order to find redemption. While seeking revenge, she had to show fearless self-reliance and determination in hopes that Cogburn and La Boeuf would let her go with them. In the 2010 film “Mattie had no choice in challenging gender roles and societal expectations to meet her goals”(Robinson). In the Coen brothers 2010 adaptation they show Mattie emerging as a strong and triumphant women in the face of all the hardships she encounters. In this time of post Civil War America especially, no women had more grit than Mattie herself, and all these men come to see and admire that.The release for the 2010 True Grit lended itself to the up and coming feminist movements. Because of this it was brilliant for the Coen brothers to direct Hailee Steinfeld to play Mattie as the powerful women figure she was. Hailee Steinfeld's portrayal is so captivating because of how witty, brave, and independent she is. Mattie Ross is confident in herself and her abilities in a male dominant world. This character alone is very rarely ascribed to female characters let alone 14 year old female characters. The Coen brothers direction with the portrayal of Mattie Ross provides strong evidence of the film being a feminist western by having her be such a independent, and intelligent character.

Robinson, Laura, et al. "True Grit." Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, vol. 24, no. 2, Apr-Jun2012, pp. 190-193. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/08952833.2012.648134.

Shuman, R. Baird. “Portis' ‘True Grit’: Adventure Story or ‘Entwicklungsroman?".” The English Journal, vol. 59, no. 3, 1970, pp. 367–370., www.jstor.org/stable/812063.