ABSTRACT
Cinema has made Monument Valley the iconic landscape of the West. Its spectacular rock outcrops are instantly recognisable and familiar to many film-goers. Closely linked with John Ford, it has been the iconic backdrop for some of the great Westerns. Monument Valley is formally designated as the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, established in 1958 and operated by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department. Like Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly is in the Navajo Nation, has striking rock formations and is a cultural landscape with sacred sites. The most compelling and vivid example of the modern use of Monument Valley occurs in the television cartoon Charlie and Lola. Ford discovered Monument Valley, utilising it as backgrounds for Stagecoach. Standing in for Texas, Monument Valley is constructed as a biblical landscape. The settlers are self-consciously righteous. Complementing these biblical dimensions, there is an underlying theme of Greek mythology.
