Westworld vs. History: The park’s female hosts compared to women of the Wild West

Westworld has renewed the history buff in me. In a series of articles named Westworld vs. History, I’ll be exploring the real-life events that helped shape the park narratives. Second up– the female hosts vs. real women of the Wild West.

Westworld twists your mind. It’s blown us all away with its depth, beauty, and ability to question our own mortality and reality. If you take away the sci-fi elements, you could easily be watching a historical show.

Let’s see how these characters compare to the few women who went down in the history books as the women of the Wild West.

Westworld has a deep appreciation for character development, so I’d like to think these bad asses were a source of inspiration for the main writers of the show–Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan. At the very least I hope this inspires you to look up this rare breed of women who dared to stray outside their expected boundaries and into their own version of the town of Pariah.

In my opinion, Dolores, Maeve, and Armistice are some of the most psychologically complex and rewarding female characters in television. In season 2, we’re seeing new sides to not only the main characters but the secondary ones too. Most notable to me is former guest greeter-host Angela, who’s changed a whole heck of a lot.

Dolores is the rancher’s daughter. She’s full of innocence and enjoys painting. She reminds me of Augusta Metcalfe. Metcalfe drew and painted everything she saw around her family’s Oklahoma ranching homestead.

Then there’s Wyatt. Her pre-programmed personality that surfaces to efficiently lay waste to a few soldiers in an alley in season 1’s episode: ‘Contrapasso‘. Dolores, Maeve, Armistice, and Angela all have Belle’s high level of firearm dexterity in common.

This is where I draw parallels to Belle Starr. Belle hung out with members of Jesse Jame’s crew, the James-Younger Gang. After her horse thief husband was shot to death, she met and married another gang leader by the name of Samuel Starr. His gang, the Starr Clan, quickly recognized Belle’s talent for strategy and she became the mastermind behind the gang.

I just can’t get enough of Maeve! She’s a clever, cunning and a curious brothel madam who goes through a hell of an evolution. We discover her softer side when it’s revealed she’s a mother. She reminds me of Ellen Elliot Jack. After the deaths of her husband and children, she moved, by herself, from New York to Colorado to search its mines for treasure.

After becoming wealthy off her discovery of the Black Queen silver mine, men started throwing themselves at her. She brushed them all off until a con man charmed his way into her heart. Like Maeve, Ellen knew men and so he was unsuccessful at stealing away her fortune.

Watch Westworld FREE with a 7-Day Risk-Free HBO Trial!

I can’t dismiss the madam aspect of Maeve’s story so it’s time to meet Fannie Porter. A madam by the age of 20 who ran a tight ship. She insisted her “boarding house” and her girls were clean and fashionable: a high-end brothel. Whether outlaws or lawmen, client details were never revealed. Among her most notorious clients was Butch Cassidy and his gang, the Wild Bunch.

Phoebe Ann Moses a.k.a. Annie Oakley immediately reminded me of Armistice. Phoebe/Annie was a skilled sharpshooter from an early age. After her father’s death, her mother wasn’t able to care for her and sent her off to work for a family.

The family ended up being physically and mentally abusive. She returned to her mother and sisters and put her hunting skills to use by selling fresh game meat to pay off her mother’s mortgage.

There’s a little Belle Starr in Armistice too. Belle dressed in men’s clothing and led a gang of outlaws. But Armistice’s spirit animal could be Sally Scull. Sally was known for being an ambidextrous sharpshooter and a rough fighter.

She openly killed a man at a fair – in self-defense of course. She preferred men’s clothing and buckskins over dresses and carried both a whip and two six shooters on her belt.

I’m digging the new and improved, headband, pistol sporting Angela. As we saw in season 2, episode 2 she is one of the oldest hosts in the park. There’s a moment between Angela and Dolores in which they exchange glances after Angela has had sex with Logan.

It seemed to me that Dolores understood she was sparred by Angela by not having to go through a demeaning orgy. Angela took one for the team.

More from Westworld

• After ChatGPT, Westworld creator thinks her show looks “like a documentary”
• HBO boss explains why they removed Westworld from HBO Max
• The Last of Us boss uses Westworld to explain Kathleen’s arc
• James Marsden still hopes they can finish Westworld
• Westworld and other HBO shows headed to Roku and Tubi

I’m not saying she’s a prostitute in the classic sense but she was pimped out and continued to offer her ‘full services’ as a greeter-host.

Angela’s beauty is undeniable so she reminds me of a few ‘soiled doves’. She may have gone down in history with the likes of Belle Brezing.

Belle was so famous at the time of her death that Time Magazine printed her obituary! It’s also been said she may have been the model for the character of Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind.

These amazing trailblazing women lived in a male-dominated era where women were to be seen and not heard.

But the women in this article, both the real ones and the ones on Westworld, have proved to be better than their male counterparts.

Thank goodness we live in a time where being unladylike, strong, confident and outspoken is no longer enough to be shunned by ‘polite society’.

Watch Westworld FREE with a 7-Day Risk-Free HBO Trial! 

Next: Could Westworld-like robots of the future be a solution for loneliness?

What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Follow Beyond Westworld’s Twitter and Facebook accounts for everything you need to know about Westworld.

Enjoy this article? Follow and see more from Renay here. 

Westworld airs every Sunday on HBO at 9 PM EST!