Another essay of remarkable erudition and richness.
The myth of the frontier was never more powerful than in the popular culture I encountered in childhood (fifties and early sixties). About 90% of the TV shows were westerns. The Rifleman with Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain was the paradigm. The archetypical American was a strong, independent man, one with a strong sense of fairness, a dedication to hard work, and, though not temperamentally violent, a formidable opponent if engaged. The TV westerns inculcated the theme that the American West from 1870 to 1890 was where true American values were expressed to the highest degree. Good and evil were clearly distinguished and the bad guys were dependably vanquished by the sheriff's quick draw and sure shot. Native Americans were irrelevant or hostile. Only a few productions, like John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn (1964) portrayed them sympathetically. By the late sixties, with the exception of holdouts like Bonanza and Gunsmoke, the westerns had largely disappeared. Recent westerns, like Netflix's American Primeval present a frontier diametrically opposed to the one depicted in the old TV westerns--a west that is brutal and viciously violent. So, has the myth of the frontier finally atrophied?
Heather Cox Richardson also writes about this--well--in "How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America," I think.
I'd have to say we're not even close to being done with it, even if we are done with Chuck Norris. The West is dead, the myth lives on in the number of guns in this country, the size of the cars on the road, blood sport, so much GOP iconography. I do believe that the crisis of young men (by which we mean young white men) derives from mourning for that version of masculinity. The strong sense of fairness and dedication to hard work are not enough, and so what survives is its death drive.
Another essay of remarkable erudition and richness.
The myth of the frontier was never more powerful than in the popular culture I encountered in childhood (fifties and early sixties). About 90% of the TV shows were westerns. The Rifleman with Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain was the paradigm. The archetypical American was a strong, independent man, one with a strong sense of fairness, a dedication to hard work, and, though not temperamentally violent, a formidable opponent if engaged. The TV westerns inculcated the theme that the American West from 1870 to 1890 was where true American values were expressed to the highest degree. Good and evil were clearly distinguished and the bad guys were dependably vanquished by the sheriff's quick draw and sure shot. Native Americans were irrelevant or hostile. Only a few productions, like John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn (1964) portrayed them sympathetically. By the late sixties, with the exception of holdouts like Bonanza and Gunsmoke, the westerns had largely disappeared. Recent westerns, like Netflix's American Primeval present a frontier diametrically opposed to the one depicted in the old TV westerns--a west that is brutal and viciously violent. So, has the myth of the frontier finally atrophied?
Heather Cox Richardson also writes about this--well--in "How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America," I think.
I'd have to say we're not even close to being done with it, even if we are done with Chuck Norris. The West is dead, the myth lives on in the number of guns in this country, the size of the cars on the road, blood sport, so much GOP iconography. I do believe that the crisis of young men (by which we mean young white men) derives from mourning for that version of masculinity. The strong sense of fairness and dedication to hard work are not enough, and so what survives is its death drive.