(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The hidden stories of the real 'West' • Daily Montanan [1] ['Russell Rowland', 'James C. Nelson', 'Steve Corbin', 'Steve Kelly', 'More From Author', 'July', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline'] Date: 2024-07-02 In 1889, Eadweard Muybridge, whose parents had interesting ideas about spelling, made the very first moving pictured, calling “The Horse in Motion.” You can probably guess the subject matter. Fourteen years later, in 1903, a 12-minute silent film called “The Great Train Robbery” became one of the first blockbusters to hit theaters. Again, you can probably guess the plot, but one of the images that became iconic in that film was a closeup of one of the robbers aiming his gun directly at the camera, giving some members of the film audience a fright. Just one year before “The Great Train Robbery,” one of the most successful “Western” novels, “The Virginian,” hit the bookstores and sold millions, eventually leading to several film adaptations, as well as a long-running television series. Ever since then, the Western has become a staple of American culture, even dominating television and movie screens during the 1950s and 1960s. It’s not hard to imagine what appeals to audiences about Westerns. They often feature clear distinctions between good and evil, and they also often provide themes of morality and ethics that are uncomplicated, with the storylines summed up in ways that support simple themes about paying the price for bad behavior, or being rewarded for doing the right thing. The problem, of course, is that life in the West, however you want to define that, is way more complex than these films depict it. And that holds true for people, as well. So maybe it’s OK to turn to books and films that simply want to entertain us with stories that reinforce our own belief systems, but occasionally it’s nice to explore the more nuanced aspects of life in this old mixed-up world, and that’s where most Westerns usually fall short, and always have. And part of the reason for that is because almost all of the most successful Westerns have been written or directed by people who didn’t grow up here, or even live here for a time. So it’s very easy for people who haven’t experienced life here to fall into the same old stereotypes—the strong, silent hero who always seems to have the right answer, delivered in just a few powerful words. And on the other side, the devoted wife who is always there for support and a big old plate of food when her man gets home from fighting those nasty savages, or the guys in the black hats. “The Great Train Robbery” was directed by Edwin Porter, who grew up in Pennsylvania. The Virginian was written by Owen Wister, also a Pennsylvanian. In fact Wister wrote most of The Virginian sitting in an exclusive men’s club in Philadelphia. Zane Grey, one of the most popular Western writers ever, was a dentist from Ohio. And John Ford, who directed many of the most popular Western films ever made (many of which I love, by the way), was born and raised in Maine. The ironic thing about all this is that, for the past several decades, Montana has developed a reputation for producing some of the best writers in the country. But with only a handful of exceptions, few of the filmmakers in Hollywood have utilized the works of these writers to give the world a more authentic version of what life is like in the West. It’s even more perplexing when you consider that those few exceptions, which include “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” written by Missoula’s own Dorothy Johnson, or “Shane,” written by A.B. Guthrie, who lived in Choteau, or “A River Runs Through It,” written by another Missoula native, Norman Maclean, rank among some of the best Westerns ever made. Even the recent academy award winner for best director, “The Power of the Dog,” was written by Dillon native Thomas Savage. What makes these films unique in the Western genre is the way they don’t paint everything with such a broad brush. “Shane’s” main character is a man who is haunted by the choices he’s made, not walking around as if he knows the answer to every question about life. Liberty Valance features John Wayne in one of his more complex roles, as a man who has been rejected by the woman he loves. And “A River Runs Through It” features one of the more tortured souls in Western film history with Paul Maclean, based on Norman’s younger brother. So, it makes my teeth hurt when people like Taylor Sheridan put out a product like “Yellowstone,” which does not depict Montana in a realistic light at all, and the public eats it up. Because it just reinforces once again what has been accepted as fact for decades now, that the West is made up of people who see the world in very simplistic ways, people who resort to threats and violence when you rub them the wrong way, and worst of all, people who have no emotional complexity. And just about the time they announced that Yellowstone was ending, and I thought perhaps there was a chance some of the great Montana writers would elbow their way into this world, Kevin Costner comes out with the first of a trilogy about the West, a film that has gotten horrible reviews but will still make millions because … it’s Kevin Costner. I know it’s not a popular opinion, but I hated “Dances with Wolves” when it came out, and I recently watched it again so I could remember exactly what it was I hated about it, besides Kevin Costner, who I consider one of the worst actors in American history. And I quickly remembered. After first making the most unlikely charge to ever be depicted on film, the hero of Dances With Wolves, John Dunbar, then becomes friends with the Natives, to the point where the entire tribe, apparently without any dissent among them, does everything they can to help Mr. Dunbar escape with the woman he loves. The film got a lot of positive attention because it was the first to incorporate actual Native language, and use real Native actors, but in the end, it’s just one more white savior story. The Natives are there as cheerleaders for John Dunbar; at a time when that is the last thing any Native tribe would be inspired to do after they’d just been slaughtered. The plot is ridiculous. And of course it was written by a guy from North Carolina. Please read Montana authors. I would strongly recommend Debra Magpie Earling, Ivan Doig, Thomas McGuane, James Welch, D’Arcy McNickle, Allen Morris Jones, and the aforementioned Thomas Savage. They write about what life is really like here. And maybe someday people will adapt their work to film. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/07/02/the-hidden-stories-of-the-real-west/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/