"10 Movies, 10 Stories of Whiteness" Issue Eight: The Searchers, the many myths of the American West, and reports on the death of American municipalities
An English friend of mine was absolutely besotted with The Searchers and I have done my time with the other John Wayne/John Ford myth The Quiet Man. This was another excellent essay but it definitely highlighted that the films you've covered that I've really engaged with were the ones where whiteness intersected with women (ie: GWTW, Pretty in Pink, Dirty Dancing). I don't mind a good western, though! Ballad of Buster Scruggs is one of our favs!
Oh thanks Lora. Yeah, while it's definitely not surprising, one of the fun things about this series has been getting to learn about other people's connection (and lack of connection) with some of these films, particularly along gender lines. It has only heightened my awareness of how, as a White man, I grew up with 90% of pop culture being made explicitly for me (by people who looked like me, representing how I saw the world, etc.).
Kind of tangential, but I realized I’ve seen only scenes from The Searchers, in the excellent documentary, Reel Injun, about indigenous representation in Hollywood.
It is one of my very favorite documentaries. I show this film in media studies classes, always watching with students and taking notes. I never tire of it, and I’m enraged again every time by the scenes in the children’s summer camp. Students always find it powerful as well.
It’s so good! Fascinating footage and so many great interviews — Russell Means, John Trudell, Charlie Hill, several film historians and filmmakers. And there is a section on John Wayne!
I would like to nominate Michael W. Smith’s “Go West Young Man,” as an honorable mention for this week’s Song of the Week. I wouldn’t have chosen it for the official SOTW because I wouldn’t want it on a playlist, but it always struck me as tied to a John Wayne ethos.
The message of the song is to stop following the crowd - to go west when “the evil go east.” And maybe it fits the Quiet Man myth better than this one - but having grown up under the umbrella of this one, it intrigued me that the call was to “Go West” - which was obvi the Sodom & Gomorrah of modern day.
A truth made clear by the other song that references the phrase: “Go west young man, haven't you been told? California's full of whiskey, women and gold...” (Toby Keith’s “I shoulda been a cowboy, which I also wouldn’t want on a playlist, though I once, like Joan Didion found solace in its story, including the idea that the main character “never hung is hat up at Kitty’s place.”)
Another interesting note is that Portland has historically been known as “The Whitest City in America.” In fact, although the actual % has dropped, that remains true today, w ~65% of the city’s residents identifying as white. I suspect that plays into the warning of how liberals have ruined the city
Really grateful to read this while I'm in Alberta, a place that's also extremely invested in the same myths about whiteness and the west. I haven't spent a ton of time here, but the friend I am travelling with is from here and has done a lot of thinking and writing and making art about this place and all the ways colonialism plays out here.
Definitely lots of big trucks and scared macho white dudes and FUCK TRUDEAU flags and cowboy paraphenalia for office workers, and when we stopped for gas yesterday on the Siksika nation, there was a big ad out front for people filling in their claims for the class action suit for residential school survivors. It's all pretty right out there!
(also the "Try that in a small town" callback really got me)
So, if I am lucky enough to get to write more books, one dream would be to write one about the comparative cultures of a few different legacy White settler colonist spaces across the world, and Alberta is definitely on that list. As a Montanan, it's just wild to me that there was a place directly north of me that was like my state, but if instead of having a. little bit of oil underneath it my state had literally all the oil underneath it.
An English friend of mine was absolutely besotted with The Searchers and I have done my time with the other John Wayne/John Ford myth The Quiet Man. This was another excellent essay but it definitely highlighted that the films you've covered that I've really engaged with were the ones where whiteness intersected with women (ie: GWTW, Pretty in Pink, Dirty Dancing). I don't mind a good western, though! Ballad of Buster Scruggs is one of our favs!
Oh thanks Lora. Yeah, while it's definitely not surprising, one of the fun things about this series has been getting to learn about other people's connection (and lack of connection) with some of these films, particularly along gender lines. It has only heightened my awareness of how, as a White man, I grew up with 90% of pop culture being made explicitly for me (by people who looked like me, representing how I saw the world, etc.).
Kind of tangential, but I realized I’ve seen only scenes from The Searchers, in the excellent documentary, Reel Injun, about indigenous representation in Hollywood.
https://www.reelinjunthemovie.com/site/
It is one of my very favorite documentaries. I show this film in media studies classes, always watching with students and taking notes. I never tire of it, and I’m enraged again every time by the scenes in the children’s summer camp. Students always find it powerful as well.
ooh I am definitely going to check that out! Thanks Lizz!
It’s so good! Fascinating footage and so many great interviews — Russell Means, John Trudell, Charlie Hill, several film historians and filmmakers. And there is a section on John Wayne!
yes, i love this documentary too! I should rewatch it.
I would like to nominate Michael W. Smith’s “Go West Young Man,” as an honorable mention for this week’s Song of the Week. I wouldn’t have chosen it for the official SOTW because I wouldn’t want it on a playlist, but it always struck me as tied to a John Wayne ethos.
The message of the song is to stop following the crowd - to go west when “the evil go east.” And maybe it fits the Quiet Man myth better than this one - but having grown up under the umbrella of this one, it intrigued me that the call was to “Go West” - which was obvi the Sodom & Gomorrah of modern day.
A truth made clear by the other song that references the phrase: “Go west young man, haven't you been told? California's full of whiskey, women and gold...” (Toby Keith’s “I shoulda been a cowboy, which I also wouldn’t want on a playlist, though I once, like Joan Didion found solace in its story, including the idea that the main character “never hung is hat up at Kitty’s place.”)
Another interesting note is that Portland has historically been known as “The Whitest City in America.” In fact, although the actual % has dropped, that remains true today, w ~65% of the city’s residents identifying as white. I suspect that plays into the warning of how liberals have ruined the city
This is one of those moments when I'm cursing my relative lack of knowledge on the rich, rich text that is the CCM world!
Really grateful to read this while I'm in Alberta, a place that's also extremely invested in the same myths about whiteness and the west. I haven't spent a ton of time here, but the friend I am travelling with is from here and has done a lot of thinking and writing and making art about this place and all the ways colonialism plays out here.
Definitely lots of big trucks and scared macho white dudes and FUCK TRUDEAU flags and cowboy paraphenalia for office workers, and when we stopped for gas yesterday on the Siksika nation, there was a big ad out front for people filling in their claims for the class action suit for residential school survivors. It's all pretty right out there!
(also the "Try that in a small town" callback really got me)
So, if I am lucky enough to get to write more books, one dream would be to write one about the comparative cultures of a few different legacy White settler colonist spaces across the world, and Alberta is definitely on that list. As a Montanan, it's just wild to me that there was a place directly north of me that was like my state, but if instead of having a. little bit of oil underneath it my state had literally all the oil underneath it.
Cooool, would love to read this! I can think on interesting Alberta people for you to listen or talk to if you end up pursuing that.
Thanks Garrett, for all the work you put into this illuminating and excellent piece!
Good catch! Will fix right away!