IDK what to think about this, really. Wayne never struck me as an interesting actor or person. Westerns never held much interest either, although I knew they were very popular. My brother watched them all the time, but i never got it. The only things that ever interested me were the vast cinematography experiences, the land and sky, the intense beauty.
Clearly i'm in some minority of white folks though.
GAAAWWWDDDawful fascist and horrible things they are, too. maybe i am from some other planet. i never read comics either. I guess i have a lot to make up for now i'm retired?!?
Isn’t this how it’s always been? Mainstream cinema pushing the political points of the ruling classes. I just recently rewatched an old Bond film with Connery, and I cringed over and over. The way he treated women and racial minorities was almost unbelievable.
As far as Wayne goes, I always found him a bit stiff and wooden. Whether as a cowboy or a soldier.
I cringe whenever my husband turns on a John Wayne movie. The last time he did, at bedtime in our room, I had to stop myself begging for him to turn it off. The casual "patriotism" of calling native people "reds." The 'Injuns bad, white man good' narratives. Hell, in whichever one it was there is a scene of Wayne singing 'Frerer Jacques' with a young boy. European-flavored white supremacy, at that. Colonialist much? To me, to watch and enjoy these films is a tacit endorsement of those themes.
We're not even going to talk about the rugged, individualistic, free range cowboy a la Ronald Reagan. 'We don't need no guvmint. We know right from wrong and we deal our own justice. Keep your laws out of our way.'
These characters and films are beyond problematic. They depict a nationalism that a very few of us have desperately tried to atone for and eradicate. Clearly, we have failed. Celebrating the John Wayne brand of Americanism keeps us stuck in nostalgia for a time when the white man was never the hero, always the oppressor. If Gone With the Wind is no longer such a fun dramatic romp because of its explicit racism, these films should not be either.
Why do we continue to accept and embrace such casual racism? Because it's about Native Americans, which somehow never became taboo. Some of us accept that racism against black and Asian people and antisemitism are completely unacceptable yet we still enjoy depictions of colonialism and genocide when it's indigenous people. Hundreds of years and the invisibility of those people has left us with the impression that there's no harm in indulging some good old fashioned stereotypes about them because, well, that was a long time ago. Indigenous people have never really had the recognition of their suffering and genocide that they deserve. They're just a caricature in John Wayne movies where they continue to be demonized and degraded over and over and he does not. Calling out this grave injustice is the right thing to do and it's past time we do it.
This is the white supremacy history I was taught as a child. It is utterly contemptible. White men did not come to an uninhabited land. They came to one which had a thriving culture they did not understand. They took it over through violence and force. As an adult, I see the effect the indoctrination of these messages have had on my generation and hope that other Gen X will see them for the appalling misstatements they actually are.
Buddy Holly, a Texan in real-life, saw "The Searchers" in first release and was struck by this phrase, using it as the basis of a song. Released later that year, it became his only #1 hit.
IDK what to think about this, really. Wayne never struck me as an interesting actor or person. Westerns never held much interest either, although I knew they were very popular. My brother watched them all the time, but i never got it. The only things that ever interested me were the vast cinematography experiences, the land and sky, the intense beauty.
Clearly i'm in some minority of white folks though.
Well, westerns have receded in interest for sure. Now we have superhero movies instead!
GAAAWWWDDDawful fascist and horrible things they are, too. maybe i am from some other planet. i never read comics either. I guess i have a lot to make up for now i'm retired?!?
superhero movies are pretty bad. there are some good superhero comics. Try Watchmen!
Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Miller’s Dark Knight Returns are the main reasons I’m glad comics exist
at least i get to read you 🥳
Isn’t this how it’s always been? Mainstream cinema pushing the political points of the ruling classes. I just recently rewatched an old Bond film with Connery, and I cringed over and over. The way he treated women and racial minorities was almost unbelievable.
As far as Wayne goes, I always found him a bit stiff and wooden. Whether as a cowboy or a soldier.
I cringe whenever my husband turns on a John Wayne movie. The last time he did, at bedtime in our room, I had to stop myself begging for him to turn it off. The casual "patriotism" of calling native people "reds." The 'Injuns bad, white man good' narratives. Hell, in whichever one it was there is a scene of Wayne singing 'Frerer Jacques' with a young boy. European-flavored white supremacy, at that. Colonialist much? To me, to watch and enjoy these films is a tacit endorsement of those themes.
We're not even going to talk about the rugged, individualistic, free range cowboy a la Ronald Reagan. 'We don't need no guvmint. We know right from wrong and we deal our own justice. Keep your laws out of our way.'
These characters and films are beyond problematic. They depict a nationalism that a very few of us have desperately tried to atone for and eradicate. Clearly, we have failed. Celebrating the John Wayne brand of Americanism keeps us stuck in nostalgia for a time when the white man was never the hero, always the oppressor. If Gone With the Wind is no longer such a fun dramatic romp because of its explicit racism, these films should not be either.
Why do we continue to accept and embrace such casual racism? Because it's about Native Americans, which somehow never became taboo. Some of us accept that racism against black and Asian people and antisemitism are completely unacceptable yet we still enjoy depictions of colonialism and genocide when it's indigenous people. Hundreds of years and the invisibility of those people has left us with the impression that there's no harm in indulging some good old fashioned stereotypes about them because, well, that was a long time ago. Indigenous people have never really had the recognition of their suffering and genocide that they deserve. They're just a caricature in John Wayne movies where they continue to be demonized and degraded over and over and he does not. Calling out this grave injustice is the right thing to do and it's past time we do it.
This is the white supremacy history I was taught as a child. It is utterly contemptible. White men did not come to an uninhabited land. They came to one which had a thriving culture they did not understand. They took it over through violence and force. As an adult, I see the effect the indoctrination of these messages have had on my generation and hope that other Gen X will see them for the appalling misstatements they actually are.
“That’ll be the day".
Buddy Holly, a Texan in real-life, saw "The Searchers" in first release and was struck by this phrase, using it as the basis of a song. Released later that year, it became his only #1 hit.
“Retrograde ideas” LOL