One of the more compelling and paradoxical chapters in Amaricana is the story of Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show, easily the most successful and world-wide popular theatrical extravaganzas of the late 19C. Taken as a huge theatrical production it was impressive enough but the thing that makes it so curious is that the showman Buffalo Bill and many of his performers were, in fact, real life personalities who had participated in the real life events of American frontier history. They were the real deal and the entertainment impressarios simultaneously. I can't think of a single instance in popular culture post WWII, let's say, where anything like that occurs.
What if John Wayne had been a real life war hero as well as a movie actor hero reinacting his war feats? Maybe Ronald Reagen comes closest as an actor who "acted" as president. Maybe that Govenor of CA is a runner up. But the late 19C saw this very unique conflation of actual and significant historical figures with highly theatrical and artificial characters in the same persons. Andy Warhol could not have dared as much and clearly Buffalo Bill outdid Duchamp many times over. Even Baudrillard or Benjamin could not have recognized the fusion of art and life as neatly -- or as profitably --as Buffalo Bill. Maybe Buffalo Bill's show was the last time the American Reality became, however briefly, the American Myth. We've been trying to repeat the show ever since.. with increasingly discouraging and insane results. WC --- ARMANDO BAEZA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Yet, as that sound of the axe meant freedom to one > group, It meant something else to another. > > mando > > > --- William Conger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Of course I agree with Cheerskep. > > > > When I ran art programs would say that art > curricula > > are not at the edge of newness. They can't really > > break new ground or define the next "ism" or even > > explain what is going on right now. But any young > > student who is any good wants to prove his or her > > ability to be "ahead of the curve" and will try > to > > vex the curricular models. That's the nexus of > > tension and excitement -- of learning and > pushing-- > > in > > a top art program. Respect for the achievements of > > past masters is not the same as repeating them. > > Most > > (good) artists probably have something unique to > > offer > > but few of them have the guts or the will to > develop > > it. Why? Because it may destroy them and ruin > > their > > ability. Therein lies the difference between the > > happy > > many -- those who know how they measure up to > > established models -- and the tormented few, those > > for > > whom no measure of excellence is established and > who > > work in isolation. > > > > The comment regarding the frontiersman and his axe > > comes from readings in Americana. It's commonly > > known > > that the often lawless frontiersman, an anarchist, > a > > squatter, a man on the run, was the person who > broke > > the wilderness, again and again. Very often it > was > > the same few men who kept moving on (sometimes > when > > they were pursued as felons, chased away by deed > > holders, or just loners who grubbed for a > pecarious > > living). It was the folks who followed them who > > developed the land, set up the towns, formed the > > churches, enforced laws, and civilized the > frontier. > > > > Another reason for moving on was the scarcity of > > game. > > It's been said that at the wild game would vanish > > least 50 miles ahead of the line of settlement. > > Hunter frontiersmen and Indians who were caught > in > > that empty zone either died or became fully > > dependent > > on settlers. Indians who moved on were crushing > > into > > other Indian territory with brutal results from > > arrows > > ahead and bullets behind. The movement of the > > American frontier is a sad yet compelling story of > > amoral material exploitation. > > > > 19C Historian Frederick Turner declared the > > frontier > > "closed" in a speech he gave at the opening of the > > 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and he said it would > be > > internalized in culture. So it has. > > > > Yet "the sound of another man's axe" is a useful > > metaphor for artistic anxiety and the quest for > > innovation and freedom. > > > > > > WC
