The Wild West

By Denis Mueller

The Wild West has been a part of our national myth for over 100 years. It has been the source of both popular entertainment and used as a metaphor to explain just who we are as Americans. This can be traced back to the "dimestore" novelists of the 19th century and in particular, William F. Cody, more commonly known as "Buffalo Bill."

Cody's traveling show was organized around a succession of spectacles, which purported to explain American history as a series of epochs. The show started with the story of the Primeval Forest, followed by the taming of the west, and ended with the ride of the "Rough Riders" as they charged up San Juan Hill.

To illustrate this, Cody recruited people like Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, and Cody himself; the use of these actual figures was meant to authenticate his show. William F. Cody wore many hats in his years in the west. He was a trapper, a teamster, a scout, Pony Express rider and finally a media star whose vision of the west became the accepted version our of history.

The "Plains Wars" of the 1870s were a stable of his show. Here, he would re-enact the Battle of the Little Big Horn, which would end in a gallant version of "Custer's Last Stand." He insisted that his presentation of the west was authentic while crowds from across the world came to his shows were drawn by the myth of the west.

The function of his show was to first memorialize the past and then to transform it into instruction. The myth served useful purposes; it made the west seem as part of the great American story of progress. It helped make Roosevelt a hero, despite Cody's inaccuracies. Roosevelt's ride helped cement his stature but it ignored the aid of the "Buffalo Soldiers".

These black soldiers are rewritten out of the myth. Roosevelt, who debunks their bravery in saving his unit, actually said they were scared until he gave them a push. This is not true. His racism, Roosevelt's that is, excluded him from giving credit where credit is due. So Roosevelt is carved into a mountain and the soldiers are forgotten because they do not fit the myth.

William Cody's show became the model for the countless westerns that were made during the 20th century. They were the model until the late 20th century when filmmakers like Robert Altman and Clint Eastwood laid that myth to rest. Eastwood's film "Unforgiven" finally buries that whole myth in a film, which is one of the best of our era.

The hero does not ride into town to save some women in distress. He is hired by whores to avenge a violent crime
against one of the women. The law has done nothing to punish those guilty of the crime but Eastwood's gang does not set out to avenge this crime for nobility, but for money. Their violence accomplishes nothing. Eastwood gets his friend killed. The town attempts to quell this violence by using violence but that proves futile as well.

What can we learn from this? The myth attempts to cast the world into a struggle between us civilized "white people"
against people of color. It has led us into the quagmire of Vietnam and now Iraq. We must understand that our view of ourselves can be a dangerous journey, which can lead to countless wars predicated on us being the men in white hats. This has, in the modern world, become a recipe for disaster.