Tag Archives: western wear

YELLOWSTONE MYTH


The TV cowboys have the best
scripts, estates and corporate jets
to glorify an endangered West
planted with ranchettes

like Jimson Weed
to play make believe
with 100 X beaver lids
and Lucchese boots

no cowman could afford
for looks to match the myth.


https://inthesetimes.com/article/yellowstone-tv-show-finale-gentrification-development-west

 

Comment:

I live within minutes of the Dutton Ranch. It was/is a cartoon of itself long before Hollywood “found” it . As it was “built” on the same mythology before “Yellowstone”  it is NO surprise Hollywood found it perfect for the perpetuation of the myths.   That it is in the Bitteroot Valley, portrayed as Paradise Valley actually on the Yellowstone River , not the Bitterroot River is the least egregious offense of artistic license.

Yes, the perfect set and backdrop to advance the mythology and to pump in enough cash for a few years to “jazz up” a very poor local economy, enriching a few while leaving them detritus of unaffordable housing and other long term burdens that go with ALL boom and bust cycles.

That the “series” collided with  a pandemic driven, house bound, binging viewership was an unfortunate coincidence.  That, along with the ridiculous home prices in some places fueled a mass migration to seemingly cheap relocation opportunities.  The migrants arrived with mountains of cash and the beatific notions of their new “home” grounded in the mythologies absorbed from a screen that they continue to be glued to as the beauty of the real Montana is paying the exorbitant price for simply being beautiful; as if there are NO other considerations.

“They” know not of what they’ve wrought.

-jegrant47