American Culture

American Culture

American heroic mythology is rooted in the history or our movement west and in the legacy of open space, mobility, and rich natural resources. The migration westward into open spaces containing rich natural resources helped create a society emphasizing wealth, mobility, freedom, transformation, and opportunity for conquest. This was observed while watching Tombstone and when reading West of Everything. While watching Tombstone I noticed that the movie was really a battle between good and evil with Wyatt Earp and his crew being good and the old red-ragged cowboys being the evil.

As stated above in Tompkins' Introduction she states that, "the west functions as a symbol of freedom, and the opportunity for conquest" (Tompkins 4). This is not only applied to Wyatt Earp and his gang but also applies to our history of American Culture. First I want to analyze the first part of that quote, "the west functions as a symbol of freedom..." and the significance it has on American Culture. I've grown up watching westerns with my Grandfather. I always watched them as if they were just cowboys and Indians. But they are deeper than just violent horse ridden cowboy movies. They symbolize the idea freedom and opportunity for conquest in the wild west. The wide open free lands of the western United States, unconquered with many surprises that are waiting to be uncovered. People in the western era went west to start over to have new beginning in life. To become free of all the strains that the eastern side of the United States offered at the early times of America. At that time Americans want freedom the want the opportunity for conquest and that was not achievable any where else except the wild west. Westerns portray this idea in a exaggerated sometimes unrealistic form but with the overall idea the cowboys wanted conquest....

In Tompkins' Introduction, she stated that, "The west functions as a symbol or freedom and the opportunity for conquest"(4). This was illustrated perfectly in the beginning of the movie, Tombstone. Wyatt Earp was in the middle of the street and was looking at the Oriental. It appeared very nice but was completely empty, so he made his was inside. Wyatt was wondering why the Oriental was so quiet. The bartender explained to him that the man sitting in the corner at the only busy game table was crazy, the man was always shooting the people that beat him at poker. Wyatt Earp almost instantaneously made his way to the table and started to exchange words with the "crazy" gambler (Tombstone). On a small scale, this could be viewed as a conquest to make change between good and evil, to dispose of the evil that infected the town. This is just one example of the idea of conquest in the movie Tombstone. Another more apparent form of that opportunity for conquest is Wyatt Earp and his gang versus the red-ragged killer cowboys. These red-ragged men infected the town of Tombstone with fear and horror. Wyatt and his gang of fellow men didn't like the things that the cowboys were doing. For instance the way they would kill people at random with no remorse and no reason for their actions. So Wyatt and the gang were constantly clashing with the red ragged cowboys in the town and the two groups were on the brink of a all out gun fight. As day by day went bye and more the more evil thing went on Wyatt and his gang became increasingly agitated and set out to end the horror and enforce the law in the town. Wyatt was doing what came natural to him but to us we look at it as an idea of conquest. Conquering the evil that took over the little cowboy town of Tombstone.

Throughout the movies tombstone I really paid attention to Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. It seemed they were always making change, defending the defenseless in the town of Tombstone. An example of this would be back at the Oriental again with the gun happy gambler that likes to shout people when he gambles, because he doesn't like to lose his money (Tombstone). Wyatt defends the people of Tombstone and gets rid of the idiot gambler so that the town can enjoy the Oriental once again in peace. He defended the defenseless in this case. "For what the hero experiences is what the audience experiences; what he does, they do too" (Tompkins 6). This quote establishes how the experiences that the heroic cowboy figure went through, was what the audience or everyday person goes through and can relate to, in which they can be usually directly related to one another but in different forms or say conquest. I'd like to elaborate a little more on the part of the quote that states, "...what the hero experiences is what the audience experiences...". The hero protects the unprotected and stands up for the people that do not have to power to stand up for themselves. While I was reading this quote in the book I stopped and began to break down what the sentence signified and how it related to me personally, me being the audience that Tompkins is referring to. I reflected on old memories and picked one out that fit perfectly with the comparison I was trying to establish. In high school I was no the buff intimidating guy that people were afraid but I had a way with words and could hold my own if that was what the situation called for. There was the "nerdy" guy that was in my Calculus class that nobody really talked to but I did. I jumped on the fact that he was really smart and knew everything in the class. He helped me with my homework and I did pretty decent in the class mainly because of him. He was a nice kid that minded to himself much like that of the people of Tombstone. He was not the type of person I hung out with but I occasionally saw him around campus during lunch or break or something. Well one day I was on my way to class and I saw somebody getting pushed up against the locker but really didn't know who or what was going on. I am definitely the type of person that will make an effort to find out the problem and attempt to fix it. I don't like to see people getting picked on especially when they do not have the power to defend themselves again the evil that has come upon them. Well I made my way over to the scene and the kid that was getting pushed against the locker was that "nerdy" study friend I had in my calculus class. My first instinct was to put the bully in place and tell him to get the hell out of the hallway. So I did and then I made sure my buddy was ok and then continued my way to class (Kingsolver). I didn't really stop and talk, I was late but I defended the nerd boy and he was very grateful indeed. I'm not exactly sure why I went out of my way to help him I think it was a natural reaction. It was almost like my conquest a rather measly one at that.