This was so good and fits right into the ideas of story and narrative that I was meandering about earlier this week. That's a goddamn mythic deep structure you are talking about, so much so that even Paula Cole gets co-opted. Amazing piece.
Thank you! I've contemplated doing a lengthy article about how much of culture is co-opted by extremist thinkers on the Right, often without those who follow them ever understanding what they're actually watching/listening to/reading/experiencing. If this sort of thing intrigues you, I also did this as a deep dive into THE MATRIX trilogy and THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS. https://colehaddon.substack.com/p/the-matrix-resurrections-is-one-of
Several generations of men raised on film and television romanticize and fantasize guns and gunfights when the harsh reality of it is that most of them would have absolutely no idea what to do in an actual gunfight because they’re terrifying, confusing, and scary as fuck.
How flattering, thank you. I hope the rest of the book is just as satisfying for you. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a review at Amazon and/or Goodreads. It's hugely helpful to a debut author!
1. The US after 1960 experienced a skyrocketing homicide rate and plummeting clearance rate. Distorted and disgustingly racialized as the cultural anxieties around this phenomenon were, the body count was genuine. When people feel that their government cannot deliver public safety, the whole Hobbesian pact to mutually disarm breaks down. This seems like important context when discussing the rise of cowboy cop/vigilante fantasies.
2. Valorization of nonconformist mavericks who defy the corrupt, sclerotic System to punish bad actors is hardly unique to the right. These ideas are spoken in a different idiom on the left, with different targets, and with a different timeline of rising and falling popularity. It just feels simplistic to draw causal arrows from this extremely human impulse to John Wayne.
1. Most of this was driven by racism that was perpetrated in the media, from film, TV, to the news, and internalized by America. Homicide rates in the city, which is the only place they really occurred, was driven by economic disparity, housing displacement, the exploding drug epidemic, and much more. Vigilante justice as an answer to threats from the "savage" is culturally defined through the Western. I'm not the first one to say this. America certainly demonized the other, especially the Native American, for years, but it lacked a cultural language for it until the Western and John Wayne was its pope.
2. I would say it's far from simplistic since John Wayne's impact on the cultural conversation is so extreme that he's still being discussed, directly and indirectly, at all levels of American culture. The litmus test for politicians is still "how much like John Wayne do you sound". Nonconformist mavericks have been around forever. In America -- today -- the concept always points back to Wayne. You couldn't say this in any other country. It's a uniquely American myth, which is the point of this essay.
Thanks for engaging. I agree with you that racism and media sensationalism framed the response to the rise in crime, and I’m not advocating vigilantism as a solution. (I tried to gesture at that while keeping my comment short.) But the three or four decade rise in violent crime was a material fact, regardless of its causes. And it seems like pretty important context.
It’s jarring to hear absolutes like that the concept of the maverick “always points back to Wayne,” or that this is unique to the US. There are whole other traditions of hypermasculine self-help justice. In some times and places, they’re inspired by beret-wearing revolutionaries. In others, the tough guy fantasy is anyone willing to imprison suspected narcotraficantes without due process. John Wayne himself is uniquely American, but the hypermasculine, “Screw the rules! I’m going after the bad guys”? That’s the normal human thing that happens when people perceive that public safety and order has broken down, that bad actors are going unpunished.
I would point out here that your reference to "beret-wearing revolutionaries" is a reference to a group. A plurality. This article is about the loner. The rugged outsider with a gun willing to do what the weak plurality (community/civilization) won't. America has no popular mythology of groups of "good guys with guns" going out to do "the right thing" society won't - except the Ku-Klux-Klan and superheroes (and superheroes as a political idea just isn't a reality anyone takes seriously).
Here's a summary of a short story that I published in 2000 in my book The Toughest Indian in the World. It's titled "Dear John Wayne" and I heavily play with the John Wayne myth while paying homage to the revisionist western, Little Big Man, the novel and movie adaptation.
Sherman, I don't know why it took me so long to get to this. Also, I clearly read your comment while half-asleep, because I thought I was going to read any essay you wrote on the subject. So, "Dear John Wayne". I read this at university - where I heard you speak for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event once (University of Michigan). I now want to re-read, as it's been almost a quarter-century. My copy of the book is back in the States, which I'm off to visit next week, so hopefully I can find it in the mess. But my memory of the whole collection is incredibly fond, which is also why I showed up for that lecture from you. I'm actually fairly convinced I read the Wayne story, in particular, for a class...
"The treaty was about the only issue that Wayne, whose first wife was a native of Panama, agreed with Carter on. Other Wayne letters took issue with Carter on amnesty to Vietnam War draft dodgers and on the alleged failure of Andrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, to take a hard line against Marxists in Rhodesia.
Wayne's letter to Reagan, a vocal critic of the treaty, said he was not making the issue a personal one but he felt Reagan 'should take a look at the difference between point of view and facts.'
'I went to a lot of trouble and I brought in people to prove to you that most of the alarming things that you are saying are untruths,' wrote Wayne, who signed the letter, 'Duke.'"
I've been reading you on Medium for a while and thought your posts were so good, I subscribed your substack. You put a lot of time and thought into your articles and interviews and I appreciate what you do.
I've written a few such essays this year, and I have others to come (another next month, in fact). My novel is written in a similar non-linear fashion, so it's just a form of storytelling I enjoy. Especially when it comes to complicated, multi-faceted ideas. The world is messy, so I like my essays to be, too. As for what inspired this one...the symbolic role of violence in American culture - both storytelling and politics. Too many heroes with guns, too many leaders trying to monetize that feeling, too many dead kids.
Are you suggesting "STAR TREK" has led to widespread death, suffering, and the normalization of violence? Otherwise, these shows have nothing to do with the point of this article. Resistance is not a negative act, especially when the country being discussed is, in fact, predicated on resistance.
This was so good and fits right into the ideas of story and narrative that I was meandering about earlier this week. That's a goddamn mythic deep structure you are talking about, so much so that even Paula Cole gets co-opted. Amazing piece.
Thank you! I've contemplated doing a lengthy article about how much of culture is co-opted by extremist thinkers on the Right, often without those who follow them ever understanding what they're actually watching/listening to/reading/experiencing. If this sort of thing intrigues you, I also did this as a deep dive into THE MATRIX trilogy and THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS. https://colehaddon.substack.com/p/the-matrix-resurrections-is-one-of
Thank you for your thoughtful article.
American Exceptionalism is literally killing us.
Yes, yes it is.
The illusion of exceptionalism, rather. :/
Several generations of men raised on film and television romanticize and fantasize guns and gunfights when the harsh reality of it is that most of them would have absolutely no idea what to do in an actual gunfight because they’re terrifying, confusing, and scary as fuck.
I find most American gun lovers are just dangerous cosplayers.
Have you read Jesus and John Wayne?
Because you should really read Jesus and John Wayne.
I have not, but one glance at the cover just now has piqued my interest. Thank you for the tip!
Man, that flag...
INT. SCHOOL BUS - DAY
RALF WIGGUM: [giggles] I'm in danger.
Yep.
Have you read Jesus and John Wayne? It's about this exact thing.
Not yet, but people keep recommending it. I feel I need to know!
I just bought your book. Great opening!
How flattering, thank you. I hope the rest of the book is just as satisfying for you. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a review at Amazon and/or Goodreads. It's hugely helpful to a debut author!
Have you watched TRUMBO with Brian Cranston?
I have. He was wonderful in it.
I am glad the screenwriter put John Wayne in it. What a fecking arsehole. and douche. As if his Playboy interview did not make that already clear.
1. The US after 1960 experienced a skyrocketing homicide rate and plummeting clearance rate. Distorted and disgustingly racialized as the cultural anxieties around this phenomenon were, the body count was genuine. When people feel that their government cannot deliver public safety, the whole Hobbesian pact to mutually disarm breaks down. This seems like important context when discussing the rise of cowboy cop/vigilante fantasies.
2. Valorization of nonconformist mavericks who defy the corrupt, sclerotic System to punish bad actors is hardly unique to the right. These ideas are spoken in a different idiom on the left, with different targets, and with a different timeline of rising and falling popularity. It just feels simplistic to draw causal arrows from this extremely human impulse to John Wayne.
1. Most of this was driven by racism that was perpetrated in the media, from film, TV, to the news, and internalized by America. Homicide rates in the city, which is the only place they really occurred, was driven by economic disparity, housing displacement, the exploding drug epidemic, and much more. Vigilante justice as an answer to threats from the "savage" is culturally defined through the Western. I'm not the first one to say this. America certainly demonized the other, especially the Native American, for years, but it lacked a cultural language for it until the Western and John Wayne was its pope.
2. I would say it's far from simplistic since John Wayne's impact on the cultural conversation is so extreme that he's still being discussed, directly and indirectly, at all levels of American culture. The litmus test for politicians is still "how much like John Wayne do you sound". Nonconformist mavericks have been around forever. In America -- today -- the concept always points back to Wayne. You couldn't say this in any other country. It's a uniquely American myth, which is the point of this essay.
Thanks for engaging. I agree with you that racism and media sensationalism framed the response to the rise in crime, and I’m not advocating vigilantism as a solution. (I tried to gesture at that while keeping my comment short.) But the three or four decade rise in violent crime was a material fact, regardless of its causes. And it seems like pretty important context.
It’s jarring to hear absolutes like that the concept of the maverick “always points back to Wayne,” or that this is unique to the US. There are whole other traditions of hypermasculine self-help justice. In some times and places, they’re inspired by beret-wearing revolutionaries. In others, the tough guy fantasy is anyone willing to imprison suspected narcotraficantes without due process. John Wayne himself is uniquely American, but the hypermasculine, “Screw the rules! I’m going after the bad guys”? That’s the normal human thing that happens when people perceive that public safety and order has broken down, that bad actors are going unpunished.
I would point out here that your reference to "beret-wearing revolutionaries" is a reference to a group. A plurality. This article is about the loner. The rugged outsider with a gun willing to do what the weak plurality (community/civilization) won't. America has no popular mythology of groups of "good guys with guns" going out to do "the right thing" society won't - except the Ku-Klux-Klan and superheroes (and superheroes as a political idea just isn't a reality anyone takes seriously).
Here's a summary of a short story that I published in 2000 in my book The Toughest Indian in the World. It's titled "Dear John Wayne" and I heavily play with the John Wayne myth while paying homage to the revisionist western, Little Big Man, the novel and movie adaptation.
https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Toughest-Indian-in-the-World/dear-john-wayne-summary/
Sherman, I don't know why it took me so long to get to this. Also, I clearly read your comment while half-asleep, because I thought I was going to read any essay you wrote on the subject. So, "Dear John Wayne". I read this at university - where I heard you speak for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event once (University of Michigan). I now want to re-read, as it's been almost a quarter-century. My copy of the book is back in the States, which I'm off to visit next week, so hopefully I can find it in the mess. But my memory of the whole collection is incredibly fond, which is also why I showed up for that lecture from you. I'm actually fairly convinced I read the Wayne story, in particular, for a class...
This isn't really your point, but one good thing John Wayne did was support the Panama Canal treaty: https://penncapital-star.com/commentary/the-panama-canal-treaties-were-carters-biggest-foreign-policy-win-bruce-ledewitz/
"In the end, the vote was 68-32, one more vote than needed. Actor John Wayne’s support, a friend of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos, proved crucial."
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/03/14/John-Wayne-to-Reagan-You-are-misinforming-people/5134542696400/
"The treaty was about the only issue that Wayne, whose first wife was a native of Panama, agreed with Carter on. Other Wayne letters took issue with Carter on amnesty to Vietnam War draft dodgers and on the alleged failure of Andrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, to take a hard line against Marxists in Rhodesia.
Wayne's letter to Reagan, a vocal critic of the treaty, said he was not making the issue a personal one but he felt Reagan 'should take a look at the difference between point of view and facts.'
'I went to a lot of trouble and I brought in people to prove to you that most of the alarming things that you are saying are untruths,' wrote Wayne, who signed the letter, 'Duke.'"
Fascinating...though I struggle to believe he did that without compensation. But I need to read more about that...
I suspect that his wife was the reason for his support, but it is an odd quirk of American political history.
Odd to say the least!
Really good essay. My pastor recommended that I read the book Jesus and John Wayne, and it was an eye-opener.
You're the second person to comment on this post about this book - I have to read more than excerpts now. Thank you!
Excellent!
Thanks, Angelo. And I must say, as a fan, it's wonderful to see your name pop up in my comments!
I've been reading you on Medium for a while and thought your posts were so good, I subscribed your substack. You put a lot of time and thought into your articles and interviews and I appreciate what you do.
Thank you, my friend - truly!
This feels like a new side of you, Cole. Can I ask if there was something in particular that prompted this piece?
I've written a few such essays this year, and I have others to come (another next month, in fact). My novel is written in a similar non-linear fashion, so it's just a form of storytelling I enjoy. Especially when it comes to complicated, multi-faceted ideas. The world is messy, so I like my essays to be, too. As for what inspired this one...the symbolic role of violence in American culture - both storytelling and politics. Too many heroes with guns, too many leaders trying to monetize that feeling, too many dead kids.
Where can I find a copy of the Top Gun essay you mention in this article? I would very much like to read it.
Hmmm... the left have romantic widescreen fantasies too.
Star Trek is a classic.
Quantum Leap.
Dr Who
And anything with a resistance.
Are you suggesting "STAR TREK" has led to widespread death, suffering, and the normalization of violence? Otherwise, these shows have nothing to do with the point of this article. Resistance is not a negative act, especially when the country being discussed is, in fact, predicated on resistance.