“Yellowstone” (TV) is cultural falsification of the worst kind.
We should have learned from mid-century western films that the lore around cowboy machismo is ugly and false. But! Myth sells. Hollywood knows this. What they ignore is that heroic mythology deeply harms. Invariably, one group enjoys windfalls of popularly and wealth. While others are victimized. Power takes what it wants. Power writes it’s history to justify the kinds of imperial abuse from which communities never recover.
Bozeman Montana ain’t what it used to be.
“Yellowstone” is a mythology no Montana native would bless. This post is a memorial, a lament. It’s about the heartbreak of displaced post-boomer Montana kids.
Montana has been overrun by heartless Hollywood heathen wannabes. And “Redoubters.”
Television series are just the latest incarnation of the economic and literal “Theft of Homeland” perpetrated on Montana’s native children.
What was once incredibly valuable as open country and big sky (to ones who appreciate being alone, unseen and who left little trace) has been exploited by financial elites and MAGA refugees. It’s become infested with “Redoubters” and off-grid survivalists. It’s been sold 20 and 40 acres at a time, fenced and locked off in a land grab that has functionally become forced cultural replacement. Natives kids haven’t the economic resources to compete.
There has been little to no thought given to the mostly invisible residents of apparently empty land. We had no idea what Robert Redford would perpetuate on us. This iteration of exploitation is similar to displaced tribes in the 19th century. Only now we have been displaced by dimwits pursuing a false reality.
One can only hope that a long winter like 1967-8 will send multitudes packing. (I was 10 and revelled in the snow, skiing for the first time.)
Charlie Russell painted of his experience of the winter of 1886-87. (I like how the native species are waiting for …)
As mostly blue collar residents we lived deliberately, with low impact. We were invisible out of reverence. And we have been overrun by loud, proud, you-should-see-me-now socio-trash. Ignorance, arrogance and false entitlement flood us out.
Worse, the portrayal of my Montana homeland is beyond the pale. The excess “Yellowstone” indulges, is abysmally offensive. I don’t know what First Nations descendants feel like, but if it’s like this… No wonder so much trouble has followed them through the decades. Displacement and the bitter violation of naked theft is a terrible thing.
“Yellowstone’s” portrayal of my Big Sky homeland is so abysmally offensive, I can hardly discuss it.
We finally noticed the replacement pressure when the “Horse Whisperer” arrived in theaters. But this was just a repeat of prior versions of the theft of our Montana Homeland. Notably, this includes the fly fishing romance novel written by a Montana emigrant and UM Professor called “A River Runs Through It.” Robert Redford’s movie made millions. As did the author, Norman MacLean.
We called it “A Realtor Runs Through It.” Five years after the movie premiered in Bozeman a tsunami of wealthy out of state buyers priced us out of the property market. Some scenes of the his movie were filmed on a family place on Mill Creek. A producer set up permanent film shop in Bozeman. We worked on the rivers for them, and so for the Bozeman Premier I was an usher, busy seating celebrities. Downtown was a blast that evening. We met Robert prior to the show, but he was so detached it was an immediate disappointment. A few friends still live in Bozeman. To a person they weep over what it used to be. The pal I shared a drift boat with in the ‘90’s, an artist, fly tier and true Colorado gentleman who fully adopted the MtN8v ethic hung up his waders. He cited caustic realities having to do with not being able to wade the lower Madison anymore. He held that the big browns had abandoned the stretch of weed beds and channels full of crawfish — owing to being “constantly pressured, run over by guides, fishermen and binging college coeds.”
I wonder, where we might find ourselves in another generation or two. Disgust will probably be replaced by deep worry over the loss of habitat, agriculture and open spaces without lights at night.
Forgive the typos. I gotta change my channel.
Narrow Way Cafe 