Title: Bull Riding and Blue Jeans: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Cultural Revival of the American West
Author(s) : Adrienne Foos, Benjamin Scharff, Dharti Trivedi
Recently, there has been a cultural revival in interest in the American West. This revival is expressed through film and television (“Yellowstone”), fashion (Dior Cruise 2018), music (“Cowboy Carter” by Beyonce), art (see works by Mark Maggiori) and literature. Using methods from critical media studies and interdisciplinary perspectives, including historical contextualization and content analysis, media from the above-mentioned areas were examined for their influence in reflecting shifting cultural values and ideologies, perceptions of representation and power, and consumption. Understood through the Frontier Thesis (Turner, 1893), the current cultural production of the American West in various media reflects the West’s role in shaping the cultural values of rugged individualism, American exceptionalism, and self-reliance. Nostalgic for a mythic past, Western narratives and aesthetics, accompanying consumer trends, and increased representation of minorities reveal both a return to traditional American values as well as a reshaping of Western tropes.