This week we're taking the wagon train to the stars. We're looking at Genre films, specifically sci fi and westerns.
Belton has a signficant discussion of the Turner Thesis. Here is a link to an essay on Frederick Jackson Turner from PBS and here is a link to his essay, The Significance of the Frontier in American History. This is the preface to his book that is based on the paper he read in Chicago. You can get to the entire book from this link.
These are some supplemental clips for the class.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (1902)
Disney's Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (Paris)
Star Wars
Star Trek (2009)
James Cameron was interviewed on Fresh Air. Follow the link and listen to the story, it's interesting.
We're going to try to stay away from TV for this class, but it clearly has an impact on this topic. Here are some links.
Star Trek: Space Seed (This is a link to the entire episode. You should, and want, to watch the whole thing but you don't have to watch it.)
Back in the 1990....
Firefly (the one season wonder)
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3 comments:
I absolutely loved the new Star Trek movie!! However, i got confused with the whole time travel type stuff...
Although it was not the only influencing the generations in question, The Frontier Thesis certainly highlights an important aspect of American history.
The western states and territories played a key role in American politics, especially in the slavery arena that was hotly contested back in the East. The concept of Manifest Destiny was also near and dear to Americans' hearts.
I would disagree with Turner's calling the frontiersmen models of democracy. These characters of "dominant individualism" were more survivalists trying to overcome hardships in a hostile world.
The nostalgia at which the frontier is looked at now is both a curse and a blessing. It makes for wonderful entertainment but lousy history.
If the frontier was not important to the American psyche, this nostalgia would not have started as immediately as it did.
On a side note, Firefly Serenity, the movie version of the Firefly TV series, was spectacular and featured many of the storylines outlined in the Belton readings.
-Watchig the Buffalo Bills Wild West Show in Disneyland reminded me a lot of Medieval Times.
-The font in the Star Wars trailer threw me off. It's not the same style/font that I know from the movies, nor is it yellow. But, the shade of blue holds true to the blue "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." is written in.
-I've never watched Firefly (Is there a movie named Firefly? I may have seen that...) so seeing this clip is my only exposure to it. In those breif 51 seconds, I saw a very obvious relationship between western and sci-fi
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