A leather clad man rides by on a horse, sending dust shooting up in his trail. He naturally skips along atop the horse, but his hat remains motionless. On his hip is a holstered pistol, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. As he rides off in to the sunset, a tumbleweed grazes by, and western music begins to play. This is the modern depiction of a cowboy. What one does not realize however is where all of this came from. The cowboy did not always exist, he had to be born and carefully crafted. This crafting that arguably created the manliest man the world has ever seen, was done by none other than William Cody, Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill is seen as such a man because he is an illustration of both Gail Bederman and T.J. Jackson Lears’ views
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Jackson Lears’ argument of Antimodernism within his book, No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880-1920. Lears outlines Antimodernism here as the rejection of old Victorian views on manhood, with a role more clearly defined by his physical self, specifically with a rugged mentality centered around real experiences that include pain and suffering. Man was moving away from the “stout midriff” (Lears 1) that included “no limit to American abundance” (Lears 1). No longer were men satisfied with comfort and luxury and idleness. Searching for something more real and true Lears notes, “triumph of culture had promoted a spreading sense of moral impotence and spiritual fertility – a feeling that life had become not only over civilized but also curiously unreal” (Lears 2). It seems odd that man would want pain and suffering, but that is how deprived this culture was of real experiences and authenticity. Everything that was experienced seemed as though it was a …show more content…
He has masculine moments in which he wants to prove his physical ability, as well as Antimodernist moments in which he seeks real experiences, but the two intertwine. For instance, when Buffalo Bill was masculine leaving home for the war he was also simultaneously seeking real experiences in Antimodernist fashion. Back in the scene at home Bill grows “uneasy” with the lack of excitement, so soon after taking down a group of road agents. Bill prefers intense experiences so strongly that he can hardly take a break and stay at home, wanting to immediately enlist in the war effort and put his life back on the line. He has “soldier’s fever” for real life experiences that will most likely involve pain and suffering like most wars. Likewise, how Antimodernism is prevalent here in a masculine act, so is the reciprocal case when Billy is in the ditch with a broken leg. Bill deals with his pain proudly, gritting it out, as it is what he believes men do. His role as a masculine physical figure involves risks like this with pain and suffering that he chooses. So these two traits of masculinity and Antimodernism combine and fuse together within Buffalo Bill’s character to demonstrate his
Jackson Lears’ argument of Antimodernism within his book, No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880-1920. Lears outlines Antimodernism here as the rejection of old Victorian views on manhood, with a role more clearly defined by his physical self, specifically with a rugged mentality centered around real experiences that include pain and suffering. Man was moving away from the “stout midriff” (Lears 1) that included “no limit to American abundance” (Lears 1). No longer were men satisfied with comfort and luxury and idleness. Searching for something more real and true Lears notes, “triumph of culture had promoted a spreading sense of moral impotence and spiritual fertility – a feeling that life had become not only over civilized but also curiously unreal” (Lears 2). It seems odd that man would want pain and suffering, but that is how deprived this culture was of real experiences and authenticity. Everything that was experienced seemed as though it was a …show more content…
He has masculine moments in which he wants to prove his physical ability, as well as Antimodernist moments in which he seeks real experiences, but the two intertwine. For instance, when Buffalo Bill was masculine leaving home for the war he was also simultaneously seeking real experiences in Antimodernist fashion. Back in the scene at home Bill grows “uneasy” with the lack of excitement, so soon after taking down a group of road agents. Bill prefers intense experiences so strongly that he can hardly take a break and stay at home, wanting to immediately enlist in the war effort and put his life back on the line. He has “soldier’s fever” for real life experiences that will most likely involve pain and suffering like most wars. Likewise, how Antimodernism is prevalent here in a masculine act, so is the reciprocal case when Billy is in the ditch with a broken leg. Bill deals with his pain proudly, gritting it out, as it is what he believes men do. His role as a masculine physical figure involves risks like this with pain and suffering that he chooses. So these two traits of masculinity and Antimodernism combine and fuse together within Buffalo Bill’s character to demonstrate his