An open letter to Hollywood from a cowboy.
Making a Western movie implies an obligation to a higher standard. Louis L'Amour, Gene Autry, Zane Gray, Roy Rogers, John Ford and John Wayne understood this. They acknowledged the responsibility they bore to the generations of young minds who loved their movies.
We would be hard put today to name a Western movie you could take a 12-year-old to. "Brokeback Mountain"? "Unforgiven"? "All The Pretty Horses"? The only new Western TV show is "Deadwood."
As time marches on, our children have become more sophisticated. Which, unfortunately, means profanity, lewdness, explicit violence and egregious horror are part of their everyday experience as a grade-schooler. Got cable?
I'm sure this sounds like a disgruntled rant, but it's more like wishful thinking. Why is it necessary to unearth the feet of clay of our heroes?? No one knows better than real cowboys that the image portrayed in the old Westerns was made through rose-colored glasses.
Out of some perverse sense to reveal the "whole story," the movie industry continues to feature crooked cops, seditious astronauts, perverted teachers, greedy doctors, sadistic soldiers and cowardly fireman in movies. The more admirable the occupation, the more sordid the story.
I know these are not meant for children. I appreciate the movie industry's rating guide. However, all that is left for children are "fantasy" movies like Harry Potter or cartoons like "The Lion King."?? But children's movies lack role models. They can't grow up to be Luke Skywalker or Cat Woman or Shrek.
But I can't blame just Hollywood for the coarsening of our culture and our children. Hollywood and HBO are clueless. It is like trying to explain that it is bad manners to chew with your mouth open to a pack of hyenas. We all have contributed. We let it happen. We let them destroy our collective sense of decency.
For a child to emulate a hero, the hero has to be portrayed by a real person. Someone they can become when they grow up. That's why the old Western movies had a value beyond entertainment. It made kids want to be like the cowboy on the screen who was one of the good guys.
It is that high standard embodied in those old Westerns that are readily available on repackaged DVD's in discount stores nationwide.
Do your kid a favor, make sure they get to see what real human action heroes look like. Watch it with them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting a horse!
Baxter Black, author, cowboy poet and former large animal veterinarian, lives in Benson, Ariz.
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