Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1993 | Page 53
The Menace of the Wild West Shows
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a wild massacre of Indians killing Indians. The second scenario, "The
Prairie," opened with Buffalo Bill charging on a herd of wild
buffaloes, followed by peaceful settlers bedding down for the night in
the open prairie. This scene was disrupted by a raging prairie fire,
which sent animals, settlers and nearby Indians scattering in a
wildly dramatic flight. The third epoch exhibited a cattle ranch
where the cowboys, happily content lassoing steers and riding wild
mustangs, were attacked suddenly and senselessly by a band of savage
Indians. The massacre of the cowboys was abbreviated only by the
arrival of another band of cowboys, who proceeded to decimate the
barbaric Indians. The fourth, and originally the final, scene showed
a mining camp, the Pony Express and the Deadwood Stagecoach under
assault by bandits and Indians. At the end of the scene, the mining
camp itself was totally destroyed by a cyclone, which threw bodies
into the air and flattened the encampment. Later on in the season,
another scene was added to the show, which was to be the climactic
finale of the Wild West for many years to come. "Custer's Last
Stand" was portrayed, showing General Custer hopelessly
outnumbered and under attack by hordes of marauding Indians. As his
men fell around him, Custer valiantly remained seated on his horse in
the center, until finally he is defeated by the multitudes of Indians.
After his defeat, Buffalo Bill arrived on the scene, and the words
"TOO LATE" appeared projected above him.
Whether the message was consciously appreciated or not, "The
Drama of Civilization" made a clear statement that there were two
major blockades standing in the way of progress. The Indian and
nature were linked together as the only malevolent forces capable of
stopping or destroying the white man's attempts to conquer the
frontier. No other obstacles intruded on the happy rowdiness of the
cowboys or the peacefulness of the emigrants. In simplistic terms, the
white man, who represented all that was "good" in civilization, was
pitted against the wild and barbaric elements that symbolized those
"dark" factors that must be vanquished before civilization can be
complete.
Both on a physical and spiritual level, these
incomprehensible and uncontrollable "evil forces" must be defeated or
overcome in order to insure the survival of mankind. In the Mackaye
drama, the settling of the frontier achieved archetypal dimensions,
and subduing the savage opposing forces became a moral obligation if
the safety of the nation and its future generations were to be insured.