The Evisceration of American Myths

By Joyce Davis

In a recent interview on the WTF podcast with Marc Maron he had Sam Elliott on the show. Marc asks Mr. Elliott how he felt about the movie “The Power of the Dog”. Seemingly surprised Marc asked him about that movie Elliot responds by first calling the movie a piece of shit. “…what really brought it home to me when I said do you want to talk about it? I saw a full-page ad out in the L.A. Times and there was a blurb about the movie talking about the evisceration of the American myths, and I thought what the f?” He then goes on to compare the guys in the movie to Chip and Dale dancers, he said in the movie they wore chaps and no shirt with illusions of homosexuality. Marc says “I think that’s what the movie is about.” Elliott says “What the f does this woman from New Zealand know about the American west?” Somewhere in there he also called her a brilliant director. (Giving you my best side-eye. With an accent of boy bye.)

To retort; first off dipshit you did not grow up in “western times”. Next the same way you picked up a book or watched a documentary to learn of these things before you played your roles; so could she. But also, she does not have to know something to write or direct something. We have this thing called an imagination which allows us to create whatever world we so desire and call it whatever we like. I did enjoy Jane Campion’s response saying “He is not a cowboy; he is an actor.”

On ET Canada one of the hosts said “he is so weird on what is or is not a Western.” I disagree with that completely. In my view that was one guy trying to give another guy a pass or an excuse for his behavior. That is a homophobic comment. In Ms. Campion’s rebuttal she called Elliott homophobic, misogynistic, and he’s being a bit of a B. I. T. C. H.

The Evisceration of American myths is where the real story is. I will even go as far as to compare his American myths with white supremacy. Some White people want to hold on to the old ways. Westerns provide them with memories of a time it was okay to kill (they call them Indians) Native Americans and Black people were slaves. We see it now with people wanting to keep Confederate statues but fight to keep out CRT. He comes from an era where there was no ‘racism’ it’s just the way things were. Blacks were underground and LGBTQ stayed in the closet.

I used to love Sam Elliott but now I question him. Sadly, he is not the first. Two I will mention; Ronald Reagan, and John Wayne. I was the biggest fan of Reagan until I found out he was a racist. Comments came out about him saying to Nixon, “To see those monkeys from African countries- damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes.”

John Wayne was a huge star to me. One day I said something about him in school and a friend said you know he’s racist? He nor Elvis like Black people. I took their word for it. Later an interview he did in Playboy came out. He said “I believe I White supremacy. We can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the Blacks.” He continued, “I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or ten generations ago these people were slaves. Now I am in no way condoning slavery. It’s just the facts of life.” Fun fact: Aissa Wayne, John Wayne’s daughter endorsed Trump in 2016.

Sometimes we find out that people we admire are not great human beings. Sorry Sam that you don’t like the evisceration of the old days. You long for the good old days and probably why you chose to play in Westerns. If you take a step back you may find out that those are just fantasies that no longer exist. Cowboys don’t just live in America. Cowboys can be gay, Black, or a range of things that get your panties in a wad. Not one thing you can do about it.