Today, as we count down to the submission deadline for Rough Edges Doug Blakeslee is sharing some thoughts on his favourite cowboy in this guest post 🙂
The Lone Cowboy
When I was a kid, the TV was full of western TV shows; Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Lone Ranger, etc… The mythology was big in those days and you had a smidgen over two dozen on the air in 1959. Cowboys and Indians was a game we played and everyone wanted to be The Lone Ranger or Cisco Kid or Mat Dillon [from Gunsmoke]. Halloween was a parade of kids in ten gallon hats, chaps, and cap guns. The last one only if your parents were permissive enough. These were our heroes and we wanted emulate them. My generation bought into the myth of the cowboy and what we thought they represented. And the one that stood out was The Lone Ranger.
Ignoring the terrible movie remakes, the TV show captured the imagination of many kids. Clayton Moore will always be The Lone Ranger in my mind having made a strong impression in the mind of a young boy. Perhaps it’s because the creator took the pains to make the character as positive a role model as possible. They tried to emphasize ideas such as: to have a friend, one must be a friend, all men are created equal, everyone has the power to make world a better place, and being prepared to fight for what is right at all times. These aren’t bad sentiments and many of them are going strong in this day and age. The Lone Ranger was always on the side of good, there was no gray areas or moral quandaries. Good vs. Evil. A much more simple time with straightforward ideals to our modern and sophisticated sensibilities.
I have to think that these are the reasons for the failure of latest remake. It lacks that spirit and focuses more on the action, the wow factor, and Johnny Depp as Tonto. Having watched it, I have to wonder if the writer and director read/watched/listened anything about the Lone Ranger. They took the window dressing and decided to make an action blockbuster, keeping only a few touches from the original code and ignoring the rest. I’ve heard the arguments about reframing/reinterpreting the mythology for a modern audience, but I think that’s bunk. Some ideals will always attract an audience as long as you stay true to them. In the effort to be hip and modern, they lost the message. I hope I live long enough to see a remake that’s worthy of the original TV series.
Doug Blakeslee lives in the Pacific Northwest and spends his time writing, cooking, gaming, and watching hockey. His interest in books and reading started early thanks to his parents, though his serious attempts at writing only started a few years ago. From time to time he blogs about writing and other related topics at The Simms Project at http://thesimmsproject.
blogspot.com/. He’s been published in such anthologies as: “Someone Wicked”, “Astrologica: Stories of the Zodiac”, “Fossil Lake”, “A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court” and others. His current project is an urban fantasy novel about a war between the Fae. He can be reached on Facebook or simms.doug@gmail.com.
Rough Edges, my cowboy romance/erotica anthology is still open to submissions of works from 3,000 – 20,000 words long until July 31st. That is less than two weeks away so send me your best now! 🙂
