So, this entry will be different from much of what we’ve seen around here recently but after watching the latest episode of Yellowstone, I feel that this is relevant. In a nutshell: I want to discuss how Yellowstone, one of the most popular streaming shows, has been building on myths of conservative life in its narrative for quite some time.
A little background: My partner has dementia, so one of the highlights of the day is when we can sit down in the evening and watch a few shows before going to bed. It is a window into many worlds and provides my partner with stimulus he would not otherwise get in his daily life. We tend to pick shows that are not too violent, not too scary or not too dark. So we were happy to add Yellowstone to our list of shows in 2018.
Yellowstone has truly become a phenomenon and has consistently broken viewership records in later seasons. The show has become so successful that creator Taylor Sheridan has added numerous other shows to the Paramount line-up, all with ties to the mothership show. The show is likely to continue until Sheridan wants to stop or if there are drastic drops in viewership. It is most certainly assured at least another few seasons. In the beginning, the show was like a modern Dallas. You had the powerful family, the rural life for some, contrasted with the modern towns of the state. The family was pretty urbane and you felt that they could make it in Manhattan if necessary. They also had an interesting angle where a Native American tribe in Montana also played a central role. And then add to that the stunning beauty of areas of Utah and then Montana. So the show was very appealing. The fact that it always had a conservative bent is not surprising — the cattle rancher who wants no regulation, the family who wants to preserve the “old” ways of Montana. But the first season of the show revealed how shrewd Yellowstone owner John Dutton (played by Kevin Costner) was to achieve his goals: one son was dispatched to Harvard to study law and be the legal arm of the empire, one daughter was to study finance and worked with cut-throat developers, one son is made livestock commissioner — showing that the show’s protagonist understands the need to have access to all levers of power, far and wide, to achieve his goals.
Over time, however, I’ve noticed some very notable shifts in the way they present their narrative. What was an understated conservative undertone and become the dominant message of the show. As creator Taylor Sheridan has left the daily running of the show to his writing team, because he has so many projects, it is seeming more and more like they are speaking to their more conservative audience through their narrative. I do not know Sheridan’s political affiliations but given that he is from Texas, a cowboy and worth 40 million, I have my own suspicions. Shows having a right-wing tendency are not new — we see them in western genres, shows like Walker Texas Ranger, whole shows on certain networks, even going back as TV’s Dragnet and beyond. Normally, I have found most of these shows unappealing because their narratives were so predictable. But I’ve seen nothing with the reach of Yellowstone. In my mind, it provides a scope previously unattained for present a false narrative of conservative values.
(spoilers ahead)
If we look at the basic structure of the show: the Duttons all “circle the wagons” in the first season when the Dutton eldest son, Lee, dies in a battle with the native tribe. Siblings Beth and Jamie return from their more urban, business-world settings to rejoin life on the Dutton ranch. Beth, though ruthless, is designated to be one of the “real people” who espouses the real Montana way of life. Jamie, on the other hand, is labeled the “black sheep” of the family. Physically, he is dark-haired and looks very different from his chestnut-haired family. Later, it is revealed, Jamie was adopted by the Dutton family but was also born in Montana. But this difference is also played out in the narrative — Jaime has an Obama poster on his wall in the first season. He had the “fancy” Harvard education (on his father’s request) — and the character is consistently written with a negative slant. He is the interloper, he is devoted to all of these laws and regulations, he represents the type of commerce that threatens the Dutton way of life. Beyond that is the central point that the tension between him and his sister, Beth, is that she wanted to get an abortion but this required being sterilized on the reservation. Jamie, afraid of the reaction of his father, tells his sister to get the abortion, without mentioning the sterilization part. Jamie must assume the full hatred of the family for this but in the back of many viewers’ minds: the liberal guy who got his sister an abortion — at it ruined someone’s life.
The portrayal of outsiders is almost always a negative thing. They are greedy land developers or clueless rich people from the East or from California, there to steal their natural resources. Beth’s recent bar fight was with a woman from California. As one of Beth’s cellmates remarked, “It’s always a bitch from California.” A person coming from out of state is almost always bad. And except for one lesbian couple in season 1, one of which Jamie kills, you will likely never see any gay people on this show or if they are, they will be absolute caricatures.
The character of Beth is kind of the prototypical conservative woman: blond hair, pleased to wear her sexuality on her sleeve. In on episode, when she is tearing up a shop, someone brings out a cell phone and starts filming — Beth gleefully stomps on the cell phone, with zero repercussions. Kind of the conservative response to people taking out their phones to film a violent or hate-filled encounter. Beth is a tragic character but it seems this primarily stems from the abortion incident and abuse by her mother. Her behavior, for the most part, is at least to be considered “bad ass” in the narrative.
One famous case is the environmental activist Summer, played by Piper Perabo. One would think that the character would be added to build some balance to the narrative. But quite the contrary. Summer is arrested as an environmental activist. Every point she can advance about environmental stewardship is easily contradicted by John Dutton. Later, Summer’s prison sentence is commuted on the condition that she be in the home of Sutton, who has become governor and with whom she has already had sex. Summer generally behaves in an obnoxious way, and berates the family at the dinner table for not eating vegan. Despite the fact that Veg World Mag lists Montana as being the best state to have a vegan lifestyle, the family looks at a vegan like an alien. This is also despite the fact that Gator, the chef, is supposedly very good, as is his portrayer Gabriel “Gator” Guilbeau could easily whip up Summer some veggies. Instead, the character is to be generally belittled and have little in common with “natural” landowner John Dutton, her views on environmental stewardship at odds with that of the landowner.
As John Dutton becomes governor, his politics are very Trumpian — he wants to have loyal people over competent people. He runs for governor almost entirely to serve his own interests. Laws are flagrantly broken and the state’s general interests are put at risk because John Dutton deems it appropriate for the family. His entire platform is “anti-progress”. His son Jamie works at his father’s pleasure, also due to blackmail, as the state’s AG. In the most recent episode, Democrat Jamie is considering taking on his father because he is seduced by another outsider, with the goal of reinstating an airport/resort project. This, too, is portrayed as completely negative in the narrative. State legislators are often cartoons, having meetings about protecting the “wood grouse”, ideas which John swiftly contradicts. John’s whole raison d’etre is — I hate being in this office, I hate government, but I have to do this because the bad outsiders want to take away our way of life. In earlier seasons, these were Montanans. Now, they are almost always outsiders from out of state.
In the most recent episode, Montana is visited by the President of the United States. His name is not mentioned but they do disparage Obama for his policies on native Americans. Given that we are in the modern day, it is safe to assume they mean Biden. In the narrative, John decides to just ignore the president all together — saying he didn’t want to see “that idiot.”
So for many of you, this is probably not surprising at all. But I continue to be struck but how overt the political themes and implied political themes grow in the narrative as the show gains in popularity, likely with a majority conservative audience. Now, one can argue, that the narrative suggests that the Duttons are to be seen as a tragic, stubborn family. But the greater narrative suggests that we are to read this as a necessary means to an end, of people who want to destroy their way of life. So many people I know feel compelled to hate the character of Jamie, because that’s what the narrative regularly compels them to do. Jamie is often the literal punching bag of his sister, Beth. He must bear this constant abuse, be made to follow the orders but is considered an outsider and a threat.
To me, conservative ideologies are built on imagery and narrative instead of just politics alone. I think I will stick out this season and then probably stop. I understand their narrative to be just a narrative but at crossfit I hear every week how the Duttons are bringing it to the libs. A shame that a show with such a broad ideological range at the beginning seems to have a much more conservative agenda now. However, the stunning landscapes remain. The acting is quite good by much of the cast. But for me, it’s losing its appeal because it seems to have become more about fashioning conservative propaganda. Montana is a purple state and still has a Democratic senator. Yet, it is often portrayed as being ruby red.