GOODNIGHT, FUCKERS #507: POWER OF THE DOG

"I need the best."
"Wade Garrett is the best."

 

So a while back, Sam Elliott stuck his foot in his mouth and said some stupid things about a movie called Power of the Dog. I think what he said was homophobic, but he tried to frame it in a way that a director from New Zealand shouldn't be making westerns because she doesn't know a thing about westerns. However you take it, he's flat out wrong.

And it's a shame. I really like Elliott in everything, in particular as Wade Garrett in Road House. He has since apologized for these statements, and I more or less believe people can change, so I'm willing to leave it at that, at least for now. But the thing that stuck in my craw the most is how he adheres to what he believes a western should be and nothing else.

Horseshit, I say. First, anyone can make a western. It doesn't matter where they come from. If I wanted to write a swords and sandals epic, would it be necessary that I be an Ancient Roman? Because if that's really the problem, I wonder what he thinks of the movie Gladiator. Or even Spartacus. The only requirement for creating art about something that one might not be native to is a desire to write about that thing. I think it would be really interesting to see, for example, an African's idea of a western. I almost said Japanese, but I held back because their samurai stories are pretty similar, especially if the main character is a Ronin. After all, without Yojimbo we would never have gotten spaghetti westerns. And what do Italians know of making westerns, eh, Sam?

And if homosexuality really was Elliott's problem, and I believe it was, that is also horseshit. Westerns can be about any character you want regardless of race, gender, sexuality, anything. Sometimes it's even better when it's not just about hetero white men doing shit. I've seen that a million times, anyway.

In fact, I'll go one step further. Westerns don't necessarily need to happen in the west. Back in James Fenimore Cooper's days, he was writing westerns. The thing was, back then Ohio was considered the wild west. And some of Young Guns 2 happens in NYC. Hell, I'll even put forth the possibility that Gangs of New York is a western. Watch that one again. It feels like it should be happening in Arizona.

You know my western is coming out soon. It's part one of a trilogy. I already have part two written. Part three is still a mystery to me, but I'll be damned if I'm not seriously considering setting it in New York. So fuck it, that's what I'm going to do.

A western can be just about anything, kind of like horror or bizarro or SF. The more we play with it, the longer the genre might live.

I love the shit out of Road House, but this might be my favorite line.

"I used to fuck guys like you in prison."