Review
As the days go by, William Blake the
main character, inches closer towards the city of Machine. Machine is known as
the end of line, not only for the train, but also of civilization itself. As
the train dives deeper into unfamiliar territory the people start becoming rougher
in appearance. The cabin fills with tuff mountain men, with guns at the ready.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the men hooting and howling, fire their rifles out
the window into a heard of buffalo, shooting not for material gain, but as a
means to end the species. Besides the obvious need for entertainment, the
mountain men are killing as a way to turn the uncivilized west into what they
perceive as civilization.
“Look... they are shooting buffalo,
government says... it killed a million of 'em last year alone.”
Reaction
As this course has progressed, my
interest in the movies has steadily increased. Currently, Dead Man is the most entertaining thus far. The dry humor, the
dialog, and the awkward cameos, all made for an entertaining two hours. I find
deterritorialization and reterritorialization intriguing, so I started the film
with the intent of looking to exemplify those terms. There were many examples
that characterized deterritorialization in Dead
Man, such as Williams Blake’s transformation from a timid nobody to a
wanted killer, back to a timid man in the canoe, but the example of the buffalo
scene stands out in my mind most, perhaps because of my historian outlook on
life.
Interpretation
Deterritorialization and deterritorialization
is the transformation of a symbol from one meaning to another.
Deterritorialization is the braking down of the symbol, to a baser meaning; in
other words, the symbol is frowned upon and almost destroyed. Reterritorialization
is when the broken symbol starts to be characterized as something new and is
admired, by those who sought to destroy it.
In the late 1800’s the government
had ambitions of settling in the west, but the Indians still occupied much of
the prairie land. The government’s grand plan was for citizens to treat the
buffalo as if they were pests. The buffalo herds were vital to the survival of
the natives. Other than being a spiritual symbol for the natives, buffalo were
the main source of food and material for making clothes and shelter. The
native’s entire existence depended on predicting the
migration patterns of the buffalo herds. The government’s logic in this was
both to starve the people, and break their will to fight.
I cannot think of a better example of
deterritorialization than the extermination of buffalo. The government
intentionally tried to destroy a symbol for life for a race of people. They
were able to get common white citizens to shoot buffalo on sight. The intentional extinction was effective. The buffalo population went from sixty million in
1800, to only twenty-five single specimens in 1894.
I do not know when the reterritorialization
of the American buffalo occurred, or when it started, but today buffalo are
synonymous with majesty, and power. They symbolize the old west, a simpler time
that modern Americans will never get to experience (These analogies came from
my California raised wife).
The reterritorialization of the
buffalo as a symbol, gave raise the reintroduction of buffalo herds in America.
Buffalo have been reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park, and in various
places around Montana. Eating buffalo meat has become an attraction for
visitors to experience real
Montana at places such as Teds Montana Grill on Main Street. Americans seem envious of simpler times, and the buffalo helps us imagine that we are in stuck in time in the old west. We have sought that feeling so much that the buffalo has become Americas national mammal.
As was discussed in class, deterritorialization and reterritorialization is not static, but is cyclical. To put this in terms of the buffalo, the buffalo were revered by the indigenous people, later the buffalo were seen as a nescience, by white Americans, and killed off. Now the cycle has come around full swing, the buffalo it’s the symbol there of, is put on a pedestal, perhaps given more time, the buffalo will become a pest one more.
As was discussed in class, deterritorialization and reterritorialization is not static, but is cyclical. To put this in terms of the buffalo, the buffalo were revered by the indigenous people, later the buffalo were seen as a nescience, by white Americans, and killed off. Now the cycle has come around full swing, the buffalo it’s the symbol there of, is put on a pedestal, perhaps given more time, the buffalo will become a pest one more.
Dead Man further exemplifies deterritorialization and reterritorialization by how the characters viewed civilization. As William rides further from
Cincinnati, and closer to Machine, the landscape becomes less civilized, while the
other passengers become more unsavory, to the point that William no
longer fells comfortable leaving his luggage unattended. The city of Machine is
perceived as civilization by the ones whom benefit from
it. The perception of the definition of civilization varies from culture to culture. One
man’s civilization, is another man’s wasteland. The indigenous population would
argue that the land on which Machine was built was in its ideal state before white
men struck ground. To the white workers, the city was an improvement upon the
land, and previously held no material value,while William would argue that neither is civilization when compared to Cincinnati. Just like the symbol of the buffalo, the land itself and the perception of civilization is ever-flowing.
Work Cited
Deleuze, G. (1983). What Is a Minor Literature. Mississippi
Review, 11, 13-33. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20133921
E. (2012). Manuel DeLanda. Assemblage Theory, Society, and
Deleuze. 2011. Retrieved June 09,
2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-I5e7ixw78
The Decent of Civilization: The Extermination of the
American Buffalo. (n.d.). Retrieved June 09,
2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/frontierlife/essay8.html
The theory of reterritorialization and deterritorialization, was a theory that I have been working out in my own head for some time, ever since the death of Michael Jackson. It was good to know that the thoughts that I have in my head have already been worked out by real philosophers. Before Michael Jackson unexpended death, he was the butt of every joke. His life had turned into quagmire. People forgot about his music and only thought of him as a child molester and a creep. After his death it seemed that all people could talk about was his good qualities, and how he had been their personal hero. I felt like the only one to remember that he was a creep. I see this happen every time an famous actor or singer dies. This is why I fear Kanye's death. I do not want people to forget that they hate him. Reterriroialization will make Kanye into the hero that he already see's himself as
ReplyDeleteI was so happy to see this. When we talked about Mohammed Ali, I immediately thought of Michael Jackson. He was always on the news for some scandal or another before he died, and now he is celebrated. It's a classic case of reterritorialization and deterritorialization. But then I thought that this happens with every musician or band, they go through this at some point or another during their lifetime too, not necessarily after they die. The first album is always the best and the most original, but then the second would be a little different, and then the third would be completely different. And there's always arguments about artists becoming more "mainstream." I totally agree.
DeleteP.S.: I fear the same thing with the Kardashians.
Your use of the extermination of buffalo as an example of deterritorialization was very intriguing. I was aware of this historical event and the intention behind it, but I learned a lot reading your detailed information about the story. It is extremely heartbreaking to know the actual number of the buffaloes dropping down to twenty –five single specimens from sixty million in less than a century. It is also very fascinating to learn that the synonyms of buffalo nowadays are majesty and power. The sentence “the old West, a simpler time that modern Americans will never get to experience,” made me think of the American Dream: anyone who is hardworking can rise as high as their aspirations. In old west, thanks to the “untouched” land and resources, the white population was able to thrive. A sociologist Michael Kimmel wrote a book, Angry White Men. This book tells the story of “the other side of the American Dream: the futility, the dashed hopes, the despair, and the rage. It tells the story of the rich and famous wannabes, the ones who thought they could invent themselves, reinvent themselves, be even more successful than their fathers. It tells the story of how white American men came to believe that power and authority were what they were entitle to, by birth, and how that birthright is now eroding” (Kimmel 2013). Just like the reterritorialization of buffalo, American Dream is also reterritorialized. Buffalo is something that is nostalgic to Americans, especially families in the West. Even for the ones who did not experience the 19th century, the buffalo means majesty, power, and never-ending land of opportunity.
ReplyDeleteKimmel, M. S. (n.d.). Angry white men: American masculinity at the end of an era.
I loved how you used buffalo as an example of deterritorialization! You also used historical fact to support your argument for this comparison, and you went into substantial detail to do so. I also loved the opening train scene as well. It was interesting in many aspects, particularly the interaction william blake had with his fellow passengers. I thought the contrast between the stillness and quiet of the passengers during most of the ride with their sudden, excited cries and yells as they shot buffalo quite striking and slightly amusing.
ReplyDeleteColton,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your use of the slaughter of buffalo as an example of deterritorialization. While I interpreted the scene in the context of the treatment of Native Americans by the Europeans, it is also powerful in it's stand-alone context.
I'm not sure what to think of the idea that the slaughter was to "civilize" the West. Seeing how the mountain men view Blake, I can't think they would want their spaces to be overly civilized. It is an interesting comparison between the Eastern Blake, Western Mountain Men, and the Native Americans. Each has their identity tied to their civilization, but to each specific symbols have a vastly different context.
Hi Colton,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your article. I think it's really interesting. Definitely, I think buffalo is a symbol that is being deterritorialized and reterritorialized. But I also think that it runs deeper than that. Buffalo represents different things for different people or groups, which you've suggested, and this makes the problem more complicated. If there is no agreement on what buffalo symbolizes, then there is no agreement on what kind of issue it is. For Native Americans, for ranchers, for the National Park Service, buffalo represents different things, which makes it a "wicked problem." We see this playing out with letting buffalo roam in Gardiner, which may not be an issue of deterritorializon and reterritorializon of buffalo, but rather an issue of disagreement on what it symbolizes or represents.