I always knew that my Kroger and Target stores were trying to fool me - placing items that I don't really want or need in places where I will notice them. Without even thinking, I plunk them into my basket and off I go to the checkout with about $100 worth of junk that I don't need and only think I want.
However, I honestly did not know that my local museum is pulling the buffalo hide over my eyes as well! Honestly! A museum that is set up to show you what they want you to see when they want you to see it??? Who'd a thought such a thing?
And so goes the Buffalo Bill Historical Center , "The Voice of the American Past". This museum is amazing enough to read about it through the voices of Dickinson, Ott, and Aoki in their article "Memory and Myth at the Buffalo Bill Museum". However, to "see" it in person, via the Buffalo Bill Historical Center website is something to behold.
Having been fortunate enough to read Dickinson et al.'s article yesterday, I have the advantage of seeing what is really going on at the BBM (Buffalo Bill Museum). I think it would be fair to say that I would have a good idea anyway if I had just visited the website. This is pure and unadulterated "cheese" (perhaps Limburger?) and commercialism at its finest.
I'm not even sure where to start with the article, "Memory and Myth at the Buffalo Bill Museum". I really enjoyed reading this as it opened my eyes to how we are constantly being manipulated in our everyday lives. Subliminally, we are told what to do, where to go, and what to buy by simply showing up somewhere. It's really rather amazing how this happens, and is really something that I might want to study in greater detail. To say that the museum is glossing over the truth of the "frontier" is a bit of an understatement. The authors of the article point out in vivid detail just how the curators of this museum seemingly take delight in preserving all things "West" while not actually telling the true story of the West.
The article opened my eyes to several things: First, Buffalo Bill wasn't real. I am a child of the 1950's which I think just generally makes me a little naive when it comes to believing what I see and hear. I was raised without the benefit of knowing everything about the world, and my knowledge was shaped by what I was told, not by what was on the Internet (and there is much debate about whether anything you can find anywhere on the Internet is true either...) Regardless, I believed what I was taught in school, as I am quite certain my teachers believed as well. Second, our nation's way of thinking about the "frontier" is based not on fact, but on what we have been told. More like "his-story", not history.
I really liked the way the authors wrote this article - I found it a really good read and underlined the heck out of it! It furthered my knowledge of how the West was really "won" and why we should all work to make our history real and not "his-story". The Buffalo Bill website is, well, pretty amazing and must be experienced to be believed. Did you see the pictures in the art museum and in the gift shop? Pretty amazing stuff! My favorite is “Madonna of the Prairie”. You should definitely find this one! This picture is copyrighted, so I’m not going to post it here, but you should definitely find it! http://www.bbhc.org/wgwa/index/cfm
Wow Lou, I definitely agree with what Matt said about the "blog envy" haha, I'm a little jealous myself :b if there were an award for best blog, you would get it for sure.
ReplyDeletewell first off I really like the title you gave this post "I've Been Buffaloed!". It made me laugh a little, very catchy! And also very interesting how you started off talking about how stores fool us into spending on things we don't really need, it was a good comparison to the way the museum portrays the west without telling the complete truth. Just like those commercials on tv that make products sound absolutely amazing but then you get them and it’s like, wait, that’s not how it worked on tv at all!
What would be even better is if we could go visit the museum ourselves;) hmmm Dr. K? haha, just kidding, not that far. But field trips sure are fun!
I couldn't open the link you provided about "Madonna of the Prairie”, well, it said page not found. And I went back to the Buffalo Bill site to the gift shop and couldn't find it either. But I agree it's an interesting site, though I found it difficult to write about a website.
See you Saturday!
Christina
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ReplyDeleteHey Lou,
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up. It's always interesting when one can branch out from a topic we study within class to a larger life issue. Also, I couldn't help but imagine that after you wrote "More like 'his-story'" you would look to the person beside you and ask for a high-five. High-five back to you, Lou.
The difference between how knowledge was bestowed both before and during the existence of the internet is interesting to think about in reference to Buffalo Bill. My father was a computer savant for most of my years growing up, so I was exposed to the technology during my childhood. Maybe I am not the best person to ask, since the internet wasn't much of a household commodity until I was finishing up grade school, but I would say most of my childhood was also spent learning a majority of information solely from what people told me -- nowadays, 5th graders have the wherewithal to go home and jump straight onto Wikipedia for a book report. The learning possibilities granted by the internet are certainly massive, though it is unavoidable that one becomes jaded after spending enough time online, having to sort through so much misinformation. Who knows, maybe if Sitting Bull had only published his own Blog, he could have ruined Buffalo Bill's career by spreading his own interpretation of the fronteir. Then again, maybe Buffalo Bill would have been even more successful and we would all be clicking on "Wild West Show" pop-ups and sorting through spam e-mail from Bill Cody's publicist.
(Sorry for the deleted comment! I found a typo after I posted and couldn't let it go, haha)