Was the lone ranger real movie#
Was the lone ranger real tv#

Was the lone ranger real movie#

Years later, as the movie finally arrives in theaters, the debate continues.Д¬an someone tell me whether weвЂ™re supposed to be offended by Johnny DeppвЂ™s portrayal of Tonto or not? Must know for dinner parties/twitter. ( HereвЂ™s a recent example: Michelle Williams dressed in stereotypical braids and feathers for a fashion spread this past March, and the response from the Native American Journalists AssociationВ that when a nonnative person dresses up as a Native American it leads to problems, even if the magazineвЂ™s editors donвЂ™t see them.) Particularly for Disney, a studio with a track record thatвЂ™s checkered at best when it comes to Native American characters - see Peter PanВ - the decision to cast DeppВ has raised big questions that are unlikely to be answered by one movie. Though American audiences are probably more familiar with the history of blackface, вЂњredfaceвЂќ is likewise fraught territory. for someone to play a race other than his own? As might be expected when a prominent actor decides to take on a character who is specifically a race other than his own, the controversy wasnвЂ™t far behind.В Is it O.K.

Was the lone ranger real tv#

Follow The Lone RangerВ opens in theaters today, but debate over the big-budget western epic has been raging online for years, ever since Johnny Depp first said in 2011 that he wanted to make a movie of the radio and TV classic - and that, rather than playing the masked man, he wanted to play Tonto. I said I was headed to Arkansas, on the trail of Bass. We chatted while he looked for dents, and he asked where I was traveling. вЂњBut I also donвЂ™t know of any other person in American history who more solidly fits the definition or the image of the Lone Ranger than Bass.вЂќД®arlier this year, when I rented a four-wheel-drive truck to make the icy haul up to Fort Smith, the attendant who walked me around the vehicle was a young Black man. вЂњI donвЂ™t know if there has been a solid connection between Bass and the Lone Ranger,вЂќ he continued.

вЂњI understand the need for a kid to have a hero-like figure that he desires to mimic, to inspire him to go forth and do great things,вЂќ he told me. In the mid-sixties, his mother insisted that he and his siblings leave the segregated Black school theyвЂ™d been attending to integrate into one of the townвЂ™s white schools. Marshals Service, grew up in the town of Sulphur Springs, some forty miles south of the federal courthouse Reeves worked out of in Paris. Donald W.В Washington, the current director of the U.S. Burton didnвЂ™t have any Black heroes he could point to, and eventually Reeves filled that spot for him.Д«urtonвЂ™s not alone. Neither did any of the other cowboys on TV. But the Lone Ranger was definitely in the forefront of those, because as a kid I liked that he stood for truth and justice and the American way of life.вЂќ But the Lone Ranger didnвЂ™t look like him. When I was growing up, there was a ton of westerns on television. вЂњIt was on TV all through my formative years. вЂњIf the Lone Ranger analogy will help people understand who Bass is and what he did and make his name connect somehow,вЂќ Burton told me, вЂњI donвЂ™t think thatвЂ™s a bad thing.вЂќ Burton was born in 1949, the same year The Lone Ranger debuted on television. вЂњTo tie a fictional character with Bass Reeves in order to give him some kind of validation, to me, is bullshit.вЂќД«urton, who got this whole conversation started, is, perhaps unsurprisingly, more forgiving. вЂњI believe that Bass can stand alone,вЂќ Nkokheli told me. Denies him his humanity.вЂќ By distorting Reeves into the Lone Ranger, his narrative becomes вЂњmore readily digestible,вЂќ he said.

вЂњIt fundamentally denies him his Blackness. вЂњThe Lone Ranger makes him a white guy,вЂќ he told me. This was a real man who never had the distinction he deserved for many, many years.вЂќ Paul Brady, ReevesвЂ™s 93-year-old great-nephew, told the Telegraph in 2013, вЂњItвЂ™s not acceptable to compare him to a fictional character.

Some find the whole discussion beside the point. So what does it matter whether Reeves is the foundation for a fictional character whose cultural relevance has largely ridden off into the sunset?

It wasnвЂ™t until Burton came along that folks in the general public became aware that the lawman had even existed. Apart from a few passing mentions of Reeves by elderly white marshals recollecting their glory days to local newspapers, not much was written about Reeves from his death, in 1910, until a few academic articles appeared starting in 1971. Most likely, the three white men who conjured the Lone Ranger from pulp magazines and Hollywood tropes had never heard of Reeves.