So imagine this is the synopsis for a movie:
You're introduced to a cowboy by the name of Walker. Bit of a loner (as the name would suggest). Walker is a white hat singing cowboy with his guitar, his passion for taming horses, and his desire to find redemption for accidentally killing a man in a fight years ago. When he gets out of jail he's offered a second chance by a guy called Rip, an imposing cowboy dressed all in Black who's the foreman for a big ranch. Walker takes the opportunity, only to discover that the ranch is ran by a powerful and utterly corrupt cattle baron, and with Rip as his ruthless henchman. Refusing to break the law for his new employer, Walker soon finds himself at odds with powerful enemies.
This reads like a classic western doesn't it? Something out of Bonanza or a John Ford Movie. Walker is straight up a White Hat like Tom Mix and a Gene Altry "Singing Cowboy", Rip is the classic Blackhat stone cold killer we see from the 20s all the way to Angel Eyes in "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" and beyond, and the corrupt and greedy landowner is a villain as old as the genre itself. But here's the thing, Walker is just a minor side character. Rip, John Dutton (the cattle Baron) and his children are the protagonists of Yellowstone.
Now I know that amoral, anti-heroes (or even villains) as protagonists is nothing new, from Walter White to Tony Soprano to absolutely what have you. And this is not to say as if the characters opposite to the Duttons are good people (there are very few "players" in Yellowstone who you would call good people) or even better than the family. But in Yellowstone, the Dutton family aren't just villains, they're embodiments of Western Villain tropes.
John Dutton, the ruthless Cattle Baron who literally branded his son with a hot iron when he rebelled in his teenage years. The owner of the largest ranch in the State and seeking to control the political machine of the state to preserve his wealth.
Rip Wheeler, the aforementioned BlackHat Gunslinger, who frequently murders for his boss, and intimidates those who would get in their way. A brute and a thug.
Jamie Dutton is the weak-willed scheming son/corrupt politician who does his father's bidding. As its often the case in westerns, the son of the big bad is kind of a weakling who wants to prove himself and get his father's approval. He's also a skilled lawyer who uses the law to ensure the Dutton family comes out on top.
Beth Dutton: The utterly monstrous, psychologically traumatized daughter of John Dutton which serves as the greedy businessman (woman) trope. While John Dutton is preocupied with preserving his ranch, Beth is concerned with expanding it. Her regular job is finding companies, wrecking them financially and buying the remains, and she does the same with land for her father. There's a sleazy businessman from California who shows up in Montana trying to set up a housing development and she fucks with his life so thoroughly for so very little you end up sympathizing with the guy.
Kayce, the younger son and the exception to the "villains" trope. He's the classical Redemption case of the son that ran away from his evil father and walks the line between good and evil trying to redeem himself.
TL:DR = The Dutton family in Yellowstone is like if you took the evil antagonists of a classic western and made a tv show about them. Almost each member of the family represents a classic "evil western trope" we saw in tv shows and movies of the past, from the blackhat gunslinger, to the cattle baron, to the greedy businessman and corrupt politician.
Submitted January 30, 2022 at 01:23AM by Mervynhaspeaked https://ift.tt/3SzgtCuce
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