TV: Yellowstone

[lennytheweedwhacker]

Wow.

[dad]

wow

[spike]

MD, dad, Trag, or anyone really. What exactly is it about Yellowstone that makes you not want to dive it?

My reasons are shallow, but here goes...

originally, i thought this was a period piece about settling the west. i enjoy things like that. i know now it's not.

over the holiday, i had a brief conversation with some in-laws here in okc, in-laws i clash with ideologically (big time), and one of them talked this show up like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. it was then i decided i would opt out. this particular person has also spouted off qanon-specific garbage i can't let go of, therefore their opinion means nothing to me.

awfully close-minded of me, i know.

I mentioned this earlier in the thread--my wife's very right-wing, pro-Trump parents LOVE this show, so we've had serious hesitation about watching a show that is talked about as if it's the story of the poor patriarch besieged by modern culture and big government into giving up his Traditional Family Values. And I don't think the trailers do a lot to dispel this impression. But learning it's made by Taylor Sheridan, who did Sicario and Hell or High Water (two movies that are not, to my mind, simple right-wing stagings of a black-and-white conflict), and remembering that my wife's parents are not particularly discerning viewers of television (the type of people who would be like, "damn, Don Draper is so cool!"), we've reconsidered.

That said, I don't think it's closed-minded of you to, faced with too many streaming objets, decide not to prioritize a show that has been talked about in hushed tones by the #rememberBenghazi crowd. It sounds like it's unfair to the show that this is the case, but I think it's an understandable choice all the same.

Nice post. While I’ve given Yellowstone a shot, I can’t help but watch it through this lens. Knowing that Trumpers are watching and sympathizing with Costner’s character throws off the enjoyment factor for me.

[wease]

We’re 4-5 episodes in on Yellowstone. Definite similarities to Succession. So far, the characters are nowhere near as fun to watch.

[washing machine]

We’re 4-5 episodes in on Yellowstone. Definite similarities to Succession. So far, the characters are nowhere near as fun to watch.

Do you have a favorite character? How many parallels to the Corleone family have you drawn so far?

[washing machine]

Do you have a favorite character?

I'll answer my own question here. It's Tate. 100%

[wease]

We’re 4-5 episodes in on Yellowstone. Definite similarities to Succession. So far, the characters are nowhere near as fun to watch.

Do you have a favorite character? How many parallels to the Corleone family have you drawn so far?

Kayce’s wife. Kayce is the only kid I really like. The daughter is terrible (nice tits, tho) and the lawyer brother is ridiculous. The oldest boy showed some promise. The main henchman seems like he may have some depth. Then Costner. I guess he’s ok. I did NOT like the mom. What a fucking bitch.

So Corleone parallels?

John = Vito
Lee = Sonny
Jamie = Fredo
Bethany = Connie
Kayce = Michael
Rip = Tom Fagen
Monica = Kay

Is that what you’re saying? I’ll admit it never dawned on me while watching, but if you look for it, I guess it’s there. Is this something the creators have intentionally tried to achieve?

[wease]

Do you have a favorite character?

I'll answer my own question here. It's Tate. 100%

Which one’s that? I’m still trying to learn everybody’s names. There are a LOT of characters to learn.

[washing machine]

Do you have a favorite character?

I'll answer my own question here. It's Tate. 100%

Which one’s that? I’m still trying to learn everybody’s names. There are a LOT of characters to learn.

Kayce and Monica's kid. Born a Dutton heir, raised on a reservation. Torn between two worlds at an impressionable age.

[wease]

Do you have a favorite character?

I'll answer my own question here. It's Tate. 100%

Which one’s that? I’m still trying to learn everybody’s names. There are a LOT of characters to learn.

Kayce and Monica's kid. Born a Dutton heir, raised on a reservation. Torn between two worlds at an impressionable age.

Oh! Yeah. I really like him. That scene with the rattlesnake was a nailbiter!

I like Jimmy ok, too. (Is he the one we see Rip “recruit” they duct tape to the horse?)

[washing machine]

We’re 4-5 episodes in on Yellowstone. Definite similarities to Succession. So far, the characters are nowhere near as fun to watch.

Do you have a favorite character? How many parallels to the Corleone family have you drawn so far?

Kayce’s wife. Kayce is the only kid I really like. The daughter is terrible (nice tits, tho) and the lawyer brother is ridiculous. The oldest boy showed some promise. The main henchman seems like he may have some depth. Then Costner. I guess he’s ok. I did NOT like the mom. What a fucking bitch.

So Corleone parallels?

John = Vito
Lee = Sonny
Jamie = Fredo
Bethany = Connie
Kayce = Michael
Rip = Tom Fagen
Monica = Kay

Is that what you’re saying? I’ll admit it never dawned on me while watching, but if you look for it, I guess it’s there. Is this something the creators have intentionally tried to achieve?

Yeah, you got it. One of my big criticisms of the show is how blatant it gets, but it's also one of my favorite things about it for that same reason. It's interesting to see that whole dynamic play out as a modern western.

[washing machine]

I like Jimmy ok, too.

Jimmy

What a good dude.

[bada]

the lawyer brother is ridiculous

lol you have no idea

[epilogue]

Can the Western genre be modern? Or is it like a period drama? Is it possible to have a modern period piece?

[washing machine]

Wease. For fun you should keep track of the number of times Monica mentions how much Tate needs a bath. As a parent of a kid that's all snips and snails and puppy dog tails, I hear my wife in Monica all the time.

[wease]

Can the Western genre be modern? Or is it like a period drama? Is it possible to have a modern period piece?

I dunno. This has as much Dallas in it as it does Deadwood.

[washing machine]

the lawyer brother is ridiculous

lol you have no idea

Spoiler: show

That arc in season three where he has to help clean up the livestock agent's mess in the horse trailer is peak Jamie. I love/hate how easily he lawyers up in the prison cell and then switches gears for the girl's dad by weaseling into becoming Mr. Montana politician. "I did this for all fathers."

[wease]

Monica shore is purty

[washing machine]

Monica shore is purty

Oh fuck yes.

[Mickey]

Can the Western genre be modern? Or is it like a period drama? Is it possible to have a modern period piece?

I think there's a lot of film criticism that sees Western as a formal/generic mode that doesn't necessarily depend on a specific setting. So you can have a movie set in Paris that is a Western in terms of narrative structure (this is actually an argument my buddy makes about Dheepan).

Period piece, I don't know--that's interesting. I think generally period piece means something set outside of the present moment, but it also invokes a sense of ornate attention to period-specific details and consciousness of historical position. I think a (shitty but revealing) movie like Hot Summer Nights is a period piece for the 80s. What would a period piece about the 2020s be? I'm not sure, is it even possible for a creative team to achieve a degree of remove about their historical conjecture in order to re-create it as an aesthetic form?