Into It with Sam Sanders
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ThinkSuccessionmeetsDallasmeets Big Sky, Montana.
Some say its becauseYellowstone, the show itself, and the people who like it aretoo conservative.
It is a white grievance that you’re free to feel good about.
You write in your piece that its not exactly just a conservative show.
The show has portrayals of Native people that arent the best, but its not trying to stereotype them.
There are queer people.
The conservative white family isnt outright racist and embraces people of color on the farm.
You have a full slate of Native American characters.
Thats pretty rare in a prestige television show.
And they are offered up as being at least as complex as the Duttons.
Youve got Black cowboys.
Which I always love to see.Yes.
Listen, Im a big fan of Black cowboys.
They were the original cowboys.And the show is gorgeous.
Youre getting a lot of visual eye candy.
All of these people are getting good lighting and good costume design.
AnyYellowstonemeta-analysis is really asking what Americans can and should think of institutions.
The courts cant do it.
The government cant do it.
So either we do it ourselves or we co-opt those institutions toward our own end.Thats right.
IfYellowstonewas a liberal show aimed at liberal politics, its foundational principle would be reformation, right?
But the conservative principle ofYellowstoneis withdrawal.
There you go.Thats it.
I think she told me who she voted for.
And then she said, I cant say any of this on social media because I have a job.
Very sociological, but amazing.
Its not just stereotypically conservative.
Its not just anti-elite.
In fact, it has some media elites working in and on this show.
Hes elite-elite.Do you know who I now think of Taylor Sheridan as being the parallel to?
Who?I think of him as the white personsTyler Perry.
They have invested a lot of creative energy in building a whole universe of characters for that audience.
And they take a lot of pride in being outsiders in the mainstream Hollywood system.
Yeah.Now, I think Taylor Sheridan has better wigs on his sets hands down.
When I watched the first season with my Aunt Betty, we just watched it for the fun.
Do you think about any of those things when you watchYellowstone?
And she said, No, its just fun.
And do you think its fair to put this frame of politics on the show?
They have been trained by popular culture how to consume something likeYellowstonewithout thinking about its politics.
This interview excerpt has been condensed and edited for clarity.
