From Projections of the Past to Fantasies of the Future: Kansas and the Great Plains in Recent Film
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From Projections of the Past to Fantasies of the Future: Kansas and the Great Plains in Recent Film HGLWHGDQGLQWURGXFHGE\7KRPDV3UDVFK n Steven Spielberg’s /LQFROQ WKHPRVWZLGHO\DFFODLPHGVHHQDQGDZDUGZLQQLQJKLVWRULFDOÀOPRIWKHODVW IHZ\HDUVLWLVD.DQVDQZKRVSHDNVWKHÀUVWZRUGV3ULYDWH+DUROG*UHHQRIWKH6HFRQG.DQVDV&RORUHG,QIDQWU\ 6WULNLQJO\IHZUHYLHZHUVRIWKHÀOPKDYHFRPPHQWHGRQWKHIDFWWKDWLQWKHÀOP·VRSHQLQJPRPHQWV*UHHQWHOOV the president about a retributive war crime. In Tony Kushner’s screenplay, the soldier explains: “Some of us was in Ithe Second Kansas Colored. We fought the rebs at Jenkins’ Ferry last April, just after they’d killed every Negro soldier they captured at Poison Springs. So at Jenkins’ Ferry, we decided we warn’t taking no reb prisoners. And we didn’t leave a one of ‘em alive.” His summary of the Second Colored’s role at Jenkins’ Ferry corresponds closely to historical accounts (see, for example, Mark K. Christ, ´$OO&XWWR3LHFHVDQG*RQHWR+HOOµ7KH&LYLO:DU5DFH5HODWLRQVDQGWKH%DWWOH RI3RLVRQ6SULQJ [Little Rock, Ark: August House, 2003], ² 6LQFHPRVWRIWKH6HFRQG&RORUHG·VÀJKWLQJRFFXUUHG in Arkansas, however, it is unclear how Private Green found his way to parade grounds adjacent to Washington Navy Yard, where /LQFROQ arranges his meeting with the president. Abraham Lincoln seems more appreciative than appalled by Green’s report, and the scene moves on to another African American soldier, Ira Clark from Massachusetts, who complains to Lincoln about black soldiers’ lower wages DQGWKHODFNRIEODFNRIÀFHUV*UHHQVHHPVXQFRPIRUWDEOHZLWK&ODUN·VFRPSODLQLQJWRWKHSUHVLGHQWKLPVHOIEXWLWLV GLIÀFXOWWRJDXJHZKHWKHUKLVLVWKHGHIHUHQFHRIDEODFNPDQZKRVHPHPRULHVRIVODYHU\DUHVWLOOIUHVKRUWKHVWRLFLVPRI D.DQVDQGLVLQFOLQHGWRFRPSODLQZKDWHYHUKLVKDUGVKLS7KHVFHQHHQGVTXLFNO\KRZHYHUDQGWKHÀOP·VWRNHQ.DQVDQ disappears from the story—like most African Americans, some critics have complained—but his presence there at the ÀOP·VRXWVHWUHPLQGVXVWKDWWKH&LYLO:DUWKDWGLYLGHGWKLVQDWLRQEHJDQKHUHLQWKHHYHQWVRIEORRG\.DQVDVLQWKH \HDUVOHDGLQJXSWRWKDWFRQÁLFW -XVWDV.DQVDV·VSDVWKDVDZDONRQSDUWLQWKHFLQHPD·VPRVWVLJQLÀFDQWUHFHQWKLVWRULFDOHSLFLWVIXWXUHSOD\VD SDUWRQWKHVLOYHUVFUHHQDVZHOO5LDQ-RKQVRQ·VZLOGULGHIXWXULVWÀOP /RRSHU (2012) takes Kansas as the setting for its looping, loopy time-travel tale. Drawing, like Terry Gilliam’s 0RQNH\V (1995), on Chris Marker’s allusive, elusive /D -HWpH (1962) for inspiration, /RRSHU tells the story of time-travel killers in the near future of 2044 and the not-so-near future of 2074. When time travel is discovered in the more distant future, it is immediately made illegal, but when time travel is illegal, only criminals will travel time. Future gangsters, who have trouble getting rid of the bodies of their victims, arrange to send their targets back to the past, where “loopers” execute them and dispose of the bodies; eventually, however, the loopers are doomed to kill their own older selves, “closing the loop.” The Kansas of the near future will be Thomas Prasch DSURIHVVRUDQGFKDLURIWKH'HSDUWPHQWRI+LVWRU\DW:DVKEXUQ8QLYHUVLW\UHFHLYHGKLV3K'IURP,QGLDQD8QLYHUVLW\)RUDOPRVWDGHFDGH KHVHUYHGDVFRQWULEXWLQJHGLWRUUHVSRQVLEOHIRUÀOPUHYLHZVIRUWKH American Historical Review DQGKHKDVHGLWHG Kansas History ·VELHQQLDOÀOPUHYLHZVHFWLRQ VLQFH .DQVDV+LVWRU\$-RXUQDORIWKH&HQWUDO3ODLQV 36 (Summer 2013): 104–30 104 Kansas History 7KH$LU'RPH7KHDWUH(OOVZRUWK.DQVDVLQZKLFKIHDWXUHG´SROLWHYDXGHYLOOHDQGPRYLQJSLFWXUHVµDQGFDWHUHGWR ´ODGLHVDQGFKLOGUHQµ UHDGLO\UHFRJQL]DEOHWRDQ\RQHIDPLOLDUZLWK 7KH:L]DUG +RXVHRQWKH3UDLULH (1974–1983) or as the bleak landscape RI2] ÁDWDJUDULDQSODLQVDQGLVRODWHGIRXUVTXDUH of 3DSHU0RRQ (1973) or, well, the tornado’d Kansas that KRXVHVFKDUDFWHUL]HWKHODQGVFDSHVDYHZKHUHWKHVSLUHV SUHFHGHV WKH DUULYDO LQ 2] DQG ZKHWKHU WKDW PLGGOH of Kansas City, a rather dystopian Emerald City—closer American culture is repressively stultifying, as in William in spirit to %ODGH5XQQHU (1982) perhaps than to anything in Inge’s dramas, or threatened by darkness from outside, %DXP³ULVHXSDERYHWKHÀHOGV7KDWWKRVHÀHOGVDUHQRZ as with ,Q &ROG %ORRG (1967). The limited Kansasness of planted in cane rather than corn could be a consequence /LQFROQ and /RRSHU does not quite merit their inclusion in of thirty more years of global warming, or it could just be WKLV\HDU·VVHOHFWLRQRIÀOPVEXWWKHVHUHIHUHQFHVWHVWLI\ DQDUELWUDU\VLGHHIIHFWRIWKHÀOPPDNHU·VFKRLFHWRVKRRW to the continued centrality of Kansas and its history to in Louisiana. WKHZD\$PHULFDQÀOPPDNHUVIUDPHRXUSDVWSUHVHQWRXU 7KH WUDFH RI .DQVDV WKDW FDQ EH IRXQG LQ VXFK ÀOPV SUHVHQWDQGIDQWDVL]HDERXWRXUIXWXUHV suggests the continued, albeit sometimes subtle ways :HEHJLQWKLV\HDU·VURXQGXSRIÀOPUHYLHZVDVLVRXU in which the history and image of Kansas and the convention, with a look back at a classic work. This year *UHDW3ODLQVÀJXUHLQWRWKHODUJHUQDWLRQDOLPDJLQDWLRQ marks the centennial of Kansas playwright William Inge’s Sometimes this is because central events in the broader birth, and that occasion has been marked in a range of canvas of American history—the Civil War, westward ways. In New York his classic play 3LFQLF is being revived expansion and the contingent struggles with Native on Broadway. In Kansas City, $Q 2WKHUZLVH +RSHOHVV Americans, the progress of African Americans toward (YHQLQJ RI 9HU\ *D\ DQG ([WUHPHO\ *ULP 6KRUW 3OD\V E\ full civil rights, women’s suffrage—have important roots :LOOLDP,QJH , a collection of Inge’s heretofore seldom seen in Kansas history. But sometimes it is simply because or unperformed short plays and manuscript fragments, Kansas serves as a stand-in for middle America, whether was put on under the direction of Travis Chamberlain. portrayed with the rosy optimism of television’s /LWWOH 7KHVKRZZDVGRQHLQGUDJLQDVLWHVSHFLÀFSHUIRUPDQFH Kansas and the Great Plains in Recent Film 105 in the building that had once been a legendary home of drag revues, the Jewel Box Lounge, to highlight Inge’s suppressed homosexuality. The performance was accompanied by artwork by -RVHSK.HHKQZKRULIÁLQJWKURXJKDQGULIÀQJRQ Kansas City’s LGBT archive, created assemblages incorporating artifacts of the gay past. In Inge’s hometown of Independence, Kansas, the William Inge Center for the Arts will, in its annual festival this May (just a few weeks away as I write), take a break from its annual tradition of honoring living playwrights to remember its namesake, with performances of his work, commissioned short plays that take his work as a starting point, and tours of Inge’s town, home, and its library’s collection of his work. In these pages we celebrate the centennial by choosing 6SOHQGRU LQ WKH *UDVV WKHÀOPIRUZKLFK,QJHZRQDVFUHHQZULWLQJ 2VFDUDVRXUFODVVLFÀOP$QGQRRQHFRXOGEHWWHU help us revisit this work than Ralph Voss, who readers of .DQVDV+LVWRU\ may recall provided our UHYLHZRIDÀOPFODVVLFLQRQWKHRFFDVLRQRIWKH ÀIWLHWKDQQLYHUVDU\RIWKHUHOHDVHRI,QJH·V 3LFQLF , and whose study $/LIHRI:LOOLDP,QJH7KH6WUDLQV RI 7ULXPSK (1989) remains the standard starting point for scholarship on the playwright. Voss, professor emeritus at the University of Alabama, has lately returned to the plains of Kansas for his most recent work, on the same subject as another ,QJH·VVWDOHRIGRRPHG\RXQJORYH Splendor in the Grass UHÁHFWVGRPLQDQW WKHPHVLQWKHSOD\ZULJKW·VRZQOLIHZKLFKEHJDQLQWKHVPDOOVRXWKHDVW.DQVDV RI RXU FODVVLF ÀOP VWRULHV 7UXPDQ &DSRWH DQG WKH WRZQ RI ,QGHSHQGHQFH ,QJH·V H[SHULHQFHV RI GHVLUHV IRUELGGHQ DQG VWLÁHG E\ /HJDF\RI In Cold Blood (2011). UHSUHVVLYHSDUHQWVDQGWKHVPDOOWRZQPLGZHVWHUQPRUHVRIWKHVWUDQVODWHG 2XUVXUYH\RIUHFHQWÀOPVRQ.DQVDVDQGWKH LQWRDÀOPIRUZKLFKKHZRQD%HVW6FUHHQSOD\$FDGHP\$ZDUG,QJHLVSLFWXUHG DWKLVGHVNLQWKHV Great Plains commences near the time of the state’s inception, with the PBS documentary 7KH $EROLWLRQLVWV , focus on the consequences of the transformation of the aired as part of the series 7KH $PHULFDQ([SHULHQFH . While plains by intensive agriculture, especially and most much of the abolitionist story centers on America’s disastrously the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Ken Burns’s northeast, the prominent role played by John Brown, documentary for PBS, 7KH 'XVW %RZO , makes that tragic RQHRIWKHÀYHLQGLYLGXDOVWKHGRFXPHQWDU\KLJKOLJKWV consequence the center of its story, combining survivor HQVXUHVDÀUP.DQVDVFRQQHFWLRQIRUWKHZRUN%HFDXVH recollections, narrated primary sources, and talking-head Washburn University’s Kelly Erby, an assistant professor commentary by contemporary historians to explain the of history, is currently developing a course on Brown catastrophic decade. The documentary is reviewed for us (to be offered this fall), she seemed an obvious choice by Joyce Thierer, an associate professor in the Department as reviewer. Erby covers the early national period of of Social Sciences at Emporia State University. Thierer U.S. history for Washburn, and she is at work on a book is a partner of Ride into History, a performance group exploring the experience of dining out in the nineteenth FRPPLWWHG WR GRLQJ KLVWRULFDO SHUIRUPDQFHV RI ÀUVW century, with all the class, gender, and race dimensions person narratives, and her experiences with the group that the shift in Americans’ eating habits entailed. contributed to her book 7HOOLQJ +LVWRU\ $ 0DQXDO IRU The Great Plains are rightfully known as the breadbas- 3HUIRUPHUVDQG3UHVHQWHUVRI)LUVW3HUVRQ1DUUDWLYHV (2010). NHWIRUWKHQDWLRQDQGWZRÀOPVXQGHUUHYLHZWKLV\HDU 6KH LV DOVR D ÀIWKJHQHUDWLRQ LQKDELWDQW RI D GLYHUVLÀHG 106 Kansas History family farm, where she works the same plot of land her most recently involved (with Marguerite Perret, Bruce family has owned since 1856 and follows sound land Scherting, Robin Lasser, and many