University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 2020 People and Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, and Heritage Sarah Beals University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Museum Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Beals, Sarah, "People and Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, and Heritage" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1725. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1725 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. People and Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, and Heritage ______________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences University of Denver ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts ____________ by Sarah Beals August 2020 Advisor: Dr. Esteban Gomez ©Copyright by Sarah Beals 2020 All Rights Reserved Author: Sarah Beals Title: People and Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, and Heritage Advisor: Dr. Esteban Gomez Degree Date: August 2020 Abstract Old Tucson Studios is a theme park where film, tourism, and heritage all converge through the American Western genre. During national social change, Westerns increase in number to reflect national values and identity. Westerns that ally with landscapes and people are potentially the most powerful storytelling tool in mainstream media. My research shows that this paring of people and place creates a prevailing image in the audience’s memory. The results suggest that the current image of the West comes from films made between 1951-1970, despite there being newer Westerns. John Wayne and saguaro cactus are enduring images with historic, cultural, and pilgrimage-like importance. Through national identity/history/film, film-induced tourism, decolonization, and intersectionality. I explore the cycle of expectations between storytellers and the audience, the importance of building new Westerns for modern times, especially where audiences can experience it in person at Old Tucson Studios. ii Acknowledgements I needed 107 strangers and 12 pages of references to write this thesis. People and Place is a group project between us all. Thank you to my parents who let me live with them during graduate school. Thank you to my grandpa for taking my aunt to Old Tucson, and thank you to my aunt for taking me. Thank you to Mary Davis and Megan Litwicki at Old Tucson for letting me into their park and trusting me with their story. Thank you to Dr. Bonnie Clark for teaching me about intangible heritage, and cultural narratives. Thank you to Dr. Kelly Fayard for introducing me to intersectionality and Indigenous feminisms. Thank you to Dr. Esteban Gomez for thinking this was a cool project. Thank you to Dr. Lynne McRae for guiding me throughout this journey. Thank you to Ian Ray who gave me the most effective crash course in statistics. Thank you to Erin Hastey for walking me through graduate school, beginning with the GREs. Thank you to both my cohorts in anthropology and library science, I’m so grateful for your support from the day one. Thank you for the internet and the library’s online access to books and articles. Thank you to Hollywood for making new Westerns that better reflect our nation. And thank you to my partner Dan and our dog Shilling. You know what you did. iii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Defining Terms ......................................................................................................... 4 Westerns Through Time ........................................................................................... 7 Anthropology ............................................................................................................ 9 Research Questions ................................................................................................. 10 Chapter Summaries ................................................................................................. 11 Key Points ............................................................................................................... 12 Chapter Two: Background ............................................................................................... 14 Storytelling, or #RepresentationMatters ................................................................. 16 Westerns and the West ............................................................................................ 23 Old Tucson Studios ................................................................................................. 28 Museums ................................................................................................................. 33 Tourism ................................................................................................................... 36 Old Places ............................................................................................................... 38 Chapter Three: Theory ...................................................................................................... 40 National Identity/History/Film................................................................................ 42 Film-Induced Tourism ............................................................................................ 45 Decolonization ........................................................................................................ 49 Intersectionality....................................................................................................... 52 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 56 Chapter Four: Methodology ............................................................................................. 58 Guest Surveys ......................................................................................................... 60 Survey ................................................................................................................. 62 Character Survey ................................................................................................. 63 Landscape Survey ............................................................................................... 64 iv Employee Interviews .............................................................................................. 67 Ethics....................................................................................................................... 69 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 72 Chapter Five: Results ....................................................................................................... 73 Survey ..................................................................................................................... 74 Character Survey ..................................................................................................... 79 Landscape Survey ................................................................................................... 81 Employee interviews ............................................................................................... 83 Belonging as people ............................................................................................ 83 Belonging with land ............................................................................................ 87 Staged Authenticity in Film ................................................................................ 88 Old Tucson with entertainment and history ........................................................ 92 The Future of Museums and Westerns ............................................................... 94 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 99 Chapter Six: Discussion ................................................................................................. 101 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 103 John Wayne and Saguaros .................................................................................... 103 Where the Spirit of the Old West Comes Alive .................................................... 108 The Future of Our National Films ........................................................................ 112 Future Areas of Study ........................................................................................... 114 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................