In 1889 and 1905 William F. Cody, commonly known as Buffalo Bill, took his Wild West show on a tour of Europe, playing to sellout crowds on both trips. Although at first glance Buffalo Bill may ...appear to be a symbol of the vanishing American West, he also represented the power of the new American colossus, embodied by the conquest of the frontier through the technology of the rifle. Buffalo Bill's Wild West was a symbol of American invention and ingenuity, employing electric lights and mass publicity techniques. The show, however, was not simply a demonstration of modern American enterprise and technology; its very message of the westward march of civilization was modern. Examining the reception of Buffalo Bill in France on two visits offers us a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of the relationship of the “sister republics” at a key moment in French and American history.
Buffalo Bill Goes to France Datta, Venita
French historical studies,
8/2018, Volume:
41, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In 1889 and 1905 William F. Cody, commonly known as Buffalo Bill, took his Wild West show on a tour of Europe, playing to sellout crowds on both trips. Although at first glance Buffalo Bill may ...appear to be a symbol of the vanishing American West, he also represented the power of the new American colossus, embodied by the conquest of the frontier through the technology of the rifle. Buffalo Bill's Wild West was a symbol of American invention and ingenuity, employing electric lights and mass publicity techniques. The show, however, was not simply a demonstration of modern American enterprise and technology; its very message of the westward march of civilization was modern. Examining the reception of Buffalo Bill in France on two visits offers us a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of the relationship of the “sister republics” at a key moment in French and American history.
Comparisons with European culture have often generated feelings of discomfort and anxiety in the United States. Since the age of the Enlightenment, American culture has been associated with a desert ...or wasteland. This conceptual inclination persisted well into the 19th century −
when several American writers picked up on the perceived dearth of culture that the American intellectual landscape offered − until the Gilded Age, when the United States powerfully asserted itself as an economic and industrial power. Cultural affirmation remained, therefore, the last
frontier for America to conquer. In this context, the soft power operated by Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show in Europe proved to be a tremendous tool for the assertion of American cultural vitality on a worldwide scale. America's ultimate validation, I argue, was established
when Cody's show landed in Italy, 'the cradle of western civilization', a stage which exuded a powerful significance in the sphere of culture, and which Cody orchestrated as a symbolic translatio imperii, by picturing himself as a Novel Columbus and America as the vessel
of human progress. The resonance of Cody's Italian tours had a regenerating effect on America; witnessing Italian culture in a moment of profound decadence fostered America's collective confidence in its cultural superiority and confirmed its newfangled 'exceptionalism'.
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