There are a few things that are quintessentially American: Nascar, football, the love of our flag, our general overindulgence at every meal, and I'm sure a couple more items that would be highly debated by some. You can find lists upon lists of things on the internet that different people believe define us as a culture. One thing that is truly a classic piece of our culture though is the Western. Whether it's a book, a film, TV show, or even a radio drama, this genre has captured our imaginations for decades. Generally focused during the time period between the 1850s to the early 1900s, these stories look at the world of the white settlers and their gradual journey across this country. Often they are romanticized ideas of the strength and perseverance of the settlers and towns, the bandits that ran rapid, the noble cowboy, and vilified Native Americans. Now granted this is an extremely broad generalization of this important genre, there are quite a few examples that look at the darker side of our history and some that have redefined our notions of what a Western can be. But if you ask anyone what a traditional Western is you'll probably get something about cowboys fighting Indians. What I find interesting about the Western is just how truly American it is. There really aren't too many other genres or types of stories out there in the world that have same feeling to it. The Western always looks back to a grand ideal time of progress, where men were men and you could make a name for yourself through luck and hard work. Sure you can see where this genre had its influence on other cultures or a few examples of similar expansion stories, but we have it far more ingrained into our collective consciousness. I mean my generation grew up dying of dysentery on the Oregon Trail. Obviously the Western has lost some of its appeal as time has gone on but that doesn't stop the occasional resurgence of interest in them. At least once a year Hollywood tries to create a film that will rekindle interest in the genre, although it generally only gets a lukewarm reaction on release. Over the past decade though a more successful breath of life has been brought back to this genre by adding in that element of Sci-fi. Things like Firefly, Westworld, and I would even say The Expanse, to an extent, manage to combine those essential elements of the Western with futuristic ideas to create shows that feel new and familiar.
Clearly my brief exposition on the Western was brought on tonight because this sticker just has that traditional cowboy feeling to it. Well it at least has a stetson, which is generally all you need to make something a cowboy. This was definitely one of those images where I was at quite the lost on what keywords to even try. Cowboy is too vague, cowboy stencil doesn't quite mean the same thing, cowboy stickers are a popular item out there and this apparently isn't a frequent subject people use for graffiti. What did catch me by surprise was how many of my image results were just hats and mustaches. I guess if you need to condense a cowboy down to the most essential bits, its a person in a stetson with a mustache. Then again one of the biggest names in the cartoon cowboy world is Yosemite Sam, who is ultimately just an angry hat and mustache. Since the mustache is such a prominent part of the image, I did do a quick search to make sure this wasn't a local barbershop's odd logo but no luck. Now it could obviously be by someone outside of Pittsburgh, however it's just too frequent a sight around the city for me to really be confident in that. I have a feeling that this sticker is local artist that enjoys classic ideas of the cowboy and simple designs. Either way this simple design definitely shows its love for an American classic.
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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