From this class reading “Building the Frontier Myth” by Neil Smith, I noticed some interesting features that I have never learned before.
First, what is interesting is the way New York looked at the City back then, when it was yet to be developed, as a “frontier” and new settlers, as “urban pioneers.” It was amazing to see the way people, or rather newspaper, with their news-breaking titles and articles, look at “unknown” neighborhood with curiosity and fear: “Ludlow Street. No one we know would think of living here. No one we know has ever heard of Ludlow Street.” Even with neighborhood so familiar to us today, such as W 42nd St, was regarded by the “new settlers” as the untamed “Wild Wild West” that was to be “domesticated” by “trailblazers.” The Western Territory point of view in old cowboy movie made New York a more mythical place to live in, thus drove flocks of curious pionniers to explore the new frontier back then, making New York City the fully-and-over-capacity place that it is today. Throughout the first 2 pages of the articles, references of old cowboy movies like “Crocodile Dundee” proliferated: “optimism,” “hostile landscapes,” “natives,” “wilderness,” and the most outstanding reference of all – “manifest destiny.”
Second was the analogy made by the author about myth, as an event that achieves its long standing in history through the removal of historic and geographical context, altogether making up a cliche. The frontier myth of New York was becoming increasingly prevalent among the new settlers due to the erection of buildings named “The Dakota Apartments,” “Colorado,” “Savannah,” and “New West” with no comment about the consistency between New York and the Wild Wild West.
Third was the integration of businesses into the myth. The fable of the Wild Wild West transformed not only the buildings and facades of the City, but alo its businesses. Introduction of Tex-Mex restaurants, desert decor, and cowboy chic intoxicated the consumption of the day, along with SoHo stores selling Navajo Indian rugs, Santa Fe jewelry, terra-cotta pottery with plain store signs in front as if they were pieces of wood indifferently painted over by white paint (like in the movie). New Yorker did not only look “Western” but ate and dressed that way too.
Fourth was the fact that the frontier myth was also regarded as a “naturalization of urban history” and a place where nature was taken back to its original state.
I thought to myself that if I were to live during such an interesting episode of New York City, I would be wearing full brown leather clothes completed with boots and cowboy hat, with a toothpick half-chewed on my mouth. It would be hilarious. Yet from reading article I realized that the whole facade of the “frontier myth” was only a way for age-old New Yorkers of the day to escape “modernization” and “capitalist development” of the New World, deliberately ignoring contemporary social conflicts for the sake of “urban harmony” back in the days. It was pitiful.
