When I was a kid in the Sixties I was fascinated with historical characters and stories about them. Books and comics often featured these characters.
These are ones I can remember, my faves being cowboys!
Cowboys
Wyatt Earp
Billy The Kid
Wild Bill Hickock
Buffalo Bill
Calamity Jane
General Custer
Bat Masterson
Jesse James
Doc Holiday
American Indians
Sitting Bull
Geronimo
Cochise
Crazy Horse
Pirates
Blackbeard
Long John Silver
Historical
Genghis Khan
Kubla Khan
Attila the Hun
Alexander the Great
Achilles
Hector
Which characters do you remember from your youth?
I can relate to a lot of the characters you've listed, Woodsy. I think some of them would've populated the Ladybird books we had as kids, while others would have been popular from movies and television. I certainly think cowboys were a lot more popular back then... Sadly they've all but rode off into the sunset in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteYep, I think these characters were everywhere back then Tone, in books and comics and those wonderful encyclopaedias we all had at home. And on telly and the big screen like you say. Just thought of another category of characters: thirties gangsters like Dillinger, al Capone, baby face something, bonnie and Clyde and the Australian Ned Kelly. Remember them ?
DeleteThey almost have but one of my absolute favourite tv dramas of recent times is Deadwood.
ReplyDeleteNot seen it Kev but will look out for it.
DeleteYep, I like the gritty spit and sawdust realism of Deadwood, Kevin. I also like some of the cliched westerns I watched as a kid. A young bronco kinda knew where he stood when facing the man with the tin star
ReplyDeleteMind you, having said that, Kevin, I guess my fave western movie is Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Perhaps not so cliched, and maybe a bit more gritty than most. Agree with you about Deadwood, great series!
ReplyDeleteWild bunch is often quoted as the bloodiest western. It was part of that slap of realism erupting in the sixties in films like Straw Dogs, Easy Rider, virgin Soldiers et al. I'm sure it must have been shocking at the time Tone.
DeleteI think you're absolutely right, Woodsy. It was an era of change where old boundaries were broken. The great examples you're given reflect a new form of film which tested the boundaries of traditional cinema censorship and angered many a moral guardian.
DeleteI'm very interested in the history of censorship in film Tone and in particular the video nasty controversy. I have an extensive library on the subject. In many ways it was a late echo of the Horror comics scandal in the US and the UK in the Fifties, famously encapsulated in the title of the book 'seduction of the innocents'.
DeleteWertham wasn't a huge comic fan was he, Woodsy. At the time he kinda tapped into the insecurity and socio/political paranoia which saturated the fabric of American society at that time and manufactured his own moral panic against comics. Wonder what Wertham would've made of the video nasty controversy which you mentioned, Woodsy... bet he wouldn't 'ave been a fan :D
DeleteHe would have sided with Mary Whitehouse and the MP who brought the bill out. The modern flipped version of his book is called Seduction of the Gullible by John Martin, the gullible being the establishment. Although I've never played a single computer game I imagine the violence in any one of them is worse than anything that has gone before in any medium. I suppose this is the inflation of violence as time goes on. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want my young Grandson to see a video nasty or play a violent video game [at some point I won't be able to stop him] but neither do I believe that these media will cause the zombification of youth and the eventual decay of society!
DeleteYeah, brilliant script and performances.
ReplyDeleteAlso, on the subject of pirates, Amazon's series Black Sails is stunning, Long John Silver and Blackbeard are in that, superbly portrayed.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Black Sails as well. Subjectively, I like by Toby Stephens's Flint and Zach McGowan's Vane. Although lots of other excellent portrayals as well :)
DeleteYep, so many excellent characters and performances. I'm currently watching the 4th and final season. Lots of significant happenings!
DeleteAnother one I have'nt seen but then again I don't have an Amazon subscription Kev. I imagine all these old characters are in the public domain and can be used and reused ad infinitum.
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