The Supernatural and Colonised America

An Exploration of the ways in which Supernatural and Horror Westerns Criticise Western Expansion, Manifest Destiny and Colonised America

This essay will explore supernatural and horror Westerns and how they criticise Western Expansion and Manifest Destiny. I will be focusing on the films Ravenous (dir. Antonia Bird, 1999), The Wind (dir. Emma Tammi, 2018), Bone Tomahawk (dir. S. Craig Zahler, 2015) and The Pale Door (dir. Aaron B. Koontz, 2020). I will be looking at the different supernatural creatures used in these films, how patriotism is presented in them, the ways in which they explore how the Christian religion is imposed on communities and how the birth of a new nation is presented.

Contemporary western horror films twist the preconceived standard of the classical Western genre in ways that critique historical viewpoints. Many Western horror films do not show violence against Native American communities, instead they “Repackage the violence of colonial race war in a form that is ideologically safer” (Canavan, 2010). It allows the audience to have a definitive evil in the story, rather than having to consider the real history of Western expansion and manifest destiny.

Colonists were frequently presented as being the good in the world, thus causing the Native American people to be presented as the bad. John Gast’s American Progress (1872) is a painting that effectively summarises this, colonists are presented as being chosen by God and bringing in an age of light, religion and technology to a dark land inhabited by Native Americans. Miller and Van Riper describe the Western frontier as a place “Where civilization and savagery meet” (2012). Supernatural Western cinema explores this idea by provoking questions about what being civilised means and exploring different types of savagery.

In Western horror narratives, the choice threat is often a subtle critique of historic American ideologies. Supernatural creatures such as demons and wendigos act as “post-colonial avenger(s)” (Saunders, 2012). A range of creatures are used to represent violence, internal conflict, lust for power, the glorification of Western Expansion, the twisting of Christian beliefs and supernatural suspicion.

Ravenous uses the Native American myth of the Wendigo to symbolise the cannibalistic and violent nature of Western Expansion. It turns the violence once directed at Native American communities inward, causing those on the Frontier to fight among themselves.

The Wendigo is an insatiable killer, a creature whose hunger will never be satisfied, much like the colonists' attitude when it came to claiming America. This lust is shown through Colonel Ives (Robert Carlyle), the film’s primary antagonist; he intends to continue eating human flesh far into the future, even going as far as imposing rules for the future on who can and can’t be consumed. Ives states that they will not “kill indiscriminately” (1:17:40) and they can’t “break up families” (1:17:51).

Out of context these rules seem to be almost good; families will remain together and random killing will not occur, these rules were not instilled on the Frontier. Colonists simply being on Native American land caused the population of the Southern Plains Buffalo to dramatically decrease, “Thousands of white overlanders and their horses, oxen, cattle, and sheep swarmed onto the already crowded Central Plains, throwing off the delicate ecological equilibrium” (Hamalainen, 2001). The US government then went out of its way to slaughter buffalo in order to make Native Americans behave more like the white settlers, this took away a vital part of Native American culture and lifestyle, as well as a key resource.

Ives paints himself as absolute good in a world of chaos, incredibly similar to how America painted itself during Western Expansion. He purposefully stands facing uncolonised land and announces the phrases ‘Manifest Destiny,’ and ‘Western Expansion’, he is an embodiment of the ‘new’ American, colonising way.

Colonel Hart (Jeffery Jones), who was turned into a Wendigo by Ives, remarks that he’s never been as strong before. This reflects the colonists' lust for power, through invading land and killing its people, this power cannot be obtained without humans being killed, and their cultures and society being consumed by the ‘new American way.’

The idea of the Wendigo itself can be seen as a twisting of Christian beliefs; bridging the void between the two cultures, unlike the traditional view of Native American culture being a ‘savage other’. George (Joseph Runningfox), a Native American character, comments “[the] White man eats the body of Jesus Christ every Sunday”. (24:13) when the Wendigo is being discussed. The idea that the body and blood of Christ are consumed weekly is shocking to anyone outside that culture, this proves that perspective matters. This reflects on how history is viewed, the story changes depending on perspective, depending on who is the conqueror and who must recover from being conquered.

The Wind uses the demon and the ambiguity of its actuality to criticise the country’s pride in its military power, and explore the attitudes towards supernatural suspicions and responsibility for actions.

Lizzy (Caitlin Gerard) is seen as being able to defend herself from physical threats, like the wolves that attack her home while her husband is away. However, she is shown as being susceptible to mental attacks, reading her dead friend's diary affects her deeply and being left alone seems to leave her vulnerable to the demon’s attacks. This reflects how the American military can be seen, the military is seen to be strong and brave yet underneath there is extreme guilt and cowardice. This can be seen in other Western films, Captain John Boyd (Guy Pearce) in Ravenous is seen as a war hero yet it’s revealed that he played dead for most of the battle, in The Lone Ranger (dir. Gore Verbinski, 2013) Captain Jay Fuller (Barry Pepper) is presented as a brave leader until he gets the blood of a Comanche chief on his white gloves after killing him, he drops his sword in shock and looks horrified at his actions. American Progress shows the glorified strong and brave side of Western Expansion, showing the country’s value of strength and bravery while refusing to acknowledge the brutal and violent underbelly.

Supernatural suspicions are shown throughout the film, with both Emma (Julia Telles) and Lizzy having a leaflet about the demons of the prairie, and a priest handing out these leaflets to anyone who is heading West. It is difficult to discern whether it is actually a demon tormenting Lizzy or if she is suffering Prairie Madness, a phenomenon in which isolated settlers suffer violent behaviour. Historical texts and an in-depth research project by Velez indicate that the howling winds of the prairie act as a trigger and catalyst of Prairie Madness (Velez, 2022). The final shots of The Wind show Lizzy sitting silently on the open plains, the sound of the wind quietly playing underneath the musical score, this asks the question, is she truly alone now having been fully consumed by the madness induced by the wind? Or has she been left with the demon disguised as the wind? The demonic presence is a physical manifestation of prairie madness, physically rejecting new settlers by having them kill one another. The framing of a creature associated with the devil preying on Christian settlers creates the idea that as well as the land rejecting them a force is working to reject and destroy their beliefs.

Similarly to the Wendigo and the witches, the demon causes settlers to turn their violence inwards when it takes the form of Isaac (Ashley Zuckerman) and the Reverend (Miles Anderson). It is able to shapeshift and take the forms of those taking its land, showing their own actions have led to their own undoing.

The Wind plays with the idea that both interpretations may be true, as multiple versions of evil are shown; the demon torturing Lizzy, Lizzy’s damaged mental state and the act of Lizzy murdering Emma and her child out of jealousy. This shows that evil can come from within for multiple reasons as well as that evil might be unavoidable. Multiple versions of evil reflect the multiple versions of a story that can be told about the same historical event, there is “no final reality but only a series of realities” (White, 2011), the idea that believed history might not be true and that there might be a dark tale behind the truth is used to unsettle the audience. This narrative choice reflects the historical revisionism rife in America’s history.

The cannibal tribe, Troglodytes, in Bone Tomahawk are presented as a combination of human and supernatural beings. They are a completely fictional tribe, meaning that Zahler was able to take these characters to the extreme without offending any real tribes, things are taken to the extreme as rape is shown to be a normal part of this tribe, as well as the brutality used when torturing Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russel) and killing Nick (Evan Jonigkeit). The savagery of the Troglodytes allows for a simple good-versus-evil narrative to be created, “the struggle between civilization and savagery served to reduce historical complexities of settler-indigene conflict to a binarism of good-versus-evil.” (Carter, 2020). This reduction in complexity reflects the frequent oversimplification of Western Expansion in America’s history, as well as making a comment on the lack of complexity in earlier Westerns in which the white-hat cowboys fight the black-hat cowboys.

The coven of witches in The Pale Door attempt to lure Jake (Devin Druid) out of his church safe haven by creating an illusion of his brother, a family member who has spent his life trying to protect Jake, his family has become his enemy. This is seen again when Jake learns that his father wasn’t a humble farmer like he was led to believe, but instead, he stole everything he owned, something Jake is strongly against. This creates a feeling of distrust and paranoia in the audience’s fellow Americans, creating doubt in their patriotic way and making them question how the land they live on was gained. Modern America was not found or made, but taken and claimed as the colonists' own.

The idea of patriotism is brought into question when exploring how America is presented on screen. Ravenous opens with a shot of the American Flag, “The flag of the United States is continually employed as a symbol of values that it is assumed will be shared by members of the audience” (White, 2011, p.68) The audience is now very aware of the idea of patriotism within this film, as well as the flag it follows Boyd, a ‘war hero’ who was awarded a medal for his bravery during the recent Mexican Civil War. American soldiers are seen eating steaks together after Boyd is given his medal, the soldiers savagely tear into their steaks in an almost animalistic way. This disturbs Boyd as he begins to have flashbacks of his time during combat and proceeds to vomit just outside the door. The man who is meant to represent the country’s best is sickened by the sight of raw meat, this is a representation of the lies that tend to cloud America’s history, covering up the sickening truth.

In The Wind, the characters comment that there is not a church built yet as there aren’t enough people living there yet. ‘Yet’ is the key part of their statements, a church being built is presented as purely inevitable due to Manifest Destiny, that the land taken by God’s chosen people should become God’s land.

In The Pale Door, a man is seen to be writing the Magnalia Christi Americana before he stands and accuses Maria (Melora Walters) of being a witch, with her then being burned at the stake. Magnalia Christi Americana is a Puritan text that details the founding of Massachusetts and nearby colonies. Mather often writes settlers of other Christian denominations as their enemies, this shows that religion has been used to persecute since the ‘founding’ of America.

Bone Tomahawk very explicitly brings attention to the bloodshed that was caused due to Manifest Destiny. Brooder (Matthew Fox) kills two people armed with only crucifixes and Chicory (Richard Jenkins) explains his actions, “Mr Brooder just educated two Mexicans on the meaning of Manifest Destiny” (0:59:46). Two unarmed men who had not done any harm to the rescue party were slaughtered because they might have been dangerous and might not have supported them in their cause. This reflects the slaughter of Native Americans due to them not being part of the colonising ‘rescue party’ and under the belief of Manifest Destiny, this slaughter was in God’s name and for his name.

Horror Westerns use birth and pregnancy to show how people must suffer in order for others to succeed and how easily new life can fail or be corrupted.

There are two instances of birth in The Pale Door, resurrected witches are born into a new corrupt family and a child is able to live due to another’s death. The witches are burned at the stake and then resurrected into the coven, they have been reborn into a new life in which they must consume pure and good energy to survive. They have been given a chance to start over in a new place but must inflict violence in order to live their new life, this is a reflection on how colonists inflicted violence on and harmed Native Americans in order to keep living their new life. This is echoed when Jake sacrifices himself to save Duncan (Zachary Knighton), his brother, Duncan then goes on to have a child, Jake has to suffer in order for new life to progress. Similar to the way Native Americans and their culture suffered in order for colonists’ lives to thrive.

The Wind shows the failure to settle through the death of a pregnant woman and her unborn fetus. After discovering Emma’s dead body, it is rushed to Lizzy’s house in order for her to attempt to save the baby. Emma is buried with her baby, foreshadowing the death of this outpost, new life has been unable to exist there. This is again shown when Gideon (Dylan McTee) leaves the area after his wife’s death. Emma and Gideon were the newest people there and were unable to live there, Emma and their child were quite literally not able to live there.

Bone Tomahawk shows the violence and pain that birthing a nation and a new generation can be. The women of the cannibalistic tribe have been reduced to breeding stock, they have been severely mutilated, having been blinded and having the majority of each limb removed. The women are responsible for carrying on the tribe by producing offspring and with that, they have completely lost their bodily autonomy and any form of independence. This is criticising the way women were uprooted by their husbands and moved to the Frontier in order to supply this ‘new world’ with a new generation of Americans, they lost the connections to their family and old way of life, their independence, and they are expected to look after the home and raise a family.

In conclusion, supernatural creatures are used to explore the many violent sections of the true story of Western Expansion, the choice of certain monsters and their presentation show the cannibalistic nature of colonisation. Enforcing religion upon those who don’t follow along can lead to the twisting and perversion of beliefs, causing suspicion of oneself and others in the community. The ‘birth’ of America is presented as violent and consuming, it is shown that new life cannot exist and thrive without another person or culture having to suffer, often for what is seen as the ‘greater good’. Supernatural and horror Westerns are effective at presenting the dark and violent truth of Western Expansion, Manifest Destiny and life in colonised America.

Bibliography

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Carter, M. (2020) The Perpetuation of Myth: Ideology in Bone Tomahawk. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik [Post-print], 68 (1), pp. 21–35. Available from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/zaa-2020-0004/html. [Accessed 6th January 2023].

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Saunders, R. A. (2012). ‘Conquest, Cannibalism, and the Wendigo Spirit’, in C. J. Miller and A. B. Van Riper (eds.) Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts on the Cinematic Frontier, Lanham: Scarecrow Press. 176

Miller, C. J. and Van Riper, A. B. (2012) ‘Introduction’, in C. J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper (eds.) Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts on the Cinematic Frontier, Lanham: Scarecrow Press.

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Velez, A.D. (2022) “The Wind Cries Mary”: The Effect of Soundscape on the Prairie-Madness Phenomenon. Historical Archaeology [Post-print], 56 (2), pp. 262–273. Available from https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-022-00335-6. [Accessed 5th January 2023].

Filmography

Bone Tomahawk (2015) Directed by S. Craig Zahler [Feature film] RLJ Entertainment

Lone Ranger (2013) Directed by Gore Verbinski [Feature film] Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Ravenous (1999) Directed by Antonia Bird [Feature film] 20th Century Fox

The Pale Door (2020) Directed by Aaron B. Koontz [Feature film] Shudder

The Wind (2018) Directed by Emma Tammi [Feature film] IFC Midnight