The American West Offers Two Doors, and Neither Opens on the Present

Aeon Video's piece on the allure of the American West names two ways in: movie mythos, and nostalgia for a 'simpler' time. It calls the pull undeniable, and it is — but the two doors lead to very different rooms. One is openly a production, with a score and a horizon line composed for the camera. The other pretends nobody built it. My suspicion is that the second is the more powerful fiction, because it doesn't announce itself as one.