Is there a Silver-Lining Beyond the

Silver Screen?:

The Effects of Nomadicity on Small Town America

By: Josh AndersonVisual Culture and Language 357

“Sorry, No Shows Playing”

“A culture of speed rubs up against a

culture of slowness and conquers what

it can.”

Abandoned drive-ins are just one

sign of the cultural shift towards nomadicity.

Life After “The Last Picture Show”

Americanus-

RexNew roles have been

assigned…

Leaving old

haunts long

behind

“….And All the Men and Women Merely

Players”

And quickly we learn “All the

World’s A Stage….”

There’s No Place Like Home…

In the new

nomadic

culture…

“People must mask

themselves in their roles”

Serenity and Uniformity… A Mythistory

But….

“The mask never melts utterly into the face”

“Some part of

us is

always backsta

ge”

Trapped in the Time Capsule

Sometimes I Wonder If I

Too

Am Just Another Actor

Fleshing Out His Role

Or…. another blurry face in

thecommun

ity oil painting?

Zen and the Art of “Nomadic Lifestyle” Maintenance

It seems the

audience has

exited and

decided to each

take their own

stage.

Field of Dreamers

-+To Be or Not to Be, What’s My Role?

“We really

have to protect people from

wrong choices

.”

How long have we

been seeking roles

instead of goals?

Blazing Trails or Following Footsteps?

How long will I be waiting in the on deck Circle?

Gu

tter

Ball

Could “Casey at the Bat” swing some sense into my

confusion

Casey Get Your Bat

“Casey at the Bat”By: Ernest Thayer

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The restClung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;

They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

All crowds need a hero, just as the hero needs a crowd……

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,

And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;

And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,

There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

1st …… 2nd......

3rd……. And all the players need a Role

to make their mothers proud….

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

A Familiar Summer Home

For even the hometown hero,

who crushed our hope in the breathless clutch;only failed in hitting the

goalwhile playing his role just

as much

Under a Blue Moon Halo

They’ve been broadcast into my world…

The crisp spring air pours through me…I dig my steel toes into the batters

box and try to see beyond the centerfield fence line…I daydream about crushing

curveballs into the stratosphere like Roger Maris I daydream that

there’s two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Nolan Ryan’s on the mound…

And I realize that most of my heroes are people I’ve never even met….

North Dakota Blue Skies

“There's nothing we can

do. It's always been this

way. Before

me, before you,

before the ones who

came before you.

Back and back and

back.”

The Setting Sun Closes the Curtain on the Good Ole’ Days, Ushering in the Era of the New Nomad

What happened to the residents of Mudville after the hometown

hero’s infamous failure?

Dark Days for the Hometown Hero

Could Casey’s strikeout represent the end of an era?

Was this the end of the small town

community as we know it?

Will those of Us Trapped in the Painting Learn to Accept New

Individualized Roles?

Can We Stay Golden in the Midst of Change?

Can Legend’s be Born Again, Even Without an Audience?

Maybe it’s not that the

Casey-like characters ever left but that the crowd stopped watching.

Maybe Casey’s still at the bat.

Casey, Can You Thaw The Frost Covered Field?

If we are going to seek roles we could use some role

models……

…..If we are going to continue to use more “extensions of self” we could

use a little direction.

Or are We Too Far Gone to Get back Home?

“Things do not

change; we

change”

A Clear Sign of Spring

With the signs of spring all around us, I wonder what changes- if any- the new

season will bring to the cultural landscape

End CreditsAll Photos were Taken By Josh Anderson Between 4/01 and 4/07 of 2009.

Gitlin, Todd. Media Unlimited. First Holt paperbacks ed. New York: Holt Paperbacks, 2007.

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1993

Shakespeare, William. As You Like it. Arden ed. of works by William Shakespeare. London; New York: Routledge, 1989.

Thayer, Ernest. “Casey at the Bat.” Baseball Almanac. 3 April 2009. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_case.shtml

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden.150th anniversary illustrated ed. of the American Classics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Slides with Quotes

Todd Gitlin is quoted on slides 2, 5, 6, and 7

Lois Lowry is quoted on slides 11 and 18

William Shakespeare is quoted on slide 4

Ernest Thayer is quoted on slides 14, 15, and 16

Henry David Thoreau is quoted on slide 25