Thursday, October 23, 2008

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch


More historical revisionism from the suicidefoodists.

We've seen their many post-modern reinterpretations of cowboys before—not to mention the occasional pirate and superhero—but this example is especially galling.

Because Rooster Cogburn the Ostrich is modeled after John Wayne's iconic roughneck lawman from the film of the same name, which was also the sequel to True Grit. (We need not mention that they got the eyepatch on the wrong eye.)

The cinematic Rooster Cogburn was gruff and tough, the epitome of rakish manliness.
Eula Goodnight (Katharine Hepburn): Just to whom do you think you are talking, Mr. Marshall?

Rooster Cogburn: You is to whom I think I am talking, Ma'am.

Eula Goodnight: It's true that you are larger than me... but only physically.

Rooster Cogburn: In this case, my dear lady, that is enough.

Eula Goodnight: Do you mean to tell me that you are prepared to use brute force?

Rooster Cogburn: That is exactly what I mean to tell you.

Eula Goodnight: (pause) Oh.
What does it say when a character like that is co-opted by the flightless bird industry?

It says they will never stop! Nothing is off-limits. Every symbol of fierce independence is prime for expropriation. When even The Duke—the paragon of the cowboy ethos—can be transformed from outsider archetype to uncomplaining shill and no one blinks, the Movement might already have won.







Addendum: Of course, just like the late John Wayne, "Ostriches are very feed efficient and take minimal land to raise."

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