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mallorys_cameraWe've been on a Deadwood binge, Deadwood being the other ultra-violent, profanity-fueled HBO series, the one that makes The Sopranos look like B-roll from That's So Raven.
Deadwood is the story of how civilization came to a mining camp in the Black Hills of what's now South Dakota during the lower continental's last great bout of gold rush fever in the late 1870's. I'm always surprised, delighted and filled with questions when history struggles with reconstruction: you mean Eldridge Cleaver didn't invent the word "cocksucker" in 1964 to subvert his uncomfortably homoerotic reaction to certain design features of the Oakland PD's uniforms? And how about the fact that everyone spent about 90% of their waking life shit-faced because there wasn't any clean water to drink and laudanum was over the counter?
If there's any historical accuracy to the show at all, one thing's certain: those right wing types decrying the recent decline of American morals are nuts. Things were abysmal back then. Wild and crazy doesn't come anywhere close to describing it. I always figured it would be much more fun being alive during the opening stages of empire building than hanging around for the end game. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe all of human existence is just suffering and pain and boredom. The great advantage of the end times? Now we have HBO so it's just suffering and pain!
Deadwood is the story of how civilization came to a mining camp in the Black Hills of what's now South Dakota during the lower continental's last great bout of gold rush fever in the late 1870's. I'm always surprised, delighted and filled with questions when history struggles with reconstruction: you mean Eldridge Cleaver didn't invent the word "cocksucker" in 1964 to subvert his uncomfortably homoerotic reaction to certain design features of the Oakland PD's uniforms? And how about the fact that everyone spent about 90% of their waking life shit-faced because there wasn't any clean water to drink and laudanum was over the counter?
If there's any historical accuracy to the show at all, one thing's certain: those right wing types decrying the recent decline of American morals are nuts. Things were abysmal back then. Wild and crazy doesn't come anywhere close to describing it. I always figured it would be much more fun being alive during the opening stages of empire building than hanging around for the end game. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe all of human existence is just suffering and pain and boredom. The great advantage of the end times? Now we have HBO so it's just suffering and pain!
