American Studies Commons^™

Remnants, Savannah Lou Williams

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Understanding where you come from is never a linear experience. I began this project with the urge to dispel the cinematic portrayal of a romanticized and glorified ‘wild west’ and instead, I spent the last eleven months deciphering the stories and myths I was exposed to throughout my life by my family; perpetuated by the film industry. Growing up, I was told tales of the Bixby Ranch, a thousand-acre ranch in the middle of the Sonoran Desert that my grandfather worked, just as his father had done before. I went to rodeos and watched old westerns, fueling the mental picture …