Rodeos and Cowboy Boots

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Cowboy boots have been represented continuously in cultural history dating back to the 1860's. Since then an evolving american culture has shaped what cowboy boots represent, as well as our perception of what mean within culture. The perception of cowboy boots has changed since the 1860's, within the limitations and boundaries in a specific culture.Therefore I consider how have the patterns and rituals of attending/competing in rodeos become associated with the consumption of cowboy boots? How does this consumption generate an ideology? Rituals and patterns in rodeos can be associated with cowboy boots in the process of understanding that they have a similar relationship within modern culture. Both are no longer required for means of living (e.g. Cowboy boots for horseback which used to be a main source of transportation, and Rodeos as a form of income or employment) yet both still remain influential in culture today. How can a product from past culture remain so influential throughout culture today? In order to dissect cowboy boots among popular culture, I will first look at them through cultural theorists, Raymond Williams and F.R. Leavis.

On a basic level, Cowboy boots in culture can be broken down into the specifics of why we still consume them and how cowboy boots have changed since the 1860's. This can be examined in regard to Leavist's cultural theories biased on 1930's. Leavis considers mass culture to keep only the subtlest most perishable parts of tradition from the past. Therefore it is considered to lose part of its older value within the given culture(26). The quality of work declined, Q.D. Leavis (Leavist's Wife) proposed an 'addiction to fiction' (24). This addiction is shown in regard to how ...

... middle of paper ...

... Story with Woody).We experience what rodeos could have been like through the modern practices in rodeo, based from the documented record and the structure of feeling represented. This is all governed in respect of, according to Williams a contemporary class interest.

Class interest establish what rodeo's and cowboy boots represent among popular culture.

Rodeo's express American virtues of optimism and establish fun loving competition. Cowboy boots have come to represent a casual-comfort for their wearers and have undergone changes to fit alongside modern culture. The rituals and patterns in rodeos have come to reflect specific meanings and values within culture and have created a strong American ideology.

Work Cited

Roper or 'Walking' Boot. 2010. Photograph. WikipediaWeb. 11 Feb 2014.

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