Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960

The Television series The Wild Wild West (WWW) was broadcast on CBS from 1965 to 1969 and it was an immediate success. While it cleverly brings together the aesthetics of the western and spy fiction, its success also has to do with the historical and social relevance of the themes it addresses. The...

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Main Author: Jean Ruhlman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2020-02-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/13087
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author Jean Ruhlman
author_facet Jean Ruhlman
author_sort Jean Ruhlman
collection DOAJ
description The Television series The Wild Wild West (WWW) was broadcast on CBS from 1965 to 1969 and it was an immediate success. While it cleverly brings together the aesthetics of the western and spy fiction, its success also has to do with the historical and social relevance of the themes it addresses. The series questions diverse constitutive elements of the mythology of the West, as it undermines the supposed virtues of the pioneering local communities as well as those asserted by the conquest of the West in its final stage after the Civil War. In a more or less coded and allusive way, the politics of the series are mainly geared towards political, diplomatic, and economic progress. The series also takes sides against several forms of conservatism, brings a subtle support to the moral emancipation and empowerment of the African American and gay minorities who had achieved differing stages of mobilization in the 1960s. For all these reasons, The Wild Wild West remains as a nonconventional series, with an altogether coherent message, heralding the major protest movements of the following years.
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spelling doaj-art-26fd2ba764ce4481a28cb089b53b7fbf2025-01-30T10:45:31ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662020-02-01210.4000/transatlantica.13087Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960Jean RuhlmanThe Television series The Wild Wild West (WWW) was broadcast on CBS from 1965 to 1969 and it was an immediate success. While it cleverly brings together the aesthetics of the western and spy fiction, its success also has to do with the historical and social relevance of the themes it addresses. The series questions diverse constitutive elements of the mythology of the West, as it undermines the supposed virtues of the pioneering local communities as well as those asserted by the conquest of the West in its final stage after the Civil War. In a more or less coded and allusive way, the politics of the series are mainly geared towards political, diplomatic, and economic progress. The series also takes sides against several forms of conservatism, brings a subtle support to the moral emancipation and empowerment of the African American and gay minorities who had achieved differing stages of mobilization in the 1960s. For all these reasons, The Wild Wild West remains as a nonconventional series, with an altogether coherent message, heralding the major protest movements of the following years.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/13087FrontierFeminismGilded AgeReconstructionGreat SocietyVietnam War
spellingShingle Jean Ruhlman
Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960
Transatlantica
Frontier
Feminism
Gilded Age
Reconstruction
Great Society
Vietnam War
title Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960
title_full Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960
title_fullStr Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960
title_full_unstemmed Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960
title_short Wild Wild West : une série au carrefour des affirmations dans les États-Unis du milieu des années 1960
title_sort wild wild west une serie au carrefour des affirmations dans les etats unis du milieu des annees 1960
topic Frontier
Feminism
Gilded Age
Reconstruction
Great Society
Vietnam War
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/13087
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