From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s<i> The Tooth of Crime</i>

Guo Jiabin

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17

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From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime

Guo Jiabin

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 11, Issue 4)

Received: 3 August 2023 Accepted: 19 August 2023 Published: 28 August 2023

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Abstract

Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime (1972) is a play that combines elements of myth, Greek tragedy, science fiction, Westerns, modern rock and roll and futuristic fantasy in a provocative and engrossing pastiche. Shepard’s transgeneric network also provides a model to observe the media combination (of music and play) and media transformation (from film to theatre). Situated at the intersection of performance studies and intermedial studies, this essay explores how the playwright presents these intermedial relations and what effects he hopes to achieve. More specifically, Shepard transplants the gunfighter myth constructed by Hollywood Westerns into rock performance, and transforms the traditional story of gunfight and cowboy showdown into a musical duel between two rock stars through the use of transposition and intermedial references. In this ongoing process, the classic Western motifs like competition, showdown and “survival of the fittest” is revisited and criticized in the rock music scene. It could be argued that frontier stories and images “travel” across the borders between film, music, and theatre, become invested with new meanings, and thus gain a new lease of cultural life in changing sociocultural contexts. The transmedial travel of those stories and images has contributed to the persistence of the frontier myth on the one hand, and to the discovery of the potential of cultural mobility on the other.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 11, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17
Page(s)	208-214
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Sam Shepard, The Tooth of Crime, Gunfighter Myth, Rock Performance, Transposition, Intermdial References, Cultural Mobility

References

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Guo Jiabin. (2023). From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 11(4), 208-214. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17

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Guo Jiabin. From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2023, 11(4), 208-214. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17

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AMA Style

Guo Jiabin. From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime. Int J Lit Arts. 2023;11(4):208-214. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17,
  author = {Guo Jiabin},
  title = {From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {11},
  number = {4},
  pages = {208-214},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20231104.17},
  abstract = {Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime (1972) is a play that combines elements of myth, Greek tragedy, science fiction, Westerns, modern rock and roll and futuristic fantasy in a provocative and engrossing pastiche. Shepard’s transgeneric network also provides a model to observe the media combination (of music and play) and media transformation (from film to theatre). Situated at the intersection of performance studies and intermedial studies, this essay explores how the playwright presents these intermedial relations and what effects he hopes to achieve. More specifically, Shepard transplants the gunfighter myth constructed by Hollywood Westerns into rock performance, and transforms the traditional story of gunfight and cowboy showdown into a musical duel between two rock stars through the use of transposition and intermedial references. In this ongoing process, the classic Western motifs like competition, showdown and “survival of the fittest” is revisited and criticized in the rock music scene. It could be argued that frontier stories and images “travel” across the borders between film, music, and theatre, become invested with new meanings, and thus gain a new lease of cultural life in changing sociocultural contexts. The transmedial travel of those stories and images has contributed to the persistence of the frontier myth on the one hand, and to the discovery of the potential of cultural mobility on the other.},
 year = {2023}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime
AU  - Guo Jiabin
Y1  - 2023/08/28
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 208
EP  - 214
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17
AB  - Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime (1972) is a play that combines elements of myth, Greek tragedy, science fiction, Westerns, modern rock and roll and futuristic fantasy in a provocative and engrossing pastiche. Shepard’s transgeneric network also provides a model to observe the media combination (of music and play) and media transformation (from film to theatre). Situated at the intersection of performance studies and intermedial studies, this essay explores how the playwright presents these intermedial relations and what effects he hopes to achieve. More specifically, Shepard transplants the gunfighter myth constructed by Hollywood Westerns into rock performance, and transforms the traditional story of gunfight and cowboy showdown into a musical duel between two rock stars through the use of transposition and intermedial references. In this ongoing process, the classic Western motifs like competition, showdown and “survival of the fittest” is revisited and criticized in the rock music scene. It could be argued that frontier stories and images “travel” across the borders between film, music, and theatre, become invested with new meanings, and thus gain a new lease of cultural life in changing sociocultural contexts. The transmedial travel of those stories and images has contributed to the persistence of the frontier myth on the one hand, and to the discovery of the potential of cultural mobility on the other.
VL  - 11
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Guo Jiabin

School of Foreign Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

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Guo Jiabin. (2023). From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 11(4), 208-214. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17

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ACS Style

Guo Jiabin. From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2023, 11(4), 208-214. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17

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AMA Style

Guo Jiabin. From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime. Int J Lit Arts. 2023;11(4):208-214. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17,
  author = {Guo Jiabin},
  title = {From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {11},
  number = {4},
  pages = {208-214},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20231104.17},
  abstract = {Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime (1972) is a play that combines elements of myth, Greek tragedy, science fiction, Westerns, modern rock and roll and futuristic fantasy in a provocative and engrossing pastiche. Shepard’s transgeneric network also provides a model to observe the media combination (of music and play) and media transformation (from film to theatre). Situated at the intersection of performance studies and intermedial studies, this essay explores how the playwright presents these intermedial relations and what effects he hopes to achieve. More specifically, Shepard transplants the gunfighter myth constructed by Hollywood Westerns into rock performance, and transforms the traditional story of gunfight and cowboy showdown into a musical duel between two rock stars through the use of transposition and intermedial references. In this ongoing process, the classic Western motifs like competition, showdown and “survival of the fittest” is revisited and criticized in the rock music scene. It could be argued that frontier stories and images “travel” across the borders between film, music, and theatre, become invested with new meanings, and thus gain a new lease of cultural life in changing sociocultural contexts. The transmedial travel of those stories and images has contributed to the persistence of the frontier myth on the one hand, and to the discovery of the potential of cultural mobility on the other.},
 year = {2023}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - From the Gunfighter Myth to Rock Performance: Transposition and Intermedial References in Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime
AU  - Guo Jiabin
Y1  - 2023/08/28
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 208
EP  - 214
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231104.17
AB  - Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime (1972) is a play that combines elements of myth, Greek tragedy, science fiction, Westerns, modern rock and roll and futuristic fantasy in a provocative and engrossing pastiche. Shepard’s transgeneric network also provides a model to observe the media combination (of music and play) and media transformation (from film to theatre). Situated at the intersection of performance studies and intermedial studies, this essay explores how the playwright presents these intermedial relations and what effects he hopes to achieve. More specifically, Shepard transplants the gunfighter myth constructed by Hollywood Westerns into rock performance, and transforms the traditional story of gunfight and cowboy showdown into a musical duel between two rock stars through the use of transposition and intermedial references. In this ongoing process, the classic Western motifs like competition, showdown and “survival of the fittest” is revisited and criticized in the rock music scene. It could be argued that frontier stories and images “travel” across the borders between film, music, and theatre, become invested with new meanings, and thus gain a new lease of cultural life in changing sociocultural contexts. The transmedial travel of those stories and images has contributed to the persistence of the frontier myth on the one hand, and to the discovery of the potential of cultural mobility on the other.
VL  - 11
IS  - 4
ER  -

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