Performing Imperialist Myths: Buffalo Bill, Media Spectacle, and Colonial Violence in Arthur Kopit’s Indians
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This paper examines Arthur Kopit’s Indians (1968) as a critical intervention into the ideological construction of American imperialism and its justification of colonial violence. Through the figure of Buffalo Bill Cody and the spectacle of the Wild West Show, Kopit interrogates how myths of American exceptionalism, benevolent conquest, and racial superiority are fabricated, institutionalized, and disseminated via media, entertainment, and political discourse. Drawing theoretical parallels between the Indian Wars and the Vietnam War, the play argues that the same justificatory mechanisms underlie both historical and contemporary forms of imperial intervention. By analyzing the performative and rhetorical strategies used to legitimize national violence, this study demonstrates how Indians dismantles dominant narratives that obscure moral culpability and suppress dissent. Ultimately, the paper contends that Kopit’s drama urges a critical reassessment of American historical memory and exposes the enduring cultural frameworks that sustain imperial domination.
Abstract
This paper examines Arthur Kopit’s Indians (1968) as a critical intervention into the ideological construction of American imperialism and its justification of colonial violence. Through the figure of Buffalo Bill Cody and the spectacle of the Wild West Show, Kopit interrogates how myths of American exceptionalism, benevolent conquest, and racial superiority are fabricated, institutionalized, and disseminated via media, entertainment, and political discourse. Drawing theoretical parallels between the Indian Wars and the Vietnam War, the play argues that the same justificatory mechanisms underlie both historical and contemporary forms of imperial intervention. By analyzing the performative and rhetorical strategies used to legitimize national violence, this study demonstrates how Indians dismantles dominant narratives that obscure moral culpability and suppress dissent. Ultimately, the paper contends that Kopit’s drama urges a critical reassessment of American historical memory and exposes the enduring cultural frameworks that sustain imperial domination.