Conservationist Cowboys in the Climate Age: 'Yellowstone' and the Power of Storied Media to Cultivate Common Ground
This article argues that the hit Western television series, Yellowstone (2018-), offers an instructive case study as to how storied media can effectively use culturally resonant, religiously inflected idiom to cross the membrane of the digital filter bubble, morally engaging polarized publics. The s...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
Year: 2025, Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Pages: 98-127 |
| Further subjects: | B
Polarization
B storied media B Climate Change B American West B ranching B regenerative agriculture B Stewardship B Taylor Sheridan B Yellowstone B Popular Culture B Ranching B Storied Media |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article argues that the hit Western television series, Yellowstone (2018-), offers an instructive case study as to how storied media can effectively use culturally resonant, religiously inflected idiom to cross the membrane of the digital filter bubble, morally engaging polarized publics. The series’ popular appeal bridges regional, political, and religious divides in ways that cultural creations explicitly labeled and presented as ‘environmental media’ fall short. Taking up thorny environmental and agricultural land-management issues, Yellowstone effectively presents more liberal-leaning viewers with the complexities, pressures, and ethical challenges faced by multigenerational ranchers in the American West, while making rural communities feel more ‘seen’ and appreciated. In a deeply divided country, Yellowstone, as a cultural work—and now as a broader popular cultural phenomenon worldwide—demonstrates the powerful potential of storied media to cultivate common ground in the climate age. |
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| ISSN: | 1749-4915 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.24679 |
