'Yellowstone' most anti-adoption TV series in history
A MAGA hit is actually a Trojan horse for abortion rights
Any conflicted pregnant woman who watched the just-concluded Paramount series sensation "Yellowstone" likely scheduled an abortion before the final cowboy deserted Kevin Coster and Taylor Sheridan's fictional Montana ranch.
Costner should reimburse them.
"Yellowstone," a wildly popular, and exceedingly entertaining show, the "MAGA Succession," sent strong signals about blood and bloodlines, legacy and lore, and villainized, Jamie, the one adopted son of the cattle ranch patriarch, John Dutton, at Shakespearean levels.
The cowboys were celebrated with their Dustland Fairytale icon Rip, the barrel racer hook-ups and Coors, so much Coors that I even started ordering it again. The Native Americans got some land back, too. Lots of it.
Outside of actor Wes Bentley's family I may be the only "Yellowstone" viewer to root for his gloriously despicable character, the adopted son, Jamie. I was adopted as a baby after being born to young unmarried parents in Cedar Rapids. So I had to go with the solidarity with Jamie.
It's a singular experience watching "Yellowstone" as a bastard.
In plot turn after turn "Yellowstone" used Jamie's adoption as a separating factor from the Dutton Clan as if he were an outside cancer introduced into the purity of the lineage.
In fact, in many ways, Jamie's plot thread was an extended living out of Richard III's opening speech about killing his own family in one the darkest of Shakespeare's history plays.
In the Season 5 and series finale, the Duttons, out of self-interested options, deed the massive ranch to a Native American tribe. John Dutton favored son Casey and the fictional Broken Rock Reservation's leader, Chief Thomas Rainwater, played brilliantly by actor Gil Birmingham, “ink" the land deal with blood. Each uses a knife to gash his palm, bloodying the blade, before presenting the knife in ritualistic fashion to the other -- again showing the primacy of blood in what matters most in America -- land.
Former Congressman Steve King is wrong about a lot, but he nailed the core of capitalism in America. All wealth flows from the land, King has frequently said.
But not for Jamie. He is dumped from the family.
— He's never fully accepted by his adopted siblings who are shown to have a blood-is-thicker connection.
— Jamie's biological parents are revealed to be awful. His biological dad murdered his drug-addict mother.
— He can never connect with his adopted father.
— Jamie is also shown to be emotionally unhinged and easily played in relationships as a vulnerable, lost, adopted kid looking for love, acceptance.
— He out-achieves his siblings, earning an Ivy League law degree and becoming the attorney general of Montana -- as if he has to credential himself to be loved.
In the character sketch of Jamie presented in Esquire magazine, he is defined by his adoption. It’s in the first few words.
Jamie (Wes Bentley) is the adopted son of John and Evelyn but was later disinherited after several legal battles and double crosses. His adoption was kept hidden from him until he met his biological father, Garrett Randall. Randall allegedly killed Jamie’s birth mother when Jamie was just a baby. After a turn at the end of season 4, however, Jamie is forced to kill Randall and partly rejoin the Dutton clan. Now he’s planning to impeach his adoptive father, John, and take the governorship for himself. Jamie also has a secret son, Jamie Jr., with his old campaign manager, Christina.
The generational fight in "Yellowstone" is keeping the largest Montana cattle ranch, a majestic reach of America, in the grip of the family. The Duttons rationalize homicidal mania in the fanatical pursuit in much the way the Internet mobs are reacting to the real-life murder of Brian Thompson, the former CEO of United HealthCare who was gunned down on a New York City street.
The Duttons are intent on preserving their ownership. The Native American tribe is essentially bent on taking the land back to the 17th century, not even allowing a bike trail on it.
Jamie's approach is far more progressive. He wants to see the land used as an economic-development vehicle to boost tourism in the region, a move that would make the land a vehicle to lift thousands of rural residents out of poverty and into modernity. Yes, he is the villain? Jamie would have been a better governor than John Dutton. Hands down.
For Jamie haters, one of the chief points of contention is that he's not a real Dutton, that he's adopted, and therefore something much less in the family. This is a theme that is on repeat in the show to the point where the viewer thinks “bastard” as soon as Jamie’s face pops on the screen.
A far more effective plot, a way to promote adoption, would have been for Sheridan and Costner to make the outrageous Beth Dutton the adopted daughter. Keep the rest of the plot and dialogue the same, with the necessary adjustments to account for the adoption.
That would have sent constructive messaging about adoption.
Ironically, the show that lit up the hearts of the family values virtue signalers in rural America may have been the most pro-abortion television series ever produced.
The pro-choice movement ought to make T-shirts with likenesses of Jamie Dutton and the slogan -- Yellowstone! The Bloody Truth: Abortion, Not Adoption.
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(Douglas Burns, founder of The Iowa Mercury and a fourth-generation Iowa journalist from Carroll, is a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Read dozens of the most talented writers in Iowa in just one place. The Iowa Writers' Collaborative spans the full state. It’s one of the biggest things going in Iowa journalism and writing now — and you don’t want to miss. This collaborative is — as the outstanding Quad Cities journalist Ed Tibbetts says — YOUR SUNDAY IOWA newspaper. )
Great article. I watched some of this series and felt very queasy, now I understand why.
You nailed it, Doug.