Forget about George Washington, Robert E. Lee, and even Canadian Hector-Louis Langevin. The real question is whether or not Paul Bunyan’s statues should come down!
At least that was the topic that kicked off our RELS200 Week One discussion group. In the course of our interactions, we came to a much broader reflection on the role of myths in our society, from the Hopi creation story to more recent legends like Paul Bunyan and Babe.
THE STORY OF PAUL BUNYAN AND BABE THE BLUE OX. For those who need a refresher course in American/Canadian folklore, Paul Bunyan is a mythic character that arose in oral tradition of loggers, mainly in the U.S. Midwest, in the late 1800s. He was a giant of a man, and his sidekick, Babe, was a giant of an Ox. They captured many aspects of the American frontier ideal, being strong, brave, powerful and virtually unstoppable. They are even credited with creating some geographical features such as the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota, through their giant footprints.
Photo Source: Dennis Jarvis – CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22033451
Paul Bunyan is a classic example of a “tall tale” which grows taller in the telling. Storyteller Shep O’Neal gives us some fascinating fantasy facts about Paul:
As a child, Paul was always hungry. His parents needed ten cows to supply milk for his meals. Before long, he ate fifty eggs and ten containers of potatoes every day.
He also was extremely fast. He could turn off a light and then jump into his bed before the room got dark.
SHOULD BUNYAN STATUES COME DOWN?
Our class discussion started with the provocative hypothetical question: With so many statues being pulled down, is Paul Bunyan a candidate for that treatment?
Arguments in favour included:
- Paul was something of an Eco-terrorist. He was reputed to cut down millions of trees with his double-bladed axe. Today, we recognize the ecological importance of forests, and the undesirability of wholesale transformation of the landscape into farmland, which his work certainly facilitated, as the Walt Disney animated video about his life explicitly states (Walt Disney, 1958, at 1:32: “Paul cleared that country so quick, the farmers had their crops in the first week”).
- He aided in the displacement of aboriginal people. By “clearing” trees, he turned the landscape from good hunting and fishing terrain into Midwest farming towns, suitable for the white settlers who flocked to them. (Walt Disney, 1958, id.).
- Paul and Babe are not real. Then again, tourists (especially from Japan) flock to the PEI “cottage of Anne of Green Gables” who is also a fictional character. We have beloved statues of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Paddington Bear and Jesus Christ, even if their historical reality is questionable.
Some students brought up other negatives, with one observing how “Paul Bunyan shaped American’s view towards the arrangement of the various types of masculinity and femininity” in a male dominant way and that “I would not think Paul Bunyan is a figure that brings positive energy to the American (person), especially children.” Still, this participant noted that “He is still a folk hero in many people’s hearts” and, on a practical note “Statues like Paul Bunyan not only attract tourists but they also advertise the characteristics of American culture.”
One sharp-eyed student in our group took our discussion from the theoretical realm to reality by tracking down an actual example of anti-Bunyan activism!
According to a local newspaper report, the original (1937) Paul/Babe statue in Bemedji, Minnesota was vandalized in January 2019 with the word “Genocide” spray-painted on Babe’s flank, sparking spirited local discussion of Bunyan’s role in the colonization of indigenous people.
Photo Source: Jillian Gandsey | Bemidji Pioneer, January 11, 2019, copyright exempt for educational use as per CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada, [2004] 1 SCR 339,[1] 2004 SCC 13
THE EDUCATIONAL ROLE OF MYTH IN SOCIETY
Although the first exploitation of the Paul Bunyan story was for commercial purposes, by the Red River Lumber Company, Bunyan’s main role has been as the subject of children books and, notably, this Walt Disney animated video:
Photo Source: Disney Education Productions, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zKKoHvXn0
Children are the target audience for other myths like the Hopi cosmogenic myth, which one student observed also has an educational role since “cultures are maintained as stories and information are passed down from generation to generation.”
If you don’t have the ability to make a Walt Disney cartoon for kids, how can you accomplish this inter-generational cultural transfer?
Kachinas!
The Hopi are famous for their Kachina (properly: katsina/katisnam) dolls. These are mainly known as tourist objects sold in “trading posts” in Hopi country but the real ones have a serious educational purpose:
Although kachina dolls are often given to Hopi children, they are not a toy. From about one-year old until they are ten, Hopi girls receive two dolls each year. A well-carved kachina doll is easy to admire as a work of art, but the real spirit of tihu is found within. Kachina dolls are representations of benevolent spirit beings who live among the Hopi for a six-month period each year. They first arrive on the Hopi mesas in February and return to their spiritual homes in July. Kachina tradition is unique only to the Pueblo Tribes of Arizona and New Mexico. Kachinas are spiritual rain messengers that bring special blessings as an indigenous part of Hopi spirituality
Source: https://kachina.us/
There’s no doubt that the message encoded in Hopi myth is very different from the Paul Bunyan legend, at least as it relates to the land. As one participant noted, “The Hopi myth’s oral tradition of passing along knowledge grounded individuals about the respect for natural resources. Resources that were given by the cosmos to satisfy the needs of civilization such as food and water.” Paul Bunyan is more about getting the job done with his double-sided axe!
We all came away with a richer understanding of these two very different myths along with an appreciation of how oral tradition (and media) can transfer cultural values from one generation to the next. Just as Hopi children receive Kachinas, Minnesota youth probably ask to stop at the giant statues in Bemedji and that can be a “teachable moment”.
While our discussion was grounded in historical myths (Bunyan and Hopi) it is very much alive today in terms of the de-throning of public statues by protesters in the Black Lives Matter movement. To the extent that we reached a consensus, it was that “myths give a summary of the cosmic laws and natural processes (Austin, 2004)” as well as providing a vehicle for transmitting cultural and normative concepts to the next generation. And, as one participant astutely observed, “the Hopi myth in relation to the cosmos provides an example of how influential history, even if it is not completely correct, can be for anyone at any age.”
So, yes, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves and had other faults; but he also contributed some timeless concepts to the Declaration of Independence. This is why his statue should probably continue to stand in the Jefferson Memorial, though perhaps with the addition of historically-accurate interpretive material.
.
Photo Source: CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_the_Jefferson_Memorial.jpg
CONCLUSION
Paul Bunyan and Babe are a human invention, as are the Kachinas and their annual blessings. But they are important inventions, and they make our world richer through their existence. Dolls, cartoons and statues all play a role in the vital transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation.
References
Austin, A. (2004). Myth, Belief, Narration, Image: Reflections on Mesoamerican Mythology. Journal of the Southwest, 46(4), pp.601-620.
Bowen, T. J. (2019). Why ‘genocide?’: Graffiti on Bemidji landmark sparks debate. The Bemidji Pioneer. Retrieved July 11, 2020, from https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/4555705-why-genocide-graffiti-bemidji-landmark-sparks-debate
Disney Education Productions (1958). American legends, Volume 2: Paul Bunyan. Retrieved July 14, 2020 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zKKoHvXn0
Padgett, K. (2005) Guide to Hopi Kachina (katsina) Dolls, retrieved July 15, 2020 from https://kachina.us/
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.