Pré-Publication, Document De Travail (Working Paper) Année : 2025

Once Upon a Time in the British West: Thomas Shelby’s meteoric rise, or the redrafting of the social geography of the “Gypsy” and Traveller figures?

Résumé

Many Travellers mention that they were fond of watching movies, particularly before the widespread introduction of television. In their narratives they often borrow the imagery of American Westerns, which were particular favorites, to position themselves historically and imagine themselves as victors and survivors -partly because these movies feature a familiar infrastructure of horses, wagons, and tents, but also because they provide a conflict model with which Travellers can identify. John Ward recalls his grandfather's days at the time of World War I, before Travellers lived in wagons: "They could build tentsprobably seen some Indian at it in a film, a silent film, that's how they learned it." Nan Joyce remembers a man who came to take care of her and the other children every evening when her mother was in prison: "He'd get back on his horse then and ride into Portadown, it was like a cowboy movie with him riding into the sunset!" […]. When she traveled in Northern Ireland during the worst time of the "Troubles" she says she got used to the bullets and riots because it was "like seeing a cowboy picture" […]. According to Sharon Gmelch," [y]oung adults and teenagers often departed to see a film, usually a Western, which they later told in meticulous detail".

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hal-05185273 , version 1 (24-07-2025)

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  • HAL Id : hal-05185273 , version 1

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Gaëtan Cognard. Once Upon a Time in the British West: Thomas Shelby’s meteoric rise, or the redrafting of the social geography of the “Gypsy” and Traveller figures?. 2025. ⟨hal-05185273⟩
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