This week I thought I’d throw out some ideas for questions.
1. Billy the Kid filled a need in society every time his story became popular, sometimes filling more than one at once. What needs would he fill today? What needs do we even have today?
This question deals with our intended theme of needs in society. Along with looking at the history of Billy the Kid, it approaches the idea of legendaryness in modern times. Some of the needs I think we have in society are the need to stay powerful in a changing global climate and the need to reaffirm our identity after 9/11. I could see the Kid’s relationship with the Mexicans coming into play, but other than that I’m not sure how useful the Kid is in the present. Thinking about these needs might help the class pick out which figures are in the process of being canonized today, and why. We could also use it to transition to the question of whether we need legendary figures.
2. The Kid plays a role as an archive of the social needs of the past. How else might we have learned this information? What else causes him to be relevant to generation after generation?
This one looks to answer two of the goals in the class, which were “what can we learn by studying legendary Americans?” and “do we need to study legendary Americans?” We can learn information propagation techniques and social values as well the needs we discussed before. As for the second of those two questions, I think we need to study them in a manner that doesn’t continue the myths. They provide a very easy window into the past, allowing historians to find the proper context to interpret events through. However, if we eliminate them like a lot of the class wants to do, how will future historians get this information?
3. As his story evolved over time, Billy the Kid has oscillated between good and bad. How is this possible? What defines and what causes these shifts?
This question is designed to address the social construct of what we call good and evil. The shifts are possible because of changing social customs: we might even be able to draw some parallels back to The Honor Code. People’s views at the present define whether or not there was ever a “shift”. A society that views him as good will see a shift from bad to good around the 1930s. A society that sees him as bad will see a shift at the same time, but swinging the other way.
These could use a little more development, but I think they’re a good start.