You've seen more of my humble berg than you know, you sly dog. Tonight we go to Monument Valley, seen in every western ever.
Thanks to our relative closeness to LA thanks to the grand I-15, a handful of other major roads and the fact that it is an absolutely spectacular natural location. Monument Valley has appeared in at least 30 different films. It is a solid icon of western America.
It is five square miles.
That's it. That little plot of land on a Navajo reservation has defined Westerns and cowboy culture for getting close to ninety years. That is pretty good by any metric. It should be said that Utah does not hold it entirely. Arizona holds some of it as well in their borders. However the park is strictly Native American held. The Navajo name for it is Tse'Bii'Ndzisgaii or Valley of the Rocks. Rather apt, no?
Films that have been shot here include Easy Rider, Forrest Gump (see above), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (see the beginning of the movie) and Back To The Future pt III. The drive in movie theater that Marty drives through was constructed specifically for that scene and torn down after. Apparently no movies were shown and that is a shame. That would've been a wonderful backdrop for an old west film.
TV has been no slouch when it comes to the Valley either. Recently a few episodes of Doctor Who were shot in part at Monument Valley and we now hold the coveted "the Doctor kindof almost died here, for realsies" trophy.
It is a place that should be seen if you are on the great American road trip as there is little else that can humble you in quite the same way. The natural beauty of the place is certainly something to marvel, or in my case gawk at. (I gawk with the best. Mouth agape, slight drooling, the whole thing.)
Additional fun note: In writing this I found that Wikipedia has Navajo as one of their languages
The next Utah in Pop Culture will deal with music I think. Yeah. Perhaps SLC Punk, perhaps just songs. We'll see.
You do recognize it right? NO? Well how about this?
Hrm, you are stubborn. How about this?
Wait, that one is a video game.
Thanks to our relative closeness to LA thanks to the grand I-15, a handful of other major roads and the fact that it is an absolutely spectacular natural location. Monument Valley has appeared in at least 30 different films. It is a solid icon of western America.
It is five square miles.
That's it. That little plot of land on a Navajo reservation has defined Westerns and cowboy culture for getting close to ninety years. That is pretty good by any metric. It should be said that Utah does not hold it entirely. Arizona holds some of it as well in their borders. However the park is strictly Native American held. The Navajo name for it is Tse'Bii'Ndzisgaii or Valley of the Rocks. Rather apt, no?
Films that have been shot here include Easy Rider, Forrest Gump (see above), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (see the beginning of the movie) and Back To The Future pt III. The drive in movie theater that Marty drives through was constructed specifically for that scene and torn down after. Apparently no movies were shown and that is a shame. That would've been a wonderful backdrop for an old west film.
TV has been no slouch when it comes to the Valley either. Recently a few episodes of Doctor Who were shot in part at Monument Valley and we now hold the coveted "the Doctor kindof almost died here, for realsies" trophy.
It is a place that should be seen if you are on the great American road trip as there is little else that can humble you in quite the same way. The natural beauty of the place is certainly something to marvel, or in my case gawk at. (I gawk with the best. Mouth agape, slight drooling, the whole thing.)
Additional fun note: In writing this I found that Wikipedia has Navajo as one of their languages
The next Utah in Pop Culture will deal with music I think. Yeah. Perhaps SLC Punk, perhaps just songs. We'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment