When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams…this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness. But maddest of all—to see life as it is and not as it should be.
—Cervantes/Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha
Just like that celebrated knight-errant and his loyal peasant sidekick, The Lone Ranger and Tonto are once more preparing to introduce their chivalric ideals to a world that could as easily regard them with cynicism and mockery as with nostalgia and admiration. In case you haven’t yet heard, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski (of the Pirates of the Caribbean series) are slated to bring the Old West hero’s saga to the big screen once more, with the participation of go-to leading/character actor Johnny Depp…who (deep, deep breath) will be playing Tonto.
But patience, o already-outraged fans of the masked man on his fiery horse with the speed of light, we will get to their re-imagining apace. First, though, let’s have a look at the Lone Ranger’s unique code of mores, a set of values with which even his more loyal fans may not be familiar.
Brought first to the radio in 1933 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, the legend concerns a Texas Ranger by the name of Reid (his first name is somewhat disputed) who is thought to have been murdered with five other lawmen during an ambush perpetrated by a vicious gang of outlaws. The sole survivor of the attack, Reid is nursed back to health by Tonto, a grateful Native American he had rescued in the past.
The resurrected “Lone Ranger” dons a mask and allows the world at large to believe him deceased. He recognizes his indebtedness to Tonto by having him ride at his side on an everlasting crusade to bring justice to the downtrodden and otherwise oppose the forces of evil wherever they might strike in the American West.
As part of his new career as a masked avenger, The Lone Ranger forges a specific doctrine to guide his every step, statement, punch, or pull of the trigger.
The Lone Ranger Creed is a stirring and thought-provoking series of declarations:
The Lone Ranger Creed
I believe…
…that to have a friend, a man must be one.
…that all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
…that God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.
…in being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
…that a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
…that this “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” shall live always.
…that men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
…that sooner or later…somewhere…somehow…we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
…that all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
…in my Creator, my country, my fellow man.
There were also some additional “guidelines” crafted by Striker in the early days that were not really part of the Ranger’s public presentation, but instead meant to serve as a firm sort of production “bible” for anyone scripting his adventures in the future. Among these:
The Lone Ranger was not ever to be captured nor held prisoner by lawmen for such time that would allow for his unmasking.
The Lone Ranger refrains from slang and colloquialisms, employing “perfect grammar and precise speech” at all times.
Criminals were never to be depicted as holding positions of power, nor seen as maintaining great wealth.
When the Lone Ranger fires his gun, he shoots to disarm, never to kill.
Taken together, this is, to say the least, a fascinating and challenging set of ideas any new Lone Ranger film should responsibly grapple with in order to make him relevant and captivating in the modern era.
Rather than exhaustively tackling each point on its own, I’m most interested to call our attention to a select few of these items that I find really jump off the page:
…that God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.
Sounds like “rugged individualism” to me. Or, maybe he’s really saying that folks shouldn’t rely on prayers to sustain their lives? Surely the most koan-like of the Ranger’s rules.
…that men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
Now, I learned from Star Trek that the needs of the many indeed outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Or was it that the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many? Uh-oh.
…that sooner or later…somewhere…somehow…we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
Is the Lone Ranger an environmentalist wacko?
…in my Creator, my country, my fellow man.
Excuse me, Kemo Sabe, but here in America, we worship or do not worship as we please. That’s fine for you. Actually, wait—in fact, your beliefs are not a problem at all. I have just been caught indulging my inner knee-jerk, agnostic reactionary. My apologies.
From the behind-the-scenes instructions left by Striker for future chroniclers of the Lone Ranger’s exploits:
The Lone Ranger refrains from slang and colloquialisms, employing “perfect grammar and precise speech” at all times.
Can this conceit thrive in the era of Twitter? LOL.
When the Lone Ranger fires his gun, he shoots to disarm, never to kill.
Let’s have an honest show of hands. How many of you out there honor and champion the Lone Ranger’s opposition to capital punishment? Now, now. I said let’s have an honest show of hands.
Bruckheimer/Verbinski/Depp have quite a task in front of them. It’s a sure, sure thing that their 21st-century reinvention will fail to please everyone, but it’s clearly in their interest to try and finesse the values and memories of longtime admirers of the character with the—how shall we say it—less straightforward, more nuanced culture cultivated by today’s younger adults and their children.
There is not much purchase to be gained in dousing the project with invective about the inappropriateness of Depp’s casting as Tonto. Yes, he bears little resemblance to this man:
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And to this man:
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Really, Depp seems to me to have not much in common even with this man:
But unconventional casting in the movies is not new, nor does it always work out to be the travesty that “civilians” predict. Michael Keaton made a fine Batman, and I have written already at some length about just how well Daniel Craig worked out as James Bond. Having said that, we are clearly in somewhat different territory here. Colorblind casting can work out brilliantly in, say, Shakespeare, when matters of racial identity are not necessarily at the forefront of either the text (Othello) or a period-adjusted production. But, then there are more controversial situations where, for example, an iconic Asian hero is played by a non-Asian actor in The Last Airbender.
No doubt just those sorts of pro-and-con discussions have been well underway with Depp and company for some time, and they are busy making the show business calculations that balance this star’s drawing power against the perception that they might be treating the casting of a character whose Native American identity is central to the property with, for lack of a better descriptor, a colonial disregard.
It would sure be nice to see a new Lone Ranger film that manages not only to take us back to those thrilling days of yesteryear, but says something about the myth that connects to our own age. So long as The Phantom destroys Piracy and Greed in all forms, The Shadow recognizes What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men, Superman continues to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way, Spider-Man teaches us that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, and the Green Lantern vows that No Evil Shall Escape His Sight, The Lone Ranger Creed will stand as another heroic oath meant to conjure visions of a society in which humble champions of greater justice might walk among us in times of trouble.
That is a notion that will always be appealing, even if it often remains just beyond our capacity to fully usher those ideals off the silver screen and into the world as we find it.
