Chris Drew: What inspired you to do this research and write this book?
Dr. Joanna Dee Das: Well, I was inspired because I grew up in Missouri, and I always knew about Branson growing up. I got my PhD in history and my specialty is in American cultural history, and I felt that Branson had been overlooked in the national landscape as an important site of live performance. And so, I felt that Branson ought to be recognized. And I also wanted to explore why that gap existed. Why wasn't Branson discussed about as an important site of theater and live entertainment, even though it's a been a place to go for that for decades. And that led me to also explore Branson's role in what I call America's long culture war, and so that's kind of the two inspirations for the book, recognizing Branson's importance in American theatrical history and also exploring its role in the culture war and what the culture in Branson has to do with the American political landscape.
Chris: To start with your first point there, what do you think parts of the country or parts of the academic world have missed out by not taking Branson seriously?
Dr. Das: They've forgotten that there's like this vibrant tradition of variety entertainment that Branson has kept alive, and also important components of theater as a place of building community. Branson entertainers do that expertly. They engage with audiences, they welcome them into the space. Also, Branson has a particular show called Shepherd of the Hills, which was one of the innovations in outdoor drama, and kind of was an early show in the 1960s to immerse the audience in a theatrical production. That kind of immersive theater is often linked to, you know, like avant garde happenings in in New York City, for example, that same decade. But they were doing it in Branson. So, I feel like this kind of immersive, community oriented theater, as well as keeping alive a variety show tradition, are both really important contributions that Branson has made. And a third one is kind of Christian entertainment. Christian people using the theater as a form of ministry, shall we say.
Chris: Much like folks might see in movies or something like that.
Dr. Das: Yeah, kind of like the passion play down in Arkansas. Or like, you know, Christian rock, right? And new forms of worship in evangelical Christianity in particular, really welcome the use of popular culture as a form of kind of bringing people to Christ. And in Branson there are many entertainers and theaters that do that through performance.
Chris: You kind of talk about Branson being able to kind of retain and repackage the past while staying with the times, and this sounds like an example of that.
Dr. Das: Yeah. For sure. I think Branson performers are pretty expert at that, right? (They) see themselves as bearers of a tradition but innovating and adapting and changing. And I think that's often one of the secrets, in order to keep a tradition alive, you have to adapt, and so there's, there's that balance that happens in Branson, for sure.
Chris: You say faith, family and the flag are cornerstones of Branson experience. Can you talk about how that's expressed and what the sort of implications of that are?
Dr. Das: Sure. Well, it's expressed verbally and explicitly by the town's mayor, by the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Their website talks about Branson as being a city of faith, family and flag. Performers you talk to, speak about it. So everyone kind of speaks the phrase. What does that mean? On the stages, performers are generally unafraid to openly affirm their belief in Christianity and their faith in Jesus Christ. They emphasize family values, by which they generally mean a kind of heterosexual married couple with children, but also extended family. Many of the performers on Branson's stages are like extended family groups. So not just parents and one child, but like parents and grandparents and multiple children and aunts and uncles. There's this real emphasis on the family coming together to put on a show for you, and then flag affirming, kind of a patriotic, patriotic ideas and commitment to the American nation.
Chris: I think you kind of describe how it does that without necessarily being political, though. Like specifically, you're talking about the 60s, how it's almost a utopia escape from the sort of divisive politics of the era, even though it sounds like inherently it is somewhat political.
Dr. Das: Faith, family and freedom was a phrase trademarked by Gary Bauer in 1989 when he was the head of the Family Research Council, which is specifically an organization to kind of support conservative candidates in office. That's part of their mission. Conservative political candidates have invoked the phrase faith, family and flag or faith, family and freedom. Sarah Palin's autobiography is titled that. Most recently, supporters of Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA have invoked the phrase, and the conservative columnist David Brooks talks about the phrase faith, family and flag as a foundation of conservative belief. So, not necessarily tied to a political party, but conservatism as a political philosophy, which then does get folded into a political party. So, there's that tension in Branson, because for some people, these are pre-political ideas, right? That they're foundational to humanity and not necessarily political. But since the 1980s, certainly it is. The phrase is specifically associated with a particular political orientation, and performers are aware of that. And, you know, there are specific instances of, “we stand for the flag and we kneel for the cross,” like, those sorts of statements are often invoked on stage. That also sort of lend a slightly more politically specific approach to these terms.
Chris: And are people defensive about that at all? Obviously, they probably want, you know, Branson to be something that anyone who's interested in tourism, you know, they might want to be interested in Branson. But are people really defensive about something like that? If you talk to them about your book, about your research, um, or do they kind of just understand that that's how Branson is?
Dr. Das: I would say many people say, you know, these are universal values. We do welcome everyone. And most of the people I've interviewed say that they do genuinely believe that. And then there are other people who I've interviewed who feel that they are okay with the specifically political nature of those terms and that there is a conservative vision for America, or one could say, a Christian nationalist vision, who say America is a Christian nation at its founding, and we are going to try to get back to that foundation and reorient the politics of America towards that foundation. So, I would say there is a range of responses in Branson.
Chris: Yeah, I guess as one might expect, nobody's a monolith.
Dr. Das: Yeah, yeah. And I try to represent that in the book. Right. To to show that there is a range.
Chris: Going back to performances, one thing I really like, you talk about how Branson has succeeded at pairing sincerity and spectacle. How has Branson had a knack for that and how has that filled a niche over the years that maybe, I don't know. I see that as being as important now in modern culture and pop culture as ever.
Dr. Das: Yeah, it's a really important and difficult blend, because sometimes when you lean too much on spectacle, people think you're being inauthentic or fake. If your performances are sincere to the point of being very austere or didactic or admonishing the audience, no one wants to go to that either. Right. You have to have both. And one example I point to in the book is Sight and Sound Theater. Where they see spectacle not as kind of detracting from the message, but kind of invoking God. That God does not come through dour messages, but the majesty and the awe of his creation. And so, spectacle is a part of kind of really bringing an audience into a space. And it doesn't detract from serious messaging. Other brands and shows do this on a lesser scale. You know, many of the family shows, for example, the sincerity with which they engage with audience members, talking to audiences not only right after the show, but during the show, during intermission, you know, and then staying afterwards till 2 to 3 in the morning to talk with people, shake hands, take photographs. It's a balance that I think is useful in all areas of theater and that some parts of theater in the United States have kind of lost. I think it's coming back to sincerity now, but for several decades, like irony, distance, skepticism, sarcasm was kind of the tone, right? And things that were earnest or sincere were seen as naive. There was also a tendency towards anti-spectacle, and now I think people are I would say hopefully coming back around, that these are aspects of theater that people do want and connect to.
Chris: And you conclude with three sort of possible futures for Branson. I wonder if you could talk about those a bit. And particularly since we've talked mostly about performance, the future of performance in Branson with all the other entertainment options.
Dr. Das: So, you know, during the Covid pandemic, live theater across the country took a major hit, as theaters closed. And in Branson, they didn't close for as long as elsewhere. Broadway was shuttered for over a year. Branson only closed for eight weeks. But the pandemic did shift people's habits of going out to seek entertainment. And the rise of digital streaming services, etc. caused a shift that was already slowly happening, and so many tourist destinations like Branson have started to emphasize more kind of like family-oriented activity. Activities like a Ferris wheel or the Titanic Museum or other experiences that aren't necessarily sitting in a theater seat. So Branson could go more and more in that direction. I don't think live performance will ever disappear in Branson. It's too important. And it is still an engaging activity for families to do and attend. But the balance may shift.
In terms of its direction politically, you know that is also still open. It can kind of continue to push for and maintain a kind of very open, apolitical sort of approach. Some of the difficulties with that are, you know, there is on Highway 76, in between the theaters and motels, you do have the Trump store and you do have the Dixie Outfitters store. Which sends specific political messages to visitors who are driving down the strip. Whether they feel welcome or not. Branson also recently voted to restrict certain types of drag performances to a specific area of Branson. So, you know, it remains to be seen what direction Branson goes with that.
Chris: Do you think that messaging has become more sort of front and center in people's economics or economic choices? You have people kind of picking and choosing which businesses or places they attend more, more now than ever, I think in my life based on politics.
Dr. Das: That is true. I would say for a long time, though, a lot of people, for many decades, many people already were thinking of Branson in that way. I can't tell you how many people I talked to just in the audiences or, you know, reading in newspaper reports and other things from earlier decades that they felt that Branson was a haven. It was a place they could take their family, that they felt it matched their conservative values, that, you know, New York or Los Angeles, if they went to a show in Las Vegas, they weren't sure it would be appropriate for their children, or they weren't sure it would match their Christian values. And so, you know, this is, again, it's a tricky part when you're a tourist destination. How do you satisfy your core customers while also drawing in new customers? Many of Branson's core customers have for decades appreciated specifically Branson's faith, family and flag ethos and those kinds of approaches. And so, yeah, so I would say, yes, people are being more choosy about not going to certain places based on what they see as a political commitment. But I would say Branson has long been an attraction for many Americans who feel that their values aren't represented elsewhere.
Chris: I'm curious to step out a little bit, how you might see that influence across the region. I think of southwest Missouri here, where I am, and northwest Arkansas, the Ozarks, one of the fastest developing areas in the country. How has it continued to be defined by that sort of image of Branson and the Shepherd of the Hills?
Dr. Das: Yeah, I think there it's a tricky balance because I think you also have the countervailing major presence in the Ozarks of the Walton family and Walmart and Walmart headquarters, and what they're trying to do there. There's interesting class dynamics there, right? One of Branson area's draws has also been its affordability. How is that shifting with the push in northwest Arkansas and the development there? I know with pricing people out. So, that's another consideration of what are the shifting dynamics, what are the population shifts? What are the political shifts?
Dr. Das visited Missouri State University earlier this year to promote her book and shared this comment as our conversation wound down.
Dr. Das: I guess the other thing that I got applause for in Springfield, which I loved, was that there is an appendix to the book, and the appendix is my attempt to create a comprehensive database listing of every show that was in residence in Branson from 1959 to 2024. By which I mean, you know, not shows. Not like if someone came and performed a concert for a weekend, but someone that kind of established, you know, a season in Branson, was there for at least a tourist season, or at least the whole Christmas season because there's nothing like that for Branson. You know, there were volunteer archivists at the Centennial Museum in Branson that attempted to create a list, and it's on paper. There just isn't a comprehensive database. And so that is something I did attempt to do in this book. I feel that many people outside of Branson aren't aware of the incredible number of shows and performances that have been there over the years. So, I mean, that's a little historian nerd fact about the book. Like, I also am proud of the appendix.