Taylor Sheridan’s modern Western Yellowstone has not just led the resurgence of the revitalized Western genre, but has been one of the most successful TV shows in our modern era. The wild success of the show and its influence on the real locations has led some to question just how realistic Yellowstone‘s portrayal of ranch life is. It certainly seems authentic when watching Yellowstone, soon to release season 5, part 2, on a TV screen, but that doesn’t mean it’s true to life.
Yellowstone, starring the recently departed Kevin Costner, tells the story of the warring Dutton family, led by John Dutton, patriarch and owner of the Yellowstone Ranch in Montana, the largest ranch in the state. The Duttons fight with each other, land developers, tribal nations, and others to keep their ranch intact as the modern world threatens to destroy their traditional way of life. There’s quite a bit that Yellowstone gets right about ranching, particularly the pride the Duttons have in their ranch and working the land. However, plenty of elements are exaggerated for the show, and not at all accurate to real life.
Yellowstone Isn’t Based On A Specific True Story – But Has Real-Life Inspirations
Ranches Are Passed Down From Generation To Generation
Of course, Yellowstone isn’t an adaptation of a true story. The Duttons are fictional characters and their story is also entirely fictional. That said, their general story and family dynamic might have been ripped straight from any ranching family in America. Just like with Yellowstone‘s cast of characters, ranching is a family business, with ranches being passed down from generation to generation. Depending on the size of the ranch and how successful it is, that can mean quite a bit of money flows back and forth and a ranching family can grow quite wealthy in a few generations, though it’s very rare.
While the drama of the Duttons is exaggerated for a soapy drama TV show, real ranching families can butt heads, clash over arguments, and have different ideas about how best to run the family business.
Working closely with family can lead to friction. While the drama of the Duttons is exaggerated for a soapy drama TV show, real ranching families can butt heads, clash over arguments, and have different ideas about how best to run the family business. There’s no separation between family and business, or between business and home; it’s all intertwined. That’s a recipe for tension, and it can certainly form cracks in relationships. Still, the drama of Yellowstone is more heightened than reality.
Yellowstone’s Dutton Family Ranch Is Mostly Realistic
Creator Taylor Sheridan Has A Background In Ranching
The most realistic part of Yellowstone is the Dutton family ranch itself. While not one to hop in front of a microphone or camera often, creator Taylor Sheridan has talked in the past about spending lots of time on a ranch as a kid, a ranch his mother bought in Cranfills Gap, Texas, so her kids would learn to be part of the outdoors. Sheridan grew up off and on at the ranch and spent weekends of his teenage years wrangling horses and riding. The authentic feel of Yellowstone‘s ranch life is thanks to Sheridan having lived it.
That’s evident in the little details about the show. In an interview with Variety, rancher Jessie Jarvis explained that a number of things about Yellowstone are accurate, right down to the clothing brands they wear: Kimes Ranch clothing and Greeley Hat and American Hat are all real brands that ranchers trust. The horse riding is also very true to life, too. As one watches Yellowstone, you may notice scenes where riders in the background will be taking horses through steps in the arena; those steps are called reining patterns and they’re all performed by real riders, not actors.
Some Of Yellowstone’s Biggest Struggles Are True To Life
Land Loss & Real Estate Encroachment Are Real Issues For American Ranchers
Yellowstone is not a show without drama, both internal and external to the Duttons. In the same interview, Jarvis mentioned the Duttons’ struggles are accurate to real life, to the point that it is sometimes hard for her to watch because it was impossible to escape the problems of her own ranch life when watching the show. Central to that, and a topic that has come up long before Yellowstone shed light on it, is the loss of land and encroachment. The population is growing and moving, and it’s harder for ranching families to keep their large lands intact.
The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated that struggle. As countless articles and news reports explored during the pandemic, lots of people, especially young professionals, fled city life for quieter mountain towns and rural escapes. Sometimes, that’s been to a town’s benefit, as they inject sometimes struggling locations with more money and more business. Other times, though, it leads to a clash between ranchers and land developers as the former struggle to keep their lands from the latter. The balance between developing resources and land is a hard one to strike, and ranches and farms across America are finding themselves losing that fight.
| Yellowstone Series | No. of Seasons |
|---|---|
| Yellowstone | 5 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| The Madison | TBD |
Interestingly, there’s an argument to be made that the success of Yellowstone itself is expediting that land loss. As the podcast Outside/In explores, there’s anecdotal (and maybe some data-driven) evidence that the show’s depiction of the American West is enticing rich businessmen and others to move to Montana in hopes of living out their rugged ranchman fantasies. Since 2018, when Yellowstone first aired, home prices and real estate across the state have more than doubled. While that may be coincidental, it wouldn’t be the first time a TV show or movie with outsized success created a whole tourism explosion, or shifted a population – just look at what happened to New Zealand after Lord of the Rings hit theaters, or Dubrovnik, Croatia after Game of Thrones.
Yellowstone Makes Up A Lot Of Things For TV
Ranchers Are Never As Rich As The Duttons
As accurate as much of Yellowstone is, however, it’s still a fictionalized drama of ranch life, and that means certain things are embellished if not outright made up. The first of those is the Dutton family wealth. While some ranching families can certainly be wealthy, as mentioned above, that’s the very rare exception, not the rule. The Duttons have a helicopter – that just doesn’t happen for most families, let alone ranching families. Likewise, the Duttons’ high-end equipment is not necessarily the kind of equipment – expensive trucks and trailers and the like – that most working ranches use. Real ranching is more grueling, less lucrative, and harder to eke out an existence than Yellowstone shows.
While some ranching families can certainly be wealthy, that’s the very rare exception, not the rule.
The violence of Yellowstone is also sometimes cartoonishly over-the-top and just not realistic. The level of physical violence on the show between warring ranchers and family members may have been somewhat true in the more lawless time of the 1960s and ’70s in the American West, but today, it’s just not accurate. The characters of Yellowstone seem to employ a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to the constant threats they face, but the reality is that the struggles ranchers face are less able to be solved with a bullet; government assistance, balanced land use, and addressing climate change are more helpful methods of problem-solving.
By far the most problematic element of Yellowstone is its portrayal of Native Americans. This has long been a criticism of Taylor Sheridan’s projects, whether the depiction of Mexicans in Sicario or Native Americans in Yellowstone.Sheridan’s scripts are run through a very white lens that tends to otherize and flatten non-white characters, if his scripts include them in any significant way at all. In Sheridan’s Yellowstone, might makes right, and white makes might most of all.
The show has been good about exploring issues like land rights and tribal sovereignty, but other Indigenous people have pointed to Yellowstone‘s problems with stereotyping and inauthentic tribal politics. Yellowstone is surprisingly honest – but always remember it’s told through a Hollywood lens, which means it’s sometimes not that honest at all.
