AH challenge- make whalers as popular literary characters as cowboys

Pirates.

For some reason, pirates start attacking whaling ships. Say whale oil becomes a valuable commodity to sell on the Black Market, they start attacking whaling ships. A few ship captains gain legends fighting them off and then the dime novels about them come out.
 
Pirates.

For some reason, pirates start attacking whaling ships. Say whale oil becomes a valuable commodity to sell on the Black Market, they start attacking whaling ships. A few ship captains gain legends fighting them off and then the dime novels about them come out.

The problem is, there aren't a lot of pirates around at the time high-seas whaling becomes an American industry and a literary subject. You still get the occasional last gasps, but by and large the seas are safe.

I could see whalers (or rather, sailors, with the whaler stereotype leading, just as it's realy frontiersmen with the cowboy stereotype leading) become literary heroes if the legend of the nation revolved more around maritime pursuits. Perhaps if the West were thought of as less exciting, the USA could look to the Pacific as a 'natural' backyard to have adventures in. Unfortunately I can only think of pretty big PODs that would do that.

Alternatively, you could have a simple change in filmmaking patterns. No Hollywood. Have the US movie industry grow up on the East Coast. Until the 1900s, there was plenty of adventure lit about the sea. one reason why Hollywood produced so many westerns was that they were reasonably cheap to make in the surrounding countryside and reflected local heritage. A New-York-based industry might just naturally gravitate towards seaboard and harbour scenes, tropical jungles (Georgis and the Carolinas) and harsh arctic environments (Maine). The next generation grows up with the idea that American manhood was forged in the crucible of the fo'c'sle and grew to greatness facing down the cannibals of Fiji and the vicious Russian patrollers of Kamchatka.
 
Alternatively, you could have a simple change in filmmaking patterns. No Hollywood. Have the US movie industry grow up on the East Coast. Until the 1900s, there was plenty of adventure lit about the sea. one reason why Hollywood produced so many westerns was that they were reasonably cheap to make in the surrounding countryside and reflected local heritage. A New-York-based industry might just naturally gravitate towards seaboard and harbour scenes, tropical jungles (Georgis and the Carolinas) and harsh arctic environments (Maine). The next generation grows up with the idea that American manhood was forged in the crucible of the fo'c'sle and grew to greatness facing down the cannibals of Fiji and the vicious Russian patrollers of Kamchatka.

Well the American film industry moved west for several reasons, amongst them was that it allowed them to work outside the Motion Pictures Patents Company (AKA Edison Trust) which basically allowed Thomas Edison and friends to hold a monopoly in most of American filmmaking.
Ultimately the Trust was declared a monopoly and an illegal restraint on trade but by then most "independent" filmmakers had moved to Hollywood. As you said, for Hollywood filmmakers making westerns was cheap because of climate, scenery, etc. But if the Trust never goes into effect then most filmmaker stay in New York, others like Griffith (one of the main Hollywood founders) would probably stay in the south.
Thus the American film industry would not be centralized, allowing the existence of cinema with a wider range of genres and styles.
After that you only need a moderately successful "Whaler" film by an independent north eastern studio. Some larger studio digs the idea and releases a big ass blockbuster sometime after 1927 (that is the first academy awards). The movie wins many academy awards. And a whaling craze begins in America.
The whaling movie offers, like the western, a frontier setting between civilization and the wild. It also offers themes of camaraderie (the men in the boat) and romance (the women waiting on shore).
As you said the next generation grows thinking that this is how American manhood was achieved.

The pattern in filmmaking then goes more or less like this:
After WWII occupied Japan catches the trend. They being big whalers start making some whaling movies. Furthermore most of their Samurai films borrow heavily from Whaler films in terms of themes and structure.
Ultimately by the 1950s the craze has died down. The Whaler/Sailor film does not disappear altogether (the Western did not in OTL) but it gets toned down. No more big transoceanic epics but smaller films focussing on the home aspect of whaling. "What really happens with the women who stay home?" "What are the real consequences of living in the sea for so long?" and themes like this. Some times the "Whaling Operas" take place in the west were there are no whales. But these "Horse Operas" play very much like their seafaring counterparts. Some European studio catches the trend and a Euro-whaling movie is released with moderate success.
But in the 1960s Italian and Spanish filmmaker revive the Whaling/Sailor film. They make them violent, manly, and realistic. Very different from the epic American films of the 20s and 30s or the melodramatic versions of the 50s. When these filmmakers pair up with American and other international stars to produce Whaler/Sailor films. They become an international success. Because these films are very cheaply made but so attractive every major studio form America and Europe begins to test the waters. Even British studios, which always stayed away from the western for several reasons, are free to tap into the Whaler movie.
This new craze dies by the 1980s as SciFi creates whaling operas in space. But in the 1990s nostalgia wins out. Some director master of pastiche blends the classical American "Whaling Operas", the European "Spaghetti Whales", and Japanese Whaling and Samurai films. Such films gain cult following and ultimately become mainstream.
In the 2000s a TV show is released. This show sets the Whaler not in its typical late 1800s early 1900s setting. But in a distant and magical past when sea monsters were actually hunted. The TV show is a flop but a spin off movie is released with relative success and cult following.
The Whaler movie will Survive

Film Examples:

Early Whaler: "The Great Whaling Adventure"
Award Winning Classical Epic Whaler: "Salvaje"
1950s Whaler Melodrama: "Paul"
Japanese Whaler: "大きく白いクジラ"
Spaghetti Whaler: "Once Upon a Time in the Northwest"
American Pastiche 1990s: "Once Upon a Time in La Patagonia"
2000s TV Show and Spin off: "Clipper" & "Tranquility"

(Did I just summarize the history of Westerns and replace Western for Whaler? Yes, but I think it sounds OK)
 

Dure

Banned
More women of loose morals on whaling ships would help. Amozon like Harpooners in lose linnen shirts with firm high unencumbered breast topped by large bullet like nipples peeping out occasionally. Tales of Xena, the second mate. You get the idea.

So would more intelligent, tougher whales (ideally wearing black stetsons or war paint). Seriously, westerns are (mostly) about the triumph of one race and religion over another, one world view over another. Whalers are about the triumph of men over nature and an animal. In order to have the same resonances as the Western the Whaler needs to have drama on a similar scale. The whales need to be 'human', capable of undertsandable rational thought and able to join together and war on human beings. 'The Kraken Wakes' rather than 'Moby Dick'.

Whale meat is a mildly halocinogenic, the most delicious thing you will ever taste in your life, extends human active life 30 years, eliminates many illnesses and is mildly addictive.

A corney music genre about the themes of Whalers could be a good idea, like the relationship of Country and Westerns. Come to think of it Chantys already exist. Chanties about whaling are much more popular.
 
Also, whales need the decency to keep breeding like herrings so that the stocks don't collapse while the movie industry has its day.
 

Hendryk

Banned
After WWII occupied Japan catches the trend. They being big whalers start making some whaling movies.
Indeed, Japan's own whaling tradition would fit readily into this.

More women of loose morals on whaling ships would help. Amozon like Harpooners in lose linnen shirts with firm high unencumbered breast topped by large bullet like nipples peeping out occasionally. Tales of Xena, the second mate. You get the idea.
The easiest way to provide fanservice while still remaining more or less historically accurate would be to feature tropical islands, with the manly sailors welcomed by scantily-clad dusky-skinned women, sort of like "The Bounty Mutiny".
 

Dure

Banned
'This whale ain't big enough for the both of us!'

'I'm comming for my porpoise'

'The harpoon always beats the gaff hook'

'
 

Dure

Banned
Also, whales need the decency to keep breeding like herrings so that the stocks don't collapse while the movie industry has its day.

Herrings did breed like herring and the stocks still collapsed.

"Play the diguello and lower the long boats, the only good whales is a dead whale" cried captain Sherridan.
 
Having an independent New England would help. Whalers are the cowboys of the northeast, right :D

Seriously, though, New England whalers would be known in every corner of the world, which would probably make New England seem like a more significant power than it really would be in North America. Also, in postcolonial literature New England whalers might loom large as the people who made 'first contact' with many soon-to-be colonized peoples and marked an end to the good times before the white man screwed everything up, like the missionaries in Things Fall Apart.
 
a long-term effect would likely be that you would see a sort of "Nantucket Pride" grow up for New Englanders instead of the "Country Pride" you see in alot of rural areas IOTL.
 
OK, how could this be done ? Perhaps more literature following on from Herman Melville's MOBY DICK ?

Actually, you have a better chance of Melville never publishes Moby Dick and instead continues his tales of South Seas adventure. Moby Dick was hated by critics and the general public and did not sell through its original print run in the remaining 40 years of Melville's life.
 
1800

The new american colonies, while victorious in the cause of indepence, scramble to search for new sources of revenue. Fishing, an industry long the relm of the New England states is viewed as a source of income to help repay ARW loans and develop products for European markets...fish flakes (from the cod fishery) is of especial concern for Catholic Europe while the newer markets for whale oil and baleen bone represent a chance for high value sales to the first nation to sieze the advantage. Taking advantage of the Napolonic wars the United States embarks upon a national program of building small, coastal vessels for shore based fisheries and a limited number of nationally owned frieghters.

1805
As the number of american flagged vessels expands revenue still lags behind expectations. Oysters, sardines, trout and other shell fish start to make an appearence in local trade but the dream of fishery based economy is still far off. Signs of hope however exist in the expanded industrial production due to ship construction and lumbering clearing more land for farms. All of this changes when the State of South Carolina offers a state competition to catch the biggest fish in the state with a reward of $50. Thousands of folks compete in what becomes known as a fish derby with fish derbies quickly becoming a common social event first in the Carolina's, then in the south before becoming a national past time. Unfortunately this pressure quickly causes local fisheries to be wiped out and instead, with community and state prestige on the line, fishermen start to go further and further afield in search of the "big one". Whales quickly become the fish of choice due to a New England ruling classifying them as fish early on and soon, annual fairs are held at the return of the fishing fleet.

It is the stories of these fairs, of new lands, battles with other ships and nations, that become the talk of the town and the exploits of top captains are printed for all to see. However with the pressure fishery after fishery collapses and with 50 years the time of the fisher prince is done...

With the increased merchant fishing traffic the search for new grounds becomes intense and after the discovery of the Pacific coast fishery American fishermen quickly start to outnumber the British influence on Vancouver's Island. Alarmed at this increased encroachment into "their" waters England starts to issue formal protests over the actions of fishermen which becomes the war of 1812...

2 cents worth anywho..
foresterab
 
I just had a thought.

change the sexual mores, and stories involving whalers and their topless polynesian girlfriends could be a MUCH better sell than cowboys and their love life. (Or lack thereof, more to the point.)
 
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