How Edna Ferber’s novel “Giant” changed Texas

When Edna Ferber’s Giant was published in 1952, Texans were not happy. Farber’s sweeping novel of cattle, oil, and the winds of change takes Leslie Benedict, a reform-minded Virginia woman, to a Texas ranch. So she boldly suggested that residents might treat their non-white, non-male neighbors a little better. Better. Please show a little kindness to Mexican immigrants who now live in poverty, or what Giant calls “wetbacks.” Recognize that women may have the ability and interest to think about politics.

Farber was a whimsical, literary New Yorker born and raised in the Midwest, known for novels such as Show Boat and So Big, but she committed the unforgivable act of ruining Texas. Texas then let her know how he felt. Julie Gilbert recalled the poignant content in her new book. Giant Love: Edna Ferber, Texas’ best-selling novel, and the making of a classic American movie. “Carl Victor Little suggested in a Houston newspaper review that she would be lynched,” Gilbert writes. Little rejected Farber’s “‘brand of fiction’ steeped in behind-the-scenes gossip and what girls’ novelists call local flavor.” Later, when a Beaumont resident heard that Ferber’s novel would be made into a film by director George Stevens, he confessed his feelings to a Hollywood columnist: hole. ”

Farber was attacked not only for being a carpetbagger but also for his progressive policies. Through the heroine, who marries longtime cattleman Jordan “Vic” Benedict and comes to the Reata Ranch, the author imagines the kind of change that certain Texans dream of to this day, and that is an uphill battle. I knew something. While the state has changed a lot over the past 70 years, becoming more diverse, urbanized, and ideologically diverse, political realignment seems just as elusive today. Just ask Beto O’Rourke, who produced a ton of lawn signs in 2018 before losing his Senate race to incumbent Ted Cruz and the state’s deeply entrenched Republican forces. Or Colin Allred, who ran against the same candidate in November and did even worse. A Democrat has not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994, when Bob Bullock was re-elected lieutenant governor.

The state’s current Republican Party, led by Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, has thrown Texas politics into turmoil. The state’s abortion regulations are among the strictest in the country. The Texas State Board of Education recently approved Bible-based instruction in public elementary schools. The Texas General Land Office recently offered President-elect Donald Trump a 1,400-acre ranch to build a “deportation facility.”

Farber did not transform Texas into a progressive haven, but she did provide a fictional heroine who sought to discard traditions she loathed. Gilbert brought deep-seated interest to her book about that struggle. Farber, who died in 1968, was the author’s great-aunt, and Gilbert has fond memories of her. However, to Gilbert’s credit, this is not an “Aunt Edna” project. The author uses personal correspondence when it helps to get his point across, along with his own body of research and observations. “Giant Love” is a fitting piece in the history of director Don Graham’s 2018 film “Giant.” These are books about the power of art to change perceptions and the limits of art in a changing reality. Years before Native American son Lyndon Baines Johnson began talking about the Great Society, Farber’s book, and especially the 1956 film, sparked a national conversation about what was possible in the heart of Texas. expanded the concept.

Farber first set his sights on the state years before he began writing Giant. She took what she calls a “superficial tour” of Texas, from dusty border towns to luxurious city stores. “I’ve talked to dozens of Texans, and I’m struck by their perspective, their arrogance, their seeming ignorance of the world outside our vast Union.” At first, she thought the state’s weight was too much for her. concluded. “It was larger than life. Too big. Too overwhelmingly masculine. Too ruthless, too galvanic, too fast-paced. Too overt. Too undiluted. Too rich. Too pathetic…for this Texan. Novels are not books written by women. It will kill you.” But the state had already worked its magic, and she changed her mind. “My rejection of Texas on my first visit was not based on any preformed opinion or unexplained feeling,” Farber later wrote. “On the contrary, I was very interested and surprised. Confused and surprised. Repulsed and attracted.”

Read: Elizabeth Taylor’s feisty feminist turn in ‘Giant’

I understand how you feel. After graduating from college, I moved from my hometown of Berkeley to Dallas in 1996 for a newspaper internship and planned to stay in Texas for the summer. Almost 30 years later, I’m in Houston and I’m still here. During that time, I’ve seen all kinds of cultural developments in both cities, including independent bookstores, the rise of film, and gastronomy. America’s fourth-largest city, Houston, is a hugely popular destination for immigrants and first-generation Americans, and when you go to the grocery store, you feel like you’re looking at a cross-section of the country. People of all political persuasions can feel at home, at least in the city centre. I’m sure Leslie Benedict would be pleased.

The state’s four major cities (Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio) are all blue, but the state is home to more than 29 million people and has many states in between. One of the funniest scenes in the movie is when Leslie (played by Elizabeth Taylor) comes to Texas for the first time with her new husband, Vic (Rock Hudson). She looks out the train window and wonders when she’ll get to Texas. Vic tells her they’ve been there for hours. It still feels like that.

Because of this sprawl, there are many different Texases. In Richard Linklater’s 2011 film Barney, an old woman provides a helpful breakdown. Up north, Dallas snobs are taking Mercedes with them. There’s Houston, the carcinogenic coast…and then down south is San Antonio. Like the food, it’s where Tex meets Mexican. And Central Texas has the People’s Republic of Austin, full of hairy-legged women and free-spirited fruitcake-eating. ”Every Texan I know who has seen this movie loves this scene. It suggests that they contain large numbers and that they can laugh at themselves.

But when Farber laughed at Texas and suggested improvements through Leslie, she was doing so as an outsider, or tourist. In the movie, Leslie is eager to tip the sacred cow. After reading the history of Texas, she said to her soon-to-be husband: “We really stole Texas, didn’t we, Mr. Benedict? I mean, away from Mexico.” Bick said on behalf of the people, “I’ve never heard anything so ignorant as some Orientals.” I’m appalled. Leslie’s father interjected: “Leslie, you shouldn’t talk to Texans like that. They have very strong feelings about their state.” Yes, that’s right. They can talk trash to each other. But please don’t rush in.

But Leslie does more than just talk. Upon arriving in Reata, she requests that the local (white) doctor visit a nearby Mexican village. Over Vic’s objections, she encourages her son Jordy to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor instead of working on the ranch. Geordi ends up marrying Juana, the daughter of a local Mexican-American doctor, and fights racism and discrimination by working to provide health care for all. As Gilbert writes, the themes of racial disharmony and progress are actually more central to the film than the novel, with one preview audience member ruefully complaining: The dominant one. ”

Vic, a proud Texan, is also given a more redeeming character arc by Stevens and his screenwriters, Fred Giol and Ivan Moffat, than the one provided by Farber. In the novel, Vic isn’t even there when the Benedict family is kicked out of a roadside diner that doesn’t serve Mexicans. In the film, he tries to use this opportunity to establish himself, but is beaten up by the diner’s burly owner after sticking up for another Mexican-American family. “This was a ‘lesson’ scene for Vic,” Gilbert writes, “and perhaps for some of the audience as well…as never before throughout the entire episode, amidst the broken dishes all around… You can see Leslie lovingly holding Vic’s head, and you can see how deeply she loved her late husband.

The movie Bic seems to point to a new, more tolerant future. The Texan was flattered enough to get hooked on the movie in a way he never did with the book. Here were real Native women, not nagging carpet-bagging women, showing their Texas backbone. Vic’s salvation was not the only reason for this change of attitude. The film softens Farber’s sour, satirical voice. It also features Taylor, Hudson, and James Dean (who died in a car accident before production was completed). But it was a bold attack on the state’s ego that made Hudson’s Big tough and forgiving. “Four years ago, this book was quite literally an enemy of the state, and now this former outcast had become the high priest of Lone Star,” Gilbert writes. “It was hailed as ‘Texas’ national movie,’ ‘quintessential Texas movie,’ and even ‘national religion.'” And there were no reports of anyone filming the hole-filled screen.