Editing Tarring and feathering (section)

===Television and film===
[[File:Mother's Angel (1920) - 1.jpg|thumb|250px|A victim of tarring and feathering depicted in American short film ''Mother's Angel'' (1920)]]
Tarring and feathering has been depicted in television and film in different functions, for drastic effect, realistically, or in a humorous manner: In the 1972 John Waters "trash cinema" film ''[[Pink Flamingos]]'', Connie and Raymond Marbles (played by [[Mink Stole]] and [[David Lochary]]), are tarred and feathered. Here this act of retribution for a series of misdeeds against the film's protagonist, Babs Johnson ([[Divine (actor)|Divine]]), is one of the signs showing her "defiance of feminine cultural norms".<ref>{{cite book |last=Studlar |first=Gaylyn |editor-last1=Edgerton |editor-first1=Gary Richard |editor-last2=Marsden |editor-first2=Michael T. |editor-last3=Nachbar |editor-first3=Jack |date=1997 |title=In the Eye of the Beholder: Critical Perspectives in Popular Film and Television |publisher=[[Bowling Green State University Popular Press]] |chapter=Midnight S/excess: Cult Configurations of "Femininity" and the Perverse |page=123 |isbn=0-87972-753-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Barefoot |first=Guy |date=2017 |title=Trash Cinema: The Lure of the Low |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |chapter= |isbn=978-0-231-54269-2}}</ref> The episode "Join or Die" of 2008 HBO miniseries ''[[John Adams (miniseries)|John Adams]]'' has [[John Adams|Adams]] witnessing an angry [[Boston]] mob tarring and feathering a British tax officer. While effective as a "chilling portrayal" of the procedure, the situation around it is historically inaccurate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murrin |first1=John M. |last2=Hämäläinen |first2=Pekka |last3=Johnson |first3=Paul E. |last4=Brunsman |first4=Denver |last5=McPherson |first5=James M. |last6=Fahs |first6=Alice |last7=Gerstle |first7=Gary |last8=Rosenberg |first8=Emily s. |last9=Rosenberg |first9=Norman L. |display-authors=2 |date=2015 |title=Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People |publisher= |page=143 |isbn=9781305545045}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=McConville |first=Brendan |date=January 2009 |title=Sage of the Small Screen: HBO's John Adams |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/259236/pdf |journal=[[Historically Speaking (journal)|Historically Speaking]] |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=9–10 |doi=10.1353/hsp.0.0014|s2cid=161150334 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In ''[[American Horror Story: Freak Show]]'' episode 8 "[[Blood Bath (American Horror Story)|Blood Bath]]" (2014), The Lizard Girl's father is tarred and feathered in retaliation for his role in his daughter's intentional disfigurement. This is presented as a both gruesome and satisfying act of retribution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jowett |first=Lorna |editor-last=Janicker |editor-first=Rebecca |date=2017 |title=Reading American Horror Story: Essays on the Television Franchise |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |chapter=American Horror Stories, Repertory Horror and Intertextuality of Casting |page=23 |isbn=9781476663524}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bustle.com/articles/52275-how-does-ahs-freakshow-grace-gummer-do-her-lizard-girl-makeup |title=How Does Grace Gummer Turn Into "Lizard Girl?" |last=DiStasio |first=Christine |date=10 December 2014 |website=[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]] |access-date=15 March 2023 |quote=Though it was a small consolation when the women of ''Freak Show'' tarred and feathered him.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/features/american-horror-story-craziest-moments/ |title=100 Things We Still Can't Believe Happened on American Horror Story |last=Gennis |first=Sadie |date=23 October 2019 |website=[[TV Guide (magazine)|TV Guide]] |access-date=15 March 2023 |quote=Penny [...] gets retribution by tarring and feathering her father with the freaks}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a33887/american-horror-story-freak-show-recap-episode-8/ |title="American Horror Story" Recap: Is Everyone Going to Get Killed Off This Season, Or ... |last=Henderson |first=Danielle |date=4 December 2014 |website=[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]] |access-date=15 March 2023 |quote=Penny eagerly dumps hot tar on him and [Maggie] tries to get them to reconsider. Somehow it works, and Penny agrees to set him free. But they've already tarred and feathered him! He's already melting! Amazon Eve already ripped off his face skin}}</ref> In the film ''[[Revenge of the Nerds]]'' (1984) characters [[Lewis Skolnick]] and [[Gilbert Lowe]] are tarred and feathered by the Alpha Betas in response to their attempt to seek admittance to the fraternity.<ref name=Ager>{{cite web |url=https://www.collativelearning.com/Revenge%20of%20the%20Nerds%20-%20film%20analysis.html |title=Film analysis of REVENGE OF THE NERDS |last=Ager |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Ager |date=January 2015 |website=[[Collative Learning]] |access-date=10 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://dramatica.com/analysis/revenge-of-the-nerds |title=Revenge of the Nerds: Comprehensive Storyform |website=[[Dramatica (software)|Dramatica]] |publisher=[[Write Brothers]] |access-date=10 March 2023 |quote=He is very confident about getting whatever he thinks people ought to be able to get in college [...]. This attitude is contrary to his handicap of being an obvious nerd, yet Lewis holds to it to the point of being tarred and feathered.}}</ref> Despite the overall funny tone of the movie, the scene connects to "a public form of humiliation used throughout history", "a sort of lynch mob mentality" directed against the minority, here the eponymous nerds.<ref name=Ager/> In the episode "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell" (2008) of the television series ''[[It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia]]'', [[Mac (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)|Mac]] and [[Dennis Reynolds|Dennis]], while dressed as British [[fop]]s, are tarred and feathered by colonial Americans in light-hearted "hilarious scenes".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbr.com/its-always-sunny-worst-episodes-imdb/#the-gang-cracks-the-liberty-bell-ndash-season-4-episode-11 |title=The 10 Worst Episodes Of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Ranked According To IMDb |last=Grimes |first=Hannah |date=27 September 2022 |website=[[Comic Book Resources]] |access-date=22 February 2023 |quote=The episode does contain some hilarious scenes, like Dennis and Mac getting tarred and feathered for acting like British Noblemen.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-the-gang-cracks-the-1798205265 |title=''It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia'': "The Gang Cracks The Liberty Bell" |last=Bowman |first=Donna |date=6 November 2008 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=22 February 2023 |quote=Mac and Dennis try to infiltrate the loyalist forces disguised as fops, only to be tarred and feathered by colonials who assume they are sodomites.}}</ref>

A number of the depictions on screen refer to the era of the American Wild West, some in a mythologizing and some in a more realistic manner. In the film ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' (1970), adapted from [[Little Big Man|the 1964 novel]] by [[Thomas Berger (novelist)|Thomas Berger]], con man Meriweather, played by Martin Balsam, and title character Jack Crabbe, played by [[Dustin Hoffman]], are shown being tarred and feathered for selling a phony medicinal elixir. The cruel procedure is used as a tragicomic element illustrating this "revisionist retelling of the Wild West saga", as the leader of the perpetrating mob turns out to be Jack's long lost sister.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hischak |first=Thomas S. |date=2012 |title=American Literature on Stage and Screen: 525 Works and Their Adaptations |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |page=122 |isbn=978-0-7864-6842-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=McGuire |first=John Thomas |date=2020 |title=Man In A Hat: Martin Balsam and the Refining of Male Character Acting in American Films, 1957-1976 |url=https://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cinej/article/view/235/525 |journal=Cinej Cinema Journal |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=51 |doi=10.5195/cinej.2020.235 |s2cid=216243174 |access-date=16 November 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Samuels |first=David W. |date=2004 |title=Putting a Song on Top of It: Expression and Identity on the San Carlos Apache Reservation |publisher=[[The University of Arizona Press]] |pages=234–235 |isbn=978-0-8165-2379-5}}</ref> In [[Daniel Knauf]]'s ''[[Carnivàle]]'', in an episode called "Lincoln Highway" (2005), Clayton "Jonesy" Jones, the crippled co-manager, is tarred and feathered almost lethally. The procedure here is presented as a deserved punishment for the accidental death of several children at the Ferris wheel under Jonsey's responsibility. While anachronistic for the 1930s setting, it is one of a number of references to the American frontier.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Ames |editor-first=Melissa |author-link= |date=2012 |title=Time in Television Narrative: Exploring Temporality in Twenty-First-Century Programming |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |page=183 |chapter=Reevaluating Memory and Identity through Daniel Kauf's ''Carnivàle'' |isbn=978-1-61703-293-6}}</ref> Similarly, the 2012 film ''[[Lawless (film)|Lawless]],'' set in the 1930s has been considered a "Western-gangster film hybrid".<ref name=Crucianelli>{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/165693-lawless-2495796006.html |title='Lawless': A Family with a Moonshine Bloodline |last=Crucianelli |first=Guy |date=25 November 2012 |website=[[Popmatters]] |access-date=10 March 2023 |quote=There are some extremely violent, er, touches: [...] another tarred and feathered until he resembles a molting vulture.}}</ref> A bootlegger being tarred and feathered was one of the violent images that shaped the impression that the film made.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/19/lawless-cannes-film-festival |title=Lawless – review |last=Solomons |first=Jason |date=19 May 2012 |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=10 March 2023 |quote=it's the violent images that linger: a man tarred and feathered and dumped on the porch}}</ref><ref name=Crucianelli/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/rtivvz/lawless-red-band-trailer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310150243/https://www.mtv.com/news/rtivvz/lawless-red-band-trailer |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 10, 2023 |title='Lawless' Red Band Trailer: Tom Hardy Fills 'Er Up |last=Sullivan |first=Kevin P. |date=22 August 2012 |website=[[MTV]] |access-date=10 March 2023 |quote=including a gruesome shot of a tarred and feathered bootlegger}}</ref> In an episode of the [[Deadwood (TV series)|''Deadwood'']] TV series, African-American character [[Samuel Fields]] is tarred and feathered in a racist "eruption of mob violence that acts to express and purge the anger of the town's whites" in scenes clearly depicting the horror of the procedure.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wayne |first=Michael L. |date=2017 |title=Depicting the Racist Past in a "Postracial" Age: The White, Male Protagonist in ''Hell on Wheels'' and ''The Knick'' |url=https://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue13/HTML/ArticleWayne.html |journal=Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media |volume=13 |pages=105–116 |doi=10.33178/alpha.13.06 |access-date=1 February 2023|doi-access=free |hdl=10468/6031 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Nelson |first=John S. |author-link= |date=2018 |title=Cowboy Politics: Myths and Discourses in Popular Westerns from The Virginian to Unforgiven and Deadwood |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |page=331 |isbn=978-1-4985-4947-9 |quote=the resemblance to Shakespeare's playwriting is strong. [...] Ironies abound. [...] Samuel Fields gets tarred and feathered.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://screenrant.com/most-least-horrifying-deadwood-injuries/#barely-counted-merrick-s-face |title=Deadwood: 5 Most Horrifying Injuries (& 5 That Barely Counted) |last=Pierce-Bohen |first=Kayleena |date=3 August 2020 |website=[[Screen Rant]] |access-date=1 February 2023 |quote=MOST HORRIFYING: SAMUEL FIELD'S TAR AND FEATHERING}}</ref> The season 1 episode "God of Chaos" (2011) one of the AMC TV series ''[[Hell on Wheels (TV series)|Hell on Wheels]],'' a character, The Swede, is depicted  being tarred and feathered before getting run out of town.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Megan Kate |date=June 2013 |title=Hell on Wheels. AMC, Sundays 9/8c |url=https://www.pdcnet.org/cwh/content/cwh_2013_0059_0002_0235_0237 |journal=[[Civil War History]] |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=235–237 |doi=10.1353/cwh.2013.0043 |s2cid=143544336 |type=Media review |access-date=1 February 2023 |quote=The most terrifying Bad Guy of all is a former Andersonville prisoner-of-war (Christopher Heyerdahl) [...] even after he is tarred and feathered for his abuses of power, he lurks around Hell on Wheels|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/mexico/hell-on-wheels-review-viva-la-mexico-episode-201/ |title=''Hell On Wheels'' Review: "Viva La Mexico" (Episode 2.01) |last=Bonaime |first=Ross |date=10 August 2012 |website=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |access-date=9 February 2023 |quote=Gunderson, otherwise known as "The Swede," has been left carrying the dead bodies out of town after he was tarred-and-feathered and ran out on a rail}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vulture.com/2012/08/tv-review-season-two-of-hell-on-wheels.html |title=Seitz: ''Hell on Wheels''<nowiki>'</nowiki> Second Season Continues to Show Promise When It's Not Killing Time |last=Seitz |first=Matt Zoller |author-link=Matt Zoller Seitz |date=9 August 2012 |website=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]] |access-date=10 February 2023 |quote=The business of The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl), the camp's former head of security, getting tarred and feathered and knocked down to glorified janitor status is nearly as frustrating.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/hell-on-wheels-god-of-chaos-1798171138 |title=''Hell On Wheels'': "God Of Chaos" |last=Dyess-Nugent |first=Phil |date=15 January 2012 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=10 February 2023 |quote=all the craziness going on around him—big dance, fireworks, Swede being tarred and feathered}}</ref>

In animation, tarring and feathering has been used for comic effect with no serious or lasting impact on the characters. In the [[Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote]] short film, ''[[Guided Muscle]]'' (1955), Coyote tries to apply a tar-and-feather machine to Road Runner, who already has feathers. As usual in these cartoons, Coyote becomes the victim of his backfiring plan, but is humiliated rather than seriously harmed by the procedure.<ref>{{cite book |last=Samerdyke |first=Michael |author-link= |date=2014 |title=Cartoon Carnival: A Critical Guide to the Best Cartoons from Warner Brothers, MGM, Walter Lantz and DePatie-Freleng |location= |publisher=[[Lulu.com]] |chapter=1955 |isbn=9781312470071}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=Victor |date=2018 |title=The Gravity of Cartoon Physics; or, Schrödinger's Coyote |url=https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope/article/download/7850/8205 |journal=ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=29–49 |doi=10.4312/elope.15.1.29-49 |access-date=3 November 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=[[The National Union Catalog]]: A Cumulative Author List Representing Library of Congress Printed Cards and Titles Reported by Other American Libraries. Motion pictures and filmstrips 1957 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |year=1957 |page=10}}</ref> In the TV series ''[[The Simpsons]],'' characters are tarred and feathered in several episodes as dark humour.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/ranking-the-31-best-horror-spoofs-from-the-simpsons-t-1849690021/slides/28 |title=Ranking the 31 best horror spoofs from ''The Simpsons''<nowiki>'</nowiki> "Treehouse Of Horror" |last=White |first=Cindy |date=24 October 2022 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=13 January 2023 |quote=The other performers attack him on this way out and turn him into a tarred-and-feathered freak.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=29 September 2015 |title=Great reveals in 'Simpsons' history |work=[[New York Daily News]] |quote=[...] the real [[Principal Skinner|Skinner]] returns to [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]], but he wears out his welcome and is tarred and feathered out of town.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.looper.com/382170/scenes-in-the-simpsons-we-wish-hadnt-been-deleted/ |title=Scenes In The Simpsons We Wish Hadn't Been Deleted |last=Scott |first=Sam |date=14 April 2021 |website=[[Looper (website)|Looper]] |access-date=13 January 2023 |quote=[...] and then we saw [[Grampa Simpson|Grandpa]] walking down the hall covered in feathers and tar like it was the most natural thing in the world.}}</ref><ref name=McMillin>{{cite book |last=McMillin |first=Divya Carolyn |date=2009 |title=Mediated Identities: Youth, Agency, & Globalization |publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]] |pages=59–60 |isbn=9781433100970}}</ref> For [[Bart Simpson]] as a perpetrator, Divya Carolyn McMillin cited the procedure as an example of a character who "was unapologetic and acted on impulse", making him appealing to youths, which was possible in animation, in contrast to real life, as no consequences for Bart were shown.<ref name=McMillin/>

Marina Trininc observed in 2013 that tarring and feathering has appeared in recent American films and series against the backdrop of terroristic attacks in the US and worldwide.<ref name=Trininc/>{{rp|158}}