Kansas Never Plays Itself: How movies lie when they take us places

In this feature-length video essay that explores the role places play in storytelling, Rolf examines how Kansas -- his home state -- has been imagined, distorted, and mythologized in cinema and television for more than a century.

Blending archival film clips, historical analysis, and deeply personal narration, Kansas Never Plays Itself traces how cinematic shorthand shapes our collective imagination. The video essay invites viewers to reconsider what it means for a location to “play itself” — and what’s lost when the real landscapes and communities behind our most beloved stories remain unseen.

Sneak preview of the video essay is online here.

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro: Not in Kansas Any More

Movies and TV shows mentioned: The Wizard of Oz (1939); Showdown at Abilene (1956); Gunsmoke (1955-1975); Dances with Wolves (1990); Kansas (1995); Capote (2005); The English (2022).

2:00 - Part 1: No Place Like Home (or, Hollywood can’t tell the truth about places)

Movies and TV shows mentioned: Suits (2011); Law & Order: SVU (2006); Elementary (2019); The Affair (2014); Slumber (2017); Vancouver Never Plays Itself (2015); Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003); Panic in the Streets (1950); Wichita (1955); Stark: Mirror Image (1986); Seinfeld (1992); Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987); The Ice Harvest (2005); The Beach (2000); Mutiny on the Bounty (1962); Brigadoon (1954); Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989); Star Wars: A New Hope (1977); Game of Thrones (2012); The Game Camera (2025).

15:05 - Part 2: Why Place Matters (or, The Wizard of Oz and Superman might be a little bit racist)

Movies and TV shows mentioned: The Wiz (1978); The Wizard of Oz (1933); The Wizard of Oz (1925); The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910); Oz the Great and Powerful (2013); Wicked (2024); Smallville (2001); Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987); Man of Steel (2013); The Music Man (1962); Meet Me in St. Louis (1944); Gone with the Wind (1939); Swing (1938); Birthright (1939); Lying Lips (1939); Shaft (1971); The Learning Tree (1969); Oscar Micheaux documentary (2021); Adventures of Superman (1952–1958); Superman (1978).

32:25 - Part 3: Why Location Matters (or, How movies lie when depicting places

Movies and TV shows mentioned: Office Space (1999); Swingers (1996); Little Shop of Horrors (1986); Avatar (2009); The Matrix (1999); The Breakfast Club (1985); Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986); Splendor in the Grass (1961); Picnic (1955); Stand by Me (1986); Kansas (1988); Paper Moon (1973); In Cold Blood (1967); In Cold Blood TV miniseries (1996); Capote (2005); Infamous (2006); Smoke Signals (1998); Geronimo (1962); Navajo Joe (1966); Masterson of Kansas (1954); Buffalo Dance (1894); Last of the Renegades (1964); “Keep America Beautiful” PSA (1971); In the Land of the Headhunters (1914); Among the Cannibal Isles of the South Pacific (1918); The Rider (2017); Reservation Dogs (2021-2023).

54:15 - Part 4: Why Kansas Matters (hint: it’s because all places matter)

Movies and TV shows mentioned: He Got Game (1998); Crooklyn (1994); Do the Right Thing (1989); Lady Bird (2017); Boogie Nights (1997); Citizen Ruth (1996); Election (1999); About Schmidt (2002); Jayhawkers (2014); Ninth Street (1999); Destination Planet Negro (2013); The Incredible Brown NDN 2 (2020); Dancing on the Moon (2003); The Dead Can’t Dance (2010); Unsurety (2022); Fear Not (2020); Somebody Somewhere (2022-2024); 42nd Street (1933); King Kong (1933); Citizen Kane (1941); Guys and Dolls (1955); Sweet Smell of Success (1957); The French Connection (1971); Dog Day Afternoon (1975); Annie Hall (1977).

1:09:00 - Postscript and end credits