We’ll be hosting some guest blogs about Natives in cinema here. Please note that the views expressed in the blogs are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Domino Film, Rezolution Pictures, The National FIlm Board of Canada, their respective employees or affiliates.
Ok, now with that out of the way…on to the blogs! We’re excited to have Russell Means as our first guest blogger.
Russell:
I have a question regarding the “appropriation” of native American artifacts and iconography. There are numerous instances in which these elements have been used and abused by Hollywood (and other cultural arenas). Some are more egregious than others, extending beyond simple bad taste into spiritual violations. I have observed that once an element has been stereotyped within the wider euro-centric culture, there is a sense in which it has been tainted for use by the contemporary native culture. My question is, by what process can these elements be reclaimed or redeemed for use again in native culture?
The example from my experience has to do with musical motifs. Recently, I was involved with the production of a orchestral work commissioned by a musician of Mohawk descent. The composer is world-renowned, though not native. The work in question was to be inspired by native myths, and the composer, seeking to honor the traditions in question, researched archival recordings from the earliest available sources (early 20th Century). The result was that there are traces evident of motifs that obviously influenced early Hollywood’s impressions of native music and rhythms. This led other native participants in the project to take offense to the presence of these stereotyped motifs.
This struck me as a double tragedy. First, that the original Hollywood appropriations (perhaps without intended malice) sewed the seeds for the tainting that was ongoing, and, secondly, that the music, once parodied, was rendered unavailable for use by the contemporary people. Is there room in such cases for redemption, not of the criminal (the Euro-centric invader) but of the witness to the crime (the artifact and the musician)?
Thank you,
Peter
Yes, Russell we all know of the horrible stereo typed Indian representing our people. But at least the movie like “Dances with Wolves”, put us in a different light, our sense of humor. Which I think our sense of humor is like no other race, as we laugh at ourselves and at each other without getting mad. I have taught my daughter and friends this as a positive note. I have noticed even if raised in different states, we all seem to have that quality that must be in our DNA. And I am so glad that has been pointed out in many of the movies I’ve seen about us. I do agree about some of the other movies we’ve seen only portraying us as drunken Indians, we are more than that. I have noticed you seem to point out mostly the negative response to anything to do with Indians that these film makers are trying to portray. On the side of Karma, you put out negativity all you get back is negativity. And we as a people have had enough of that. Our young people seem to have had enough of feeling negative, they need someone like you to feed them something positive to want to live for. I haven’t seen this Movie yet, only the clips. I just hope there is a positive note in it. Your relative. Rene’e
Hi Peter and Rene’e - Russell is a guest blogger and he won’t be checking the site regularly - however we will forward both your comments to him!
I fully appreciate the machine-gun style movie critique…though some of those films are already full of holes, historical, political, spiritual and otherwise…I can’t let a good dizzney* grave go undeepened. I agree that the movie “Pocahontas” did represent the Europeans in a realistically metaphorical savage way, but there’s an important imbalance/balance that was created on the “savage” issue. In the song that proclaimed, “savages, savages, barely even human”, the statements were made ‘equally’ by both parties, European invader and Native American home-court defenders. It’s a reprehensible and classic dizzney pathology to twist history (twistory?) in the name of their cultish adherence to disneyfication (see New Internationalist’s ‘Disney - Walt’s World - A reader’s guide to disneyfication’ - http://www.newint.org/issue308/guide.htm). It’s completely backwards to suggest that not only the historical, but also the ethical, intentional and spiritual stakes were the same between the Europeans and the inhabitants of Turtle Island, suggested by the juxtaposition of the two groups in the song as the images cut between raised muskets and raised bows and arrows, Euro-swords and Native spears, snare drums and ‘tom toms’, all set against the swirling images set in rising smoke of imminent battle. The suggestion that it was just about two parties who couldn’t understand each other is maddening, misleading and adds insult and further injury to injury. Check out the scene on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSu4hOLYrXk …..We know this is their program as they did it (assail indigenous culture through historical misrepresentation) in “Princess and the Frog”.
Thank you for the clarity and the legacy of work.
Awesome!! Finally a great perspective and honest reviews!
why is daniel day lewis in the trailer as an example of a white person playing a native role? he’s playing natty bumppo, who had white parents and was raised by natives. seems like a misrepresentation to me, or you’re just unfamiliar with what the movie was based on.
Well spotted! : )
Maybe it’s because we were seeing if anyone was paying attention or maybe, maybe it was because there were a lot of old fake Injuns we could have choose from and we wanted to put someone more recent in the trailer. Just maybe!
your sarcastic response does not address the fact that the character he is playing is white. so you chose someone more recent, that people would recognize as an example of “a white person playing a native role” who wasn’t actually playing a native role? again, seems like a misrepresentation to me.
don’t get me wrong, i’m very excited about your project and i studied documentary film in school. i just feel documentary’s are becoming watered down and distorted in order to fulfill the artist’s agenda. using daniel day lewis as an example is just plain inaccurate and distracts from the film.
Hi I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean it to be sarcastic - I meant it to be just kind of silly. Yes, we did know that Daniel Day Lewis was not a white man playing a Native in the film, but the powers that be wanted him in the trailer so that there were more “white Natives” - our editor cautioned us, warning about youtube comments, etc but we went ahead, guessing that only the eagle-eyed would notice! So you’re right, it’s a tiny misrepresentation in the trailer and as far as I know, there’s no inaccuracies in the doc itself.
I’m really not your typical Twilight fan but my late 20
thank you for your response. upon further reflection, cooper’s character could be used as an example of the original “white man playing a native role” in american popular culture. so, in a way daniel day lewis is indirectly a white man playing a native role. didn’t mean to be a “troll” just was interested in your project.
no worries! I guess you’re right about the indirectness but really he’s not a “White Indian” like say Boris Karloff is in the trailer! : ) Hope you get to catch the doc, we open today in Vancouver and Toronto!
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