Odds and Ends > Etcetera
Say what Johnny Depp?
Defend the Sacred:
He's picking from the five tribes who had early contact and intermarriage with whites. It's members of those tribes that a white person, whose parents and grandparents are also white, is most likely to find among their distant ancestors if they do their genealogy. They're also the tribes that white people are most likely to try to form fake versions of. Sometimes the "descendants" of a fabricated ancestor, or a distant ancestor that doesn't make their assimilated descendants with miniscule BQ NDN, or a white person with rumours they can't confirm will join one of those fake tribes of the fabricated "C" history.
As others have posted about in other threads, there are also A LOT of white people who have unfounded family rumours because they have white ancestors who tried to pass as NDN to get land allotments that weren't their right to claim. The story of being rejected because they were white frauds morphs over time into one of those "we hid in the mountains of Ohio and Texas rather than walk the Trail of Tears" fables.
Defend the Sacred:
"What I disliked about the movie was everything."
Norman Patrick Brown (Dine') reviews Lone Ranger: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2013/07/norman-patrick-brown-rating-for-lone.html
"As I saw the credits roll I was amazed that Johnny Depp was first listed above everyone else as an executive producer, and how much incredible power he possessed in creating this movie's creative structure, it failed. As a native filmmaker it was obvious to me that Hollywood once again failed. Yes, yes, it is just a movie, but the ramifications of symbolism and interpretation will be recorded as true among America's non-native uneducated native history buffs, which is very dangerous for our future and perception of who we truly are today."
Read the whole thing. It's a lot funnier than the movie.
Otter3:
[quote link=topic=3318.msg35161#msg35161 date=1372864630]
"What I disliked about the movie was everything."
Yes, yes, it is just a movie, but the ramifications of symbolism and interpretation will be recorded as true among America's non-native uneducated native history buffs, which is very dangerous for our future and perception of who we truly are today."
Read the whole thing. It's a lot funnier than the movie.
[/quote]
I agree. Disney ads say, "This July 4th, witness the rise of an American Legend!" The Disney marketing monster unleashed on Native Americans. :P
Defend the Sacred:
Adrienne Keene of Native Appropriations suffered through this racist mess. She found herself in a theatre surrounded by white people laughing at genocide, who seemed perfectly happy to see NDNs portrayed as dumb and crazy. That said, the film is getting terrible reviews, even by people oblivious to the racial issues.
I saw The Lone Ranger so you don’t have to http://nativeappropriations.com/2013/07/i-saw-the-lone-ranger-so-you-dont-have-to.html
"After it all happens, and we’re to understand all the Comanche are dead, Tonto picks up his bird from the river full of floating feathers, shields, and bodies. I braced myself for the emotional realization that his entire tribe had just been slaughtered. Again. But no. Instead the camera pans up and we are shown Silver, the horse, standing in a tree holding the LR’s hat in his mouth. To which Tonto quips, “Yes. Something definitely wrong with that horse.” The scene then quickly cuts to a loud brass band and celebration at the unveiling of the railroad line back in town.
"Let me reiterate that, not in Tonto speak, because it’s important: They slaughter an entire tribe of Natives, and there is no discussion. Just an awkward joke and a cut to the next scene. What?"
"So clearly I went into this with a critical lens, but you wouldn’t expect anything less. This film has come under a lot of harsh criticism, and for the most part, it deserves it. As a piece of cinema, it’s just a bad movie. On top of a bad movie, we have layers of stereotypes and harmful representations that are going to keep haunting us as Native peoples for years to come.
"My theater had a bunch of kids in it. I kept thinking about what images they were leaving the theater with–and that left me upset and worried. Now an entire new generation is going to play the Lone Ranger and Tonto at recess, thinking Indians talk in incomplete and inconsistent pidgin English, think all Indians are dead, and that it’s ok to dress as an “Indian” for Halloween. While this might be a flash-in-the-pan film, it solidifies the continuing views of Native peoples as lesser, as relics of the past, as disappearing, as roadblocks to “progress.” Tonto might have been less of a sidekick and running the show, but in the end, the LR gets the girl and the glory, and Tonto ends up in a museum. Hows that for a re-imagining."
Read the rest: I saw The Lone Ranger so you don’t have to
Twitter is abuzz with people totally grossed out at this racist mess, and horrified at the many gratuitous ways NDNs are slaughtered, with genocide being played for laughs. Though some are asking that we try to focus instead on the good work Native filmakers are doing, instead of continuing to critique this. But Disney is still pushing this thing and so people's phones are ringing for comments. The only upside of this is that some Natives are being quoted, and Adrienne is doing lots of interviews because even some mainstream media outlets are pretty shocked at the racism, sexism and gratuitous, racialized violence in the doomed Lone Ranger.
Odelle:
Unfortunately, it appears that Adrienne has gotten a lot of flack (to put it mildly) for her writing on Tonto:
http://nativeappropriations.com/2012/07/real-indians-dont-care-about-tonto.html
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version