Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rti-sel.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!rti-sel!wfi
From: wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly)
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.nlang.africa
Subject: Re: Two films on the !Kung
Message-ID: <418@rti-sel.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Sep-85 13:03:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: rti-sel.418
Posted: Mon Sep 23 13:03:49 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Sep-85 03:27:23 EDT
References: <539@im4u.UUCP> <542@im4u.UUCP> <367@harvard.ARPA>
Reply-To: wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly)
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, NC
Lines: 32
Xref: watmath net.movies:7744 net.nlang.africa:127
Summary: 

In article <367@harvard.ARPA> tomczak@harvard.UUCP (Bill tomczak) writes:

>...  In comparing
>Gods and Forest my reaction was that at least in Gods the natives
>were treated with some respect.  They were pictured as peace loving
>and at one with the world around them.  ...
>However, apart from the political implications of the movie, I still
>feel that the !kung were accorded respect as a community.

Kind of like Hollywood's treatment of the American Indian, n'est-ce
pas? Up until the '60s, Amerindians were portrayed mostly as
bloodthirsty savages whooping it up in Westerns. Amerindians in
contemporary life were never (to my knowledge) portrayed on the
screen. Then, in the '60s we had movies like Little Big Man that
romanticised Amerindian life, and 'contemporary' Indians started
showing up. Like Billy Jack. Unfortunately, the portrayal of
contemporary Amerindians was ALSO highly stereotyped. In fact, it
seems to me that the stereotyping was much like the stereotypeing of
the !Kung in 'Gods:' basically romantic. You can see much the same
process in films like Weir's "The Last Wave" on Australian aborigines
(although the urban plight of the aborigine is sensitively portrayed 
in Weir's film).

What's the last Hollywood film you saw that portrayed the problems of
the Amerindian in contemporary American society, urban or otherwise?
I'm not defending the South African system, but it seems to me that
'Gods' is an easy target for Americans who have forgotten their OWN
mistreatment of minorities. It wasn't all that long ago that we got 
rid of our own system of apartheid, and it's not entirely clear that
the process is complete.

                      -- Cheers, Bill Ingogly


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com