During our discussion last week about the portrayal of Native Americans in the media today, I started thinking about other representations of early, native cultures. As we discussed, Native Americans are rarely shown out of their traditional garb of animal skins, loin cloths, feathers and face paint, which, in modern America, has an extremely detrimental effect on how the world looks at contemporary Native American people. The continual wide dissemination of these type of images keep Native Americans caged in a barbaric stereotype of the past and greatly prohibit them from being taken seriously in modern culture. Unfortunately, Native Americans are not the only ones feeling this discrimination.
Baz Luhrmann's recent epic film Australia portrays the aboriginal people a helpless, colored group of people who need the white man to help them and show them the way. Even Hugh Jackman’s character, who seems to be the only one who respects the aboriginal people, plays the part of the kind white man looking out for the less fortunate colored man. Nicole Kidman’s character also plays the white mother figure to the young aboriginal boy who has lost his way and can only be set straight with the help of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. While the white actors in the film are all dressed in typical dress for the time, the young boy and his grandfather are portrayed as uninhibited, typical aboriginies – barely clothed and running around performing traditional ceremonies. While this may very well still hold true today, the very few images we get in American of these indigenous cultures are ones of stereotypical, exaggerated behavior.
Another film that came out in recent years dealing with the aboriginal peoples of Australia was the film Rabbit Proof Fence about three young girls trying to escape from the missionaries set up to save them. Again, we get the image of the white man, trying to swoop in and save the aboriginal people from themselves. Thankfully, this film puts the aboriginal people in a much better light than Australia, but we can still see some similarities within the themes of the white man having to be the savior of those less educated and therefore unfortunate.
Are Native cultures destined to forever be portrayed "stuck" in the era in which we "found" them? In their attempt to educate the public about important historical events, are films like these actually doing more harm than help?
2 comments:
I remember watching Australia for the first time and really being annoyed by the portrayal of the aboriginal peoples in the film. It makes them seem forever fixed in the this era before colonialism destroyed them.
I think the real problems with films like Australia are the roles that the white people in the movies tend to play. In this case they are trying to "save" and "preserve" this ancient way of life; they are accepting of the aboriginal child while at the same time they are trying to adopt him into their Western lifestyle.
This film, and others (like Dances with Wolves), not only make native peoples seem permanently "stuck" in the time they were "found" them, but it also makes it seem as if the only way any part of their culture can be preserved is through the protection and aid of white people.
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