Powwow Highway is a film about two men, Buddy and Philbert, who travel across mid America to Sante Fe, New Mexico in order to bail Buddy’s sister out of jail, for possession of marijuana. Unlike many films that problematically portray Native Americans during this time, Powwow Highway is not a western, but instead, its main characters are two Natives from the Cheyenne tribe who struggle to escape the oppressive grips of white, racist America. Powwow Highway is a title that references Indian’s sense of time and its relation to space and culture, as opposed to white society’s idea of time simply relating to numbers. Buddy and Philbert’s journey to Santa Fe starts east through the Dakotas and then goes down, when non-Natives, whose hegemonic sense of …show more content…
Other incidents like these include the unjust treatment Bonnie receives from the police, the lack of regard Buddy receives as a Vietnam veteran, and the reveal that the police plotted against Buddy and his sister. This posits the police who conspire with the resource stealing corporation and representative of white capitalism that created and maintains white, hegemonic values as the “bad guys.” These realistic portrayals that occur to the hundreds of Native tribes across the states and millions of Native residents present Buddy, Philbert, and Bonnie, individual representatives of Native American communities, as victims of racial profiling, gentrification, and police brutality, all major components of racism. It is these portrayed issues that the audience of the film is instructed to empathize, “placating viewers wary or weary of “white guilt” and documenting realistic, legitimate political and cultural struggles of Native peoples “(O’Connor & Rollins, 2011, pg.
In the book Bad Indians, Miranda talks about the many issues Indigenous People go through. Miranda talks about the struggles Indigenous people go through; however, she talks about them in the perspective of Native Americans. Many people learn about Indigenous People through classrooms and textbooks, in the perspective of White people. In Bad Indians, Miranda uses different literary devices to show her perspective of the way Indigenous People were treated, the issues that arose from missionization, as well as the violence that followed through such issues. Bad Indians is an excellent example that shows how different history is told in different perspectives.
Inventing the Savage: The Social Construct of Native American Criminality. Luana Ross. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1998.
The poem communicates that the tourists do not recognise the deaths of many Aboriginals, and this may be symbolic for colonialism. At the same time, the poem also depicts the highway as a killer, referring to it as a ‘petulant beast.’
Lives for Native Americans on reservations have never quite been easy. There are many struggles that most outsiders are completely oblivious about. In her book The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich brings those problems to light. She gives her readers a feel of what it is like to be Native American by illustrating the struggles through the life of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy living on a North Dakota reservation. This book explores an avenue of advocacy against social injustices. The most observable plight Joe suffers is figuring out how to deal with the injustice acted against his mother, which has caused strife within his entire family and within himself.
Our story takes place on an oil-rich Native American town, called Watona, on a reservation in Oklahoma. The course of the story extends from 1918 to the mid-twenties.
The theme that Native Son author Richard Wright puts in this story is that the white community makes Bigger act the way he does, that through the communities actions, Bigger does all the things he is accused of doing. The theme that I present is that Bigger only acts the way that he did because of the influences that the white community has had on him accepted by everyone. When Bigger gets the acceptance and love he has always wanted, he acts like he does not know what to do, because really, he does not. In Native Son, Bigger uses his instincts and acts like the white people around him have formed him to act. They way that he has been formed to act is to not trust anyone. Bigger gets the acceptance and love he wanted from Mary and Jan, but he still hates them and when they try to really get to know him, he ends up hurting them. He is scared of them simply because he has never experienced these feelings before, and it brings attention to him from himself and others. Once Bigger accidentally kills Mary, he feels for the first time in his life that he is a person and that he has done something that somebody will recognize, but unfortunately it is murder. When Mrs. Dalton walks in and is about to tell Mary good night, Bigger becomes scared stiff with fear that he will be caught committing a crime, let alone rape. If Mrs. Dalton finds out he is in there he will be caught so he tries to cover it up and accidentally kills Mary. The police ask why he did not just tell Mrs. Dalton that he was in the room, Bigger replies and says he was filled with so much fear that he did not know what else to do and that he did not mean to kill Mary. He was so scared of getting caught or doing something wrong that he just tried to cover it up. This is one of the things that white people have been teaching him since he can remember. The white people have been teaching him to just cover things up by how the whites act to the blacks. If a white man does something bad to a black man the white man just covers it up a little and everything goes back to normal.
Similarly, the popular tv series Parks and Recreation, does the same in the episode “Harvest Festival” by exposing how easy we stereotype certain groups. In both portrayals of Native Americans, they make obvious how easy it is to stereotype and believe a stereotype of a specific group without noticing it or even noticing the other qualities a certain group possesses.
As a result, both films represent Native Americans from the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films adds in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfolding in a different way. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar says, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
The story chronicles situations that illustrate the common stereotypes about Natives. Through Jackson’s humble personality, the reader can grasp his true feelings towards White people, which is based off of the oppression of Native Americans. I need to win it back myself” (14). Jackson also mentions to the cop, “I’m on a mission here. I want to be a hero” (24).
It’s the gritty west with the common good and bad gut chase. With the hopeless lovers choosing their romance instead of their family. They go on the run due to the fatality their love has caused. it’s the wild west meeting the wild Indians. From the novel the lines that express the western tone are, “ Through the long afternoon they lay behind boulders, guns ready, studying the terrain from their hiding places.” ‘...Meanwhile, Sheriff Wilson’s party turned toward the foothills south of Cabazon, where Billy Mike had last seen Willie Boy. They were forced to abandon their buggy and follow the tracks on foot to One Horse Spring.” These line represent the utter perseverance of the west and the posse’s obsession of seeing justice brought to light. The unexamined and overlooked would not get away with his Indian ways without seeing righteousness the white man’s way. The pioneers of the white men would ensure that the savage were taught a lesson. Also the addition of the physical elements of the valleys, mountains, and rugged terrain adds to the western
One of the biggest issues depicted in the film is the struggle of minority groups and their experience concerning racial prejudice and stereotyping in America. Examples of racism and prejudice are present from the very beginning of the movie when Officer Ryan pulls over black couple, Cameron and Christine for no apparent reason other than the color of their skin. Officer Ryan forces the couple to get out of the car
For example, in the local school, stereotypes such as the image of the ‘wild man’ are consolidated by claiming that there was cannibalism among the indigenous people of the northwest coast (Soper-Jones 2009, 20; Robinson 2010, 68f.). Moreover, native people are still considered to be second-class citizens, which is pointed out by Lisamarie’s aunt Trudy, when she has been harassed by some white guys in a car: “[Y]ou’re a mouthy Indian, and everyone thinks we’re born sluts. Those guys would have said you were asking for it and got off scot-free”
Throughout the years, the violence has decreased, but still exists. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is relevant in modern day America due to the many issues regarding the Native-American population. The story uses deep symbolic meanings to represent a bigger picture, as well as the title itself. Most importantly, it demonstrates the struggling relationship between Native-Americans and white mainstream America, while depicting racism and prejudice on both ends. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is a well-written commentary on the occasional issues that arise in the United States with the Native-American
“We fight each other for territory; we kill each other over race, pride, and respect. We fight for what is ours. They think they’re winning by jumping me now, but soon they’re all going down, war has been declared.” Abuse, Pain, Violence, Racism and Hate fill the streets of Long Beach, California. Asians, Blacks, Whites and Hispanics filled Wilson High School; these students from different ethnic backgrounds faced gang problems from day to night. This movie contains five messages: people shouldn’t be judgmental because being open-minded allows people to know others, having compassion for a person can help people change their views in life, being a racist can only create hate, having the power of the human will/goodness to benefit humanity will cause a person to succeed at any cost and becoming educated helps bring out the intelligence of people.
“We fight each other for territory; we kill each other over race, pride, and respect. We fight for what is ours. They think they’re winning by jumping me now, but soon they’re all going down, war has been declared.” Abuse, Pain, Violence, Racism and Hate fill the street of Long Beach California. Asians, Blacks, Whites and Hispanics where the students that made up Wilson High school; students from different ethnic backgrounds facing affiliated gang problems from day to night. This movie contains four messages: Non judgmental, compassion, the power of the human will/goodness to benefit humanity, and education.