Actor and producer Adam Sandler discusses The Ridiculous 6 at Brazil Comic Con. Photo from Facebook
Writer Bayard Johnson wonders why the entertainment industry in Hollywood continues to portray Indian people in a negative manner:
Haven’t people learned anything? Last April, during filming, the Indian technical advisor and several Indian actors walked off the set, quitting in protest, due to a script that was jaw-droppingly insulting toward American Indians. Several pages from the script became public during the April protests. Producers assured the Indian technical advisor, along with other troublerd actors, that the script would not be changed, and that they were welcome to leave if they weren’t happy with that. It’s not unusual in Hollywood, and a bit of a mystery, why producers hire technical advisors and then frequently ignore or fire them. The worst scenes, high-lighted in the April protest, included Indian women named “Wears No Bra” and “Beavers Breath.” Indian women were depicted as using dead rodents to clean tbeir “chungo.” Additionally, an Indian woman is showing smoking a “peace pipe” while urinating. Also, a male character suggests to an Indian woman that they go someplace where he can “put his pee-pee in her tipi.” (There is a little confusion here, because the Indians in the movie are allegedly Apache, but they appear to live more like Plains Indians—it’s as if, in order to be a real Indian, you have to live in a tipi. The filmmakers clearly don’t know the difference, but more importantly, they didn’t care, because they hired and had access to an Indian technical advisor, but then ignored him.) If a movie intended to insult American Indian culture, the incidents highlighted during the April on-set protest hit the spiritual trifecta. To Plains Indians, and to many other Indian nations, the woman, who is capable of creating life, is the most sacred and honored person in society. The Pipe is a gift given directly from the Great Mystery—and brought to the people by a woman. The tipi is a sacred shape, with great spiritual power.Get the Story:
Bayard Johnson: Hollywood v. Indians: Russell Means, The Great Mystery and Adam Sandler's Dreck (Indian Country Today 1/16)
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