Some professors at the University of Victoria in British Columbia think so.
A forum there in a couple of weeks will examine the question, according to this story by the Victoria Times Colonist:
- The [April 21] gathering will look at whether the portrayal of the indigenous character Jacob, who turns into a werewolf, is a breakthrough or perpetuates stereotypes about native men.“He doesn’t have feathers in his hair and doesn’t live in teepee,” said Janni Aragon, a University of Victoria political science professor.
“So just the fact there are indigenous men in this book and movie is a big thing. We could say that’s a win. But the next step is to say is how are these men portrayed.”
Werewolves in the series are ostensibly members of the Quileute tribe, and are played in the movie by Native American actors.
As the story notes, the main Quileute character, Jacob Black, is ” muscular, hotheaded, passionate and often dressed in cutoff-style jeans or shorts. That’s in contrast to the very white vampire Edward, who is well-groomed, elegant and rational.”
And, says Sikata Banerjee, a University of Victoria women’s studies professor and associate dean of humanities, Jacob is also portrayed as somewhat childlike – “irrational and emotive, and not really equal in citizenship.”
That, she says, is dangerous, in the way that it reinforces negative stereotypes about indigenous men. What do you think?
Gwen Florio
Source
xoxo
Carrie
1 comments:
I think that the character's portrayed in Twilight and New Moon definetly stereotype Indigneous/Native American Men. I am a Navajo woman from New Mexico who has been following stereotypes of Indigneous people in the media. I think the movies portray indigenous men "as devoid of self-control and unable to handle responsibility." (wikipedia,STEREOTYPES) I think it's interesting that you and your teacher cannot see this. What tribe is he/she? I am also wondering if you have taken into account the ethnicity of the actors when it comes to casting "Real" Native American/Indigenous people. How can one accurately portray an American Indian if you aren't even one? I guess you just go by what the dominant society percieves as indigenous and act out a script. Also, it is so sad that non-natives profit off of faux indigenous culture and the people continuosly suffer from poverty and other problems caused by stereotypes. I pity your ignorance and all those who consume false representations of Natives.
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