Kawlija
Shared on Sat, 03/10/2007 - 19:37 First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for their comments and their time. Whatever your opinion of the topics I’ve been discussing, it’s nice to get some feedback.
Several people have written to ask if I had seen a certain television program or movie and shared their opinions with me. Unfortunately for me, I work in law enforcement and have dealt with shift work since 1987. As a result, I do not follow episodic television and generally don’t watch a lot of tv. I’m also a big music nut and if I’ve got a preference, I’m listening to my record, tape and cd collection (which is extensive). I also try to attend concerts and club dates whenever possible.
The tv shows I usually have to watch when I’m home, are my wife’s favorites. There’s a lot of sitcoms and chick stuff in there. So to be honest, I haven’t seen any of the television programs that everyone has mentioned. Certainly there are a couple I will seek out. Realistically, when I’m home, my wife and children command the television unless, of course, I’m home and able to catch a decent football or hockey game. I’m off two Sundays every month and try to watch some NASCAR too.
I’ve seen a couple of the television movies that Adam Beach has done as police officer Jimmy Chee. I’ve got some Indian copper friends in my network and whenever Beach did another one of these, word got around to check it out.
When Northern Exposure was popular, noted in the Indian community was the fact that this was one of the first prime-time sitcoms to feature a Native American. Back in the day, I was only able to catch a couple of episodes of this and liked the down home portrayal that Elaine Miles brought to her role. As luck would have it, I would be fortunate to meet Miss Miles a year or two after the show was off the air.
One of the other actors I bumped into on the trail was another guy who was a very strong supporter of Native issues. He’s been an advocate and lobbyist for Native American for many years. I’m speaking of Max Gail. You remember him as Detective Stan Wojciehowicz on Barney Miller. In fact, Max made a movie with Floyd Red Crow Westerman just last year, Tillimook Treasure. Max isn’t Native to my knowledge.
And speaking of actors, I just found out yesterday that Johnny Depp is Cherokee (and also Irish/German), but it nice to find out he’s on our side. Ha!
Someone else brought up Tom Laughlin. If you’re old enough to be a member of this website, you’ll remember Laughlin from his starring role in Billy Jack. Billy Jack was a half-breed Green Beret Viet Nam vet with a big chip on his shoulder. The movie made Laughlin a star and was a counter-culture hit of 1971.
“I’m going to take my right foot and smack you right here on the left side of your face.” “I thought all Indian boys wanted to lay white girls?” I remembered that movie fondly, largely for some of the quotes like above that were in it. What a hoot. It’s sooo dated now and had such cheesy production values.
So with all this research going on, I took over an hour to find anything that indicated Tom Laughlin was even part Native American. He was born in a high-density population area for Natives, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota is ancestral homelands of the Ojibwe, which is also commonly referred to as Chippewa. Oddly, I couldn’t find anything that would support Tom is Native or not either way. This may suggest that Laughlin’s knowledge of the Native community meant he used this as a plot device to establish Billy Jack as an anti-hero underdog type. He would go on to have Billy Jack go on a ‘vision quest’ where he’s repeatedly bitten by a rattlesnake. What? No peyote?
Vision quests are one of the elements of Native American culture where I just cringe when I hear one was portrayed in the movies. Yeah, okay, whatever. This and some other elements I’ve mentioned earlier have turned me against movies with Native elements/titles/characters/etc. I think the last Native themed movie I saw at the theater is Dances With Wolves. Even then, I was encouraged to attend by the popular perception that Costner ‘tried to get it right.’ Well, that was okay.
Still, movies that purport to be examples of Native life aren’t on my ‘to see’ list. For as militant and opinionated as I am, it’s hard to sit there and be objective. I haven’t seen Last Of The Mohicans. What about that one that was so heavily advertised last year (?) about the settlement of the Jamestown colony. Nope. Mel Gibson’s Native-language only pic about the Aztecs? Nope. I saw Thunderheart with Val Kilmer because my wife wants to see Val Kilmer’s movies. Yawn. (ALERT: Another vision quest in that one too.) The most realistic thing about Thunderheart was the old grandfather who refused to speak English. I know a couple of guys like that. I haven’t even seen Pocohantas and my kids have the video.
What I have been a strong supporter of and highly recommend are movies that are written and produced by Native Americans. Those I will go see at a theater or try to find at the local video store. Unfortunately, most of those movies aren’t exactly mainstream and easy to find.
Probably the biggest thing that was mainstream that I genuinely liked was the Costner produced 500 Nations. Why? It was an objective history lesson and when it got around to saying what the Natives thought, they let the Natives do the talking, not some actor. If you’re interested in just the facts without any plot devices, check this out sometime when it’s in re-runs. Or you can pick up a copy of the DVD collection, like I did. There’s even a computer program of 500 Nations that’s interactive and includes much of what was in the series.
See you all on the trail…
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Comments
Submitted by OldManRiver48 on Sat, 03/10/2007 - 22:41
Submitted by UnwashedMass on Sun, 03/11/2007 - 13:45