3rd posting
James Niggemann (jjn8780@silver.sdsmt.edu)
Wed, 26 Nov 1997 16:04:25 -0700 (MST)
I agree with the first two postings about Thunderheart (Brian and
Emily).
I also think the Val Kilmer character (Ray) parallels Tayo in many
ways. Both are half-white, and both were at first ashamed of their
Indian heritage. Ray says he was ashamed of his father because of his
drinking, but also mentions the fact that he was wild, building skyscrapers
barefoot. Although Tayo grew up on the reservation, he was embarrassed by
the tradition that some of his family members followed.
After returning to the reservation both began to regard the white
man's world differently. When Ray was starting to realize he wasn't being
told something by his boss, he said he thought their jobs as FBI agents
was to protect "the integrity of the American Dream." Through his boss,
he began to see the greed and prejudice with which the government was
treating the Indians.
Tayo enjoyed being in the military at first, but eventually saw
that Indians were not actually being accepted as equals. He later began
to believe that white men were sent by the destroyers to ruin their world,
and that the people had been taught to despise themselves.
In both cases it was a spiritual development in them that changed
their outlook about Indian culture and each ones acceptance of his
heritage. For Ray, it was the dreams, or visions he was having about the
Wounded Knee massacre. Tayo's was due to his time with Ts'eh. Although
Ray apparently left the reservation and Tayo stayed, both seemed to have
found themselves.
I think Thunderheart is a more realistic picture of Indians than
any other movie I have seen. There was one thing I noticed at the end
that might not have been accurate (I"m not really sure). When Graham
Greene's character says goodbye to Ray, he says there is is no word in the
Sioux language for good-bye. I thought Lakotas did not refer to themselves
as Sioux. I believe Sioux is the governments name for them.
In the interview Silko explained the importance of storytelling.
She said in Western culture gossip was "bad", but in her culture
it performed an important function. The process of telling and retelling
stories held the community (or clan) together. She said there was nothing
idle about storytelling, that it was very intense.
She said that the stories help you to be in touch with your
identity, know who you are, and that you are never alone, never lost. This
of course brings to mind "Ceremony" and Tayo and his search for indentity
and her use of stories in that novel.
She finished the interview by saying that stories keep the people
together, that they are all they know.
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