3rd Posting - J Thomason
Jeffery Thomason (jjt3206@silver.sdsmt.edu)
Sat, 29 Nov 1997 11:56:36 -0700 (MST)
Sorry I'm late with this but after missing class on Tuesday I decided to
wait until I could rent _Thunderheart_ and watch it completely before
posting.
The similarities in the imagery for the two stories was amazing.
The coyotes in _Thunderheart_ took on the Colonial English persona as the
scavengers, four legged vultures. But, the shape shifting abilities of
one character, the nature and imagery of the Visions experienced by the
Thunderheart re-incarnation (Kilmer), the significance of the pipe and the
ceremonial nature of Kilmer's interaction with the old medicine man was
very like the book _Ceremony_.
The Old man's way of using Mr. McGoo [spelling?] as part of his
interaction with Kilmer reminds me of Old Betonie's incorporation of
modern technology and symbolism into old ceremonies.
Their treatment of nature was very similar as well. Kilmers
character says something about the Raffle ticket being the only power he
has in the case and Maggie says that its only paper, the river is the real
power. Touching again on the power of nature and rivers in particular
just as Silko does in _Ceremony_.
Also, the myth time concept was used well I think. The visions
and flashbacks of LeVoy [spelling?], while seeming untimely made perfect
sense when compared in context with the flow of the story.
The tension between the Federal and Tribal government and the
People in this story was a depiction of a very real problem. Newspapers
not to long ago exposed a situation in which BIA officials were skimmimg
Tribal funds into offshore accounts and fantasy corporations. This is
similar to the character in the movie that heads up the GOONs squad (I
forget his name). A tribal leader practicing obvious strong arm tactics
to gain a personal upper hand, regardless of the cost to his fellows.
All in all I thought _Thunderheart_ was a finemovie, well done and
fairly realistic despite its entertaining purpose. It was in a lot of
ways a parallel to _Ceremony_. Both characters are on a personal journey
that involves much more than themselves, across time as well as
nationality.
On the use of Indian vs. Native American. I challenge any one to come to
the Civil Engineering dept. and speak of indians. Our foreign students
from India outnumber the Native Americans a great deal and you would find
yourself creating vast confusion quickly. The Native Americans are
considered to be either from over the Bering Straight when it was bridged
or from the South American continent (Aztec - Inca). Calling them Indians
is just plain in correct. Do you call Canadians Norwegians? Columbus was
an idiot who jumped to conclusions and was only pushing colonialism when
he found out this was a new continent. He was wrong, lets not try to
justify it.
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