December 25, 2008

Roscoe Pond's paid blog

An e-mail from Hollywood Indian Roscoe Pond:

ROSCOE to receive $$$ for Native Entertainment BlogHELLO EVERYONE--An Independent producer associated with Warner Bros. has tapped me to create a “Blogger” for Native Entertainment News. She enjoyed my website I had last year and loves Native American performers. I will receive a monthly fee of a six-month trial.

My job description: Blogs will be short. No ‘Bitching’ about Hollywood, the Government and/or Indian Mascots. No lengthy critic of films. No interviews by me. No posting of God Awful Native Productions. This will be an Entertainment news portal only. (I love this woman. She tells it like it is and she’s my boss.)
Comment:  Sounds like Pond's Native Talent blog will be the anti-Newspaper Rock. But I'll be checking it for news I haven't heard.

Pond loves "this woman" and I love his comment about her. She "tells it like it is," but she doesn't want Pond to tell it like it is. He can't post any negative views or reviews. To me that sounds like someone who's afraid of the truth, not someone who embraces it.

If Pond can't post anything about "God Awful Native Productions," does that mean he won't say anything about such stereotype-laden works as Apocalypto and Comanche Moon? Or are these works okay because white people were in charge? Or because major studios and distributors backed them? Inquiring minds want to know.

If someone wanted to give me money for Newspaper Rock, I'd take it. But nothing would make me change my content or style. I suppose I could start another blog with upbeat announcements and leave the commentaries and analyses to Newspaper Rock. I could call it Native Puffery or something like that.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

P.S. Forget Johnny Depp. Here's a tough Indian look that would be suitable for Tonto.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder what "God Awful Native Productions" she is refering to?

dmarks said...

It's hard to tell. I read it as a slam against the entire Native film industry. But... not sure.

Rob said...

I presume Pond is referring to low-budget, independent Native films. I don't think he means all of them, since he wrote favorably about The Exiles and The Only Good Indian. He may be referring to shorts and experimental films, not to standard feature films.

Of course, someone could go to his blog and ask him.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes it's nice to hear the positive sides of show business. I hate Native American stereotypes along with the next person but we shouldn't be concentrating all of our energies into the problem but more into the solution.

Rob said...

For my response, Charlie, see Not Enough Good Native News?

Alas, the comments are gone in Pond's blog. You'll have to e-mail him if you have any questions.