Native stereotypes in The Proposal

The romantic comedy The Proposal came out earlier this summer. I haven't seen it, but I just learned it contains some questionable Native bits.

The Proposal

By Nick SchagerHumor and romance are interspersed so predictably it's as if screenwriter Pete Chairelli were working from a rom-com checklist, whose lame bullet points (animal gags, creepy-weird foreigners, Native American stereotypes) are in service of a story primarily notable for city-country chestnuts and an underlying depiction of professional women as monsters in need of being rescued, figuratively and literally (oh no, Margaret can't swim!), by Prince Charmings.The Proposal (2009)Synopsis

Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock head-up this romantic comedy, with the latter as a company boss with Visa issues and the former her impressionable lackey whom she intends to marry to get a green card.

Matt said... Posted on Jul 31 2009 00:43

Silly, soppy, very often unconvincing and occasionally truly cringeworthy in a bad way (the Native American dancing scene for instance), but still cute enough to be worth seeing for a bit of mild, silly fun.

New Rom Coms:  There's Good News and Bad NewsBullock plays a tough-as-nails, bitch-on-wheels, Canadian-born publishing executive. The "Canadian-born" part is important, because she's ignored restrictions on her green card and is about to be deported. To keep her Manhattan publishing gig, she pretends to be engaged to her assistant (Ryan Reynolds). Soon she and Reynolds are winging their way to his hometown to celebrate the 80th birthday of his Grammy Annie (a peppery and fitfully funny Betty White--think Sue Ann Nivens, not Rose Nylund).

"The Proposal" isn't perfect. There are some woefully misguided moments (chief among them a very strange scene where Bullock discovers White out in the woods, wearing Native American garb and chanting prayers to Mother Nature.

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