Here's a page devoted to a character in SILVER ARROW, a Belgian comic book about Indians.
As you can seee, Månestråle is basically a pure Indian maiden stereotype. The problems start with her New Age name: Månestråle means Moonbeam. Then there are her big eyes, small nose, full lips, sexy body, slit dress, and fringe. About the only thing missing is a feather in her headband.
An extra demerit for making the dress pink. This color almost never appears in traditional Native clothes. If you didn't get the message from everything else, it tells you that despite her courage, she's soft and feminine. She's spirited like a good Pocahontas girl, but she won't usurp the male role. I.e., she won't wear the buckskin pants in the family.
Another demerit for showing her captured and tied half a dozen times. Did whoever created this pages want to portray her as a helpless damsel in distress? If this is Månestråle's normal role in SILVER ARROW, she's really a stereotypical character.
For more on the subject, see Indian Women as Sex Objects and Comic Books Featuring Indians.
Below: Even when you're tied up, you're still sexy, Moonbeam!
The comic is in danish not in dutch!
ReplyDeleteOkay. The creator is Belgian, but I don't know what language the comics were published in originally. I gather they're popular, so I think they get translated into other European languages.
ReplyDelete