Review of Apache vs. Gladiator

Speaking of Aztec vs. Zande on Deadliest Warrior, last year I watched the first episode about a Native warrior:

Apache vs. GladiatorApril 07, 2009--An Apache--the greatest stealth fighter in American History, versus a Gladiator--crowd-thrilling killer of ancient Rome. It's stone versus steel, devious against direct, surprise versus slaughter, as these two go toe to toe in a no-holds barred battle to the death.Click on the link to view the hour-long episode online.

The show has several flaws that qualify it to be a Stereotype of the Month entry:

The harsh language used to describe the Apache. For instance, the "fierce, scalp-taking master of death." Even if this were true in some circumstances, it's a one-dimensional portrait of a complex culture.

The Apache are shown living in tipis. As I discussed before, this may have been true among the eastern Apaches in Texas, but it's not representative of the culture as a whole. Since the show presents a typical Apache warrior, it should present him living in typical Apache dwellings--e.g., wickiups.

The Apache are shown attacking an army in colorful uniforms. I guess it's supposed to be the Mexican army, which would be accurate. But showing the Apache attacking makes them look like the aggressors--i.e., like violent marauders. There's no context explaining why the Apache might've attacked. For instance, because the foreign army was encroaching on Apache land.

The show presents no context for either the Apache warrior or the Roman gladiator. But...most people already know something about ancient Rome. Monuments, statues, emperors, armies, togas, laws, Latin, etc. They don't know anything about the Apache. So the lack of information preserves the status quo. In the viewers' minds, it's the savage Apache vs. the civilized Roman.

Apache = semihuman?

A quote from Wikipedia explains the stereotype that Deadliest Warrior reinforces:Of the hundreds of peoples that lived and flourished in native North America, few have been so consistently misrepresented as the Apacheans of Arizona and New Mexico. Glorified by novelists, sensationalized by historians, and distorted beyond credulity by commercial film makers, the popular image of 'the Apache'—a brutish, terrifying semihuman bent upon wanton death and destruction—is almost entirely a product of irresponsible caricature and exaggeration. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the Apache has been transformed from a native American into an American legend, the fanciful and fallacious creation of a non-Indian citizenry whose inability to recognize the massive treachery of ethnic and cultural stereotypes has been matched only by its willingness to sustain and inflate them.This stereotyping is lame because Deadliest Warrior could correct it so easily. Just present a couple sentences of background information to put the warriors in context. Something like:The Apache had a complex religion, culture, and language, but when foreigners invaded their land, they were forced to go to war.For more on the subject, see Al Carroll on Tarantino's Scalping and Tarantino's Apache Warfare Fiction.

Below:  Lots of Apaches who weren't deadly warriors.

Aztec vs. Zande

Deadliest Warrior: Aztec Jaguar vs. Zande Warrior

By Mark WhittingtonDeadliest Warrior: Aztec Jaguar vs. Zande Warrior pitted two of the most exotic warriors yet to appear in the series. While most people have heard of the Aztecs, not too many people have heard of the Zande, once the terror of Central Africa.

Spoilers surely follow.Stereotype alert:One of the interesting aspects of the portion of the show where ballistic gel dummies and animal carcasses get abused was the simulation of an Aztec sacrificial ritual, where a heart is cut out of a living body and presented to the howling masses at the foot of the pyramid. One was also surprised at the stopping power of the cotton shirt that the Aztec jaguar used as body armor.The outcome:In the final combat, the overall superiority of the Zande weapons won the day. The Zande was able to hit the Aztec at long and mid range to wear him down before going into the kill. While the obsidian sword was deadly and could have finished the combat had the Aztec gotten in a good cut, the Zande barbed spear finished the Aztec, ripping out his insides.Comment:  Obviously the Aztecs did sacrifice people. The problem is that depicting a sacrifice has nothing to do with the Aztecs' combat skills. It serves only to make the Aztecs look more barbaric and inhuman.

Does the episode put the human sacrifice in context as a deeply held religious belief? Does the episode show any of the Aztecs' achievements in art, architecture, or astronomy? Probably not.

It's as if you depicted Americans solely by showing them nuking Hiroshima. It would be accurate, technically speaking, but it wouldn't be representative or fair. Same with this episode of Deadliest Warrior. Depicting the Aztecs' human sacrifice out of context is stereotypical.

For more on the subject, see Apache vs. Gladiator and Were the Aztecs Murdering "Animals"?