Writerfella here -- As always, their presentation simply is an interpretation, rather like 'spaghetti westerns' present 'Old West cowboys'. With or without Ennio Morricone's soundtrack, the actual performance is not much more than a Mardi Gras portrayal. Nothing wrong with it, if that was all it aspired to be. And that's the entire key. They want to continue in their own kind of tradition. It simply is that such a tradition has nothing at all to do with actual Native existence. All Best Russ Bates 'writerfella'
people need to READ the history behind the "Mardi Gra Indians", as one mardi gra indian put it "WE DO IT TO HONOR THE INDIANS THAT HELPED US IN OUR STRUGGLE TO RECLAIM OUR FREEDOM".
4 comments:
Writerfella here --
As always, their presentation simply is an interpretation, rather like 'spaghetti westerns' present 'Old West cowboys'. With or without Ennio Morricone's soundtrack, the actual performance is not much more than a Mardi Gras portrayal. Nothing wrong with it, if that was all it aspired to be. And that's the entire key. They want to continue in their own kind of tradition. It simply is that such a tradition has nothing at all to do with actual Native existence.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
It's a stereotypical interpretation of Indians just like a "spaghetti western" is a stereotypical interpretation of the Old West.
people need to READ the history behind the "Mardi Gra Indians", as one mardi gra indian put it "WE DO IT TO HONOR THE INDIANS THAT HELPED US IN OUR STRUGGLE TO RECLAIM OUR FREEDOM".
I've read the history of the Mardi Gras Indians. These "Indians" have little or nothing to do with real Indians.
The "honoring" argument is as bogus for these "Indians" as it is for any phony Indians--e.g., mascots or Y-Indian Guides. I explained why in Smashing People: The "Honor" of Being an Athlete.
I addressed many claims about the Mardi Gras Indians in Mardi Gras: "To be an Indian is a very special calling." Read it and learn.
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