Wolf Pack hypes Eclipse

With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse about to premiere, we're seeing a flood of print and video interviews. With their increased role, the Wolf Pack Indians are getting more exposure than ever before.

Most of the comments are pure fluff. Here's one of the "deeper" ones:

Native American Actors See New Image in "Twilight"

By Alex DobuzinskisChaske Spencer, who plays the leader of the pack, told Reuters that working in the "Twilight" movies has been exciting because it portrays Native Americans in a new and positive light and is aimed at a young audience.

Members of the Wolf Pack dress like modern kids at the mall in denim jeans and shirts--when they are wearing shirts because the pack is famously bare-chested in much of the movies--and they posses a quick wits and generous spirits.

"There's a lot of stereotypes that have been squashed," Spencer said. "We're part of this pop culture phenomenon, and we're put in a different light. And the kids see that, and they're digging on it. They love that vibe."Comment:  "There's a lot of stereotypes that have been squashed"--but not the stereotype of Indians as half-naked, beastlike warriors, alas.

Obviously it's a glass half full/half empty situation. But let's not glorify it too much. A real "new image" would be having an Indian clan as the lead characters, the main participants in the romance, etc. With the white clan as the distinctly secondary characters. Rather than the other way around, as it is now.

The new Native America

Then there's this gem:

InStyle Outtakes of Alex Meraz, Chaske Spencer, Tinsel Korey & Julia Jones!Spencer said he’s played his share of historical American Indian characters—what he half-jokingly called “the leather and feather” parts. “What’s cool about New Moon,” he explained, “is that we’re in a contemporary setting.” Korey agreed: “I think it’s important for people to know that there is a Native American community that’s very vibrant, and very now. We’re sort of like a new Native America.”In this new Native America, apparently, anyone can claim to be Indian whether they have Indian blood or not. Taylor Lautner, Tinsel Korey, Julia Jones, and Boo Boo Stewart...they're the new breed of "Native Americans."

For more on the subject, see Twilight Screwed Native Actors? and TeenHollywood Interviews Wolf Pack.

Below:  In the "new Native America," Asian Indians are North American Indians too.