Native Americans

Writing Prompt: What do you know about Native Americans? How do you know it? Describe or list specific stories or histories you have been exposed to through movies, music, books, cartoons, comics, etc. What do you want to know?

Researchers estimate that there were 2,000 independent people speaking 350 languages across the North American Continent. Without a written language, many oral traditions went undiscovered for years.

In 1972 Marlon Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Godfather. He turned down the Oscar, becoming the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award (the first being George C. Scott for Patton). Brando boycotted the award ceremony and sent American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather. She appeared in full Apache dress and stated Brando's reasons for refusing the award (his objection to the depiction of American Indians by Hollywood and television). An Offer He Could Refuse…

What’s to protest? Tonto from the Lone Ranger 1956 – – Tonto=“stupid”, “wild” Peter Pan 1953: The only criticism at the time was regarding the stories deviation from the original. It was not until recently that the negative portrayal of Indians became an issue. – – Asking “How” – Indian men constantly pursuing Indian women Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam in "Horse Hare" 1960 – – “Injun” – “half breed”

Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian transfers from the reservation school to the rich, white school but soon finds himself making friends with both geeky and popular students and starting on the basketball team. Meeting his old classmates on the court, Junior grapples with questions about what constitutes one's community, identity, and tribe. In April 2010, the Stockton School Board, located in Missouri, USA, voted to remove this text from the school library after a parent complained about its content (sex, drugs, racial epitaphs).

A teen convicted of brutality spends a year on a isolated southwestern Alaska island Warnings for violence and emotional distress

What’s In a Name? A Native American Perspective What do you say? Indian or Native American? Why? What is the purpose of categorizing people into groups?

Vocabulary: Archetype ARCHETYPE: An original model or pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life in an entire culture, or even the entire human race. These images have particular emotional resonance and power. Archetypes recur in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, fairy tales, dreams, artwork, and religious rituals. Examples of archetypes found cross- culturally include the following: (1) Recurring symbolic situations (such as the damsel in distress rescued from monster by a handsome young man who later marries the girl. Also, the long journey, the difficult quest or search, the pursuit of revenge, the descent into the underworld, the great flood, the End of the World), (2) Recurring themes (such as the Faustian bargain or selling soul to the devil; pride preceding a fall; fate; madness; forbidden love) (3) Recurring characters (such as witches, womanizing Don Juans, the hunted man, the femme fatale, the wise old man as mentor or teacher, star-crossed lovers, the caring mother-figure, the helpless little old lady, the bully, the villain in black, the mad scientist, the underdog who emerges victorious) (4) Symbolic colors (green represents life, vegetation, or summer; blue for water or tranquility; white for purity; or red for blood, fire, or passion). (5) Recurring images (such as blood, water, the rose, the lion, the snake, the eagle, the feast or banquet).

Other Common Literary Archetypes The Child The Hero The Great Mother The Wise old man or Sage The Trickster or Fox The Devil or Lucifer The Scarecrow The Mentor Superhero Antihero Old man, probably a miser Young man in love, possibly the miser's son, who rebels against authority Clever (or perhaps cunning) slave Stupid slave Hanger-on (parasite) or flatterer Courtesan Slave dealer or pimp Braggart soldier The Insincere Man The Flatterer The Garrulous Man The Boor The Complaisant Man The Man without Moral Feeling The Talkative Man The Fabricator The Shamelessly Greedy Man The Penny pincher The Offensive Man The Hapless Man The Officious Man The Absent-Minded Man The Stingy Man The Show-Off The Arrogant Man The Coward The Late Learner The Slanderer The Lover of Bad Company The Basely Covetous Man

The Trickster! Six Trickster Traits: – fundamentally ambiguous and anomalous – deceiver and trick-player – shape-shifter – situation-inverter – messenger and imitator of the gods – sacred and lewd

Writing Prompt: Imagine the story of your life was being made into a movie. What archetype would the writers use to portray you? (It doesn’t have to match you exactly but represent you generally. Script writers rarely get these things perfect!) Who would play you in the film? Remember they don’t need to be look like you but may be an actor who is typecast and plays similar roles in different movies. (If you can’t think of their name then describe it IMDB style: the movie and role they played.)