SCALPED's totem pole and tomahawk
A correspondent comments on SCALPED's totem pole:What???? Isn't that like a story set in Russia with the Effiel Tower featured in it? I live in totem pole country. We understand totem poles. No totem poles outside the Pacific Northwest unless they were a sacred gift from a Pac. NW tribe or some artist really needed the money--well, there are the pathetic attempts at totem poles, but never the real thing--and we can tell at a glance from looking at them all day every day.
Linde Knighton--a Native living in Seattle. Comment: It's obviously a non-Indian's attempt to draw a totem pole. It looks phony.
In the comic it's lying against a barn, discarded. I wouldn't be surprised if that violates a Northwest Indian taboo or custom.
And of course there's absolutely no reason for the pole to be in South Dakota in the first place.
And I love the image below from the cover of SCALPED #5. Forget the stereotypical alcohol for a moment. A tomahawk?! If Vertigo's people are intentionally trying to annoy us, they could hardly do a better job of it.
Moreover, the cover of SCALPED #6 features a face with war paint. But we haven't seen a teepee, an arrowhead, or a peace pipe yet. Can we expect those on the covers of SCALPED #7-9?
Get a clue, Jason Aaron. The chief, the totem pole, and the tomahawk on your covers are clear evidence that your comic is stereotypical. Do something about it or continue to earn my scorn.
Linde Knighton--a Native living in Seattle.
In the comic it's lying against a barn, discarded. I wouldn't be surprised if that violates a Northwest Indian taboo or custom.
And of course there's absolutely no reason for the pole to be in South Dakota in the first place.
And I love the image below from the cover of SCALPED #5. Forget the stereotypical alcohol for a moment. A tomahawk?! If Vertigo's people are intentionally trying to annoy us, they could hardly do a better job of it.
Moreover, the cover of SCALPED #6 features a face with war paint. But we haven't seen a teepee, an arrowhead, or a peace pipe yet. Can we expect those on the covers of SCALPED #7-9?
Get a clue, Jason Aaron. The chief, the totem pole, and the tomahawk on your covers are clear evidence that your comic is stereotypical. Do something about it or continue to earn my scorn.
posted by Rob at 10:31 AM
3 Comments:
Get a clue, Jason Aaron. The chief, the totem pole, and the tomahawk on your covers are clear evidence that your comic is stereotypical. Do something about it or continue to earn my scorn.
Your arrogance is overwhelming, Rob. You've already called me a racist and insulted all of the Natives who are fans of SCALPED. I have no desire to try and justify my book to you. That would be a collossal waste of time.
However, anyone else who has questions or issues regarding SCALPED, feel free to email me at:
everywhere73 at yahoo.com
Or post on my blog at:
http://jasoneaaron.blogspot.com/
Actually, no...I haven't called you a racist or insulted any Natives. I've stuck fairly closely to critiques of your work.
With your nonresponsive answers, it's too bad you can't say the same. For the third time in a row, you're unwilling or unable to address my specific criticisms.
Again, where are all the Natives who are fans of SCALPED? Provide the links to their comments and then we'll discuss them.
Why are you bothering to write me if you have no desire to justify your book? If that's your attitude, why did you try to justify it the previous two times?
"It would be a colossal waste of time"...because you have no justification, judging by your previous comments. So it would take you a long time to come up with one. Is that what you mean?
Why are you monitoring my postings so closely if you don't care? If you're trashing me in your blog, I don't know about it. I'm all about criticizing the work, not about proving myself to people.
You'll be glad to know I skipped SCALPED #4 in my comic-book shop today, so I won't have much more to say about the series. You can go on stereotyping Indians and I probably won't even notice.
Feel free to let me know when you stop portraying Indians as criminals, thugs, and lowlifes and start portraying them as three-dimensional humans. Then I can start reading the book and praising it for something other than its style.
Finally, readers can judge for themselves who's arrogant here: the person who points out the stereotyping of Indians or the person who continues the stereotyping regardless. My website and blog have increased in popularity the last few months, so I'm not worried about the results.
If Jason is looking for proof that his work is being taken as a representation of the realities of reservation life by American readers, I would like him to know that I began researching his work on Scalped after being asked by one of my students if it represented an authentic American Indian experience. I teach American Indian history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and know first hand the damages that pop culture has wrought through its stereotypical depictions of American Indians. Being from the other side of the pond, Jason may not realize the extent to which most Americans are ignorant of American Indian history and culture because it is so marginalized in public school curriculum on American History. As a result, many Americans believe the stereotypes whole cloth, and certainly have no understanding of real American Indian cultural values, sovereignty, or treaty rights. While I will admit that I have not read an issue myself, the information that I have gleaned from both the positive and negative reviews of this work are disturbing. I agree with many of Rob's statements about common contemporary stereotypes of American Indians - and fear that the storyline as it stands may perpetuate them. A more positive reviewer suggested that they thought Jason's characters were more realistic because they were sad and depressed rather than stoic. While stoicism is indeed another stereotype of Indian people largely created by the famous Curtis photographs, the reality is not a community of mopey, depressed, and angry individuals but rather is characterized by joking, teasing, and humor. Smiles and laughter are far more characteristic of Indian life than the bleak picture this comic presents.
Ethnic comics can be done very well. Maus, or Persepolis for example, are excellent stories that both entertain, show a gritty reality, and present images that defy rather than reinforce stereotypes. I think that Jason Aaron would be well advised to do far more research on the culture and community he wishes to portray before continuing his series.
The reality is that regardless of his intentions which I am sure are purely to entertain, American readers are not exposed to enough realistic depictions of American Indian life to tell the difference between a stereotypical and a realistic depiction of reservation life. I am glad that my students are able to come to me for clarification, and I will be making a point of obtaining some issues of this series so that I can be a more responsible reviewer of the material. However, the very fact that my students are asking me "is this real or is this stereotype" demonstrates the fact that not only is a portion of Jason's audience accepting his work as an "authentic depiction" but also that despite Jason's confidence in them, they lack the information to be able to tell the difference.
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