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Portrayals of American Indians on film have improved: Last of the Mohicans, The Black Robe, Dances With Wolves are among dozens of good examples.
THE LONE RANGER TONTO TV
Happily, when the TV show went off the air in 1957, the Lone Ranger and Tonto began to fade into obscurity. Tonto is maybe Potowatomee, possibly Comanche, but if we judge by his dress, habits and speech, he is neither. Their concept of how a Native person looks and behaves is created entirely out of images in the media, books they may have read, movies they’ve seen, etc.įor decades, the image of Native American in the US was Tonto. My great grandmother was quite a bit of Native American, she grew up Cherokee or maybe Creek Indian.” I have special knowledge about Johnny Depp’s background, but I do know that DNA testing shows that less than 10% of African Americans who claim Native ancestry actually have it. My point is that most Americans have never had any significant contact with a real Native American. Depp explains it this way: “”I guess I have some Native American somewhere down the line. There are many people who believe they are part Native, as Johnny Depp does.
THE LONE RANGER TONTO FULL
Tonto is a stereotype and that stereotype was so popular during the 1950’s TV show that, for many white Americans, the false image of Tonto became the only image of native Americans that they had.Īs of April 2010, less than 1% of the US population identified as FBI, or Full Blooded Indian. He uses a fake native word that’s supposed to mean “faithful friend” in Potowatomi but make no mistake, “ kemosabe” is not a real word and it doesn’t mean anything. Tonto doesn’t keep to his native rituals or spiritual beliefs, he doesn’t really interact with his people, and he basically defers to the white guy in the white hat in all things. There are some stories in which Tonto is wise and intelligent, but most scholars agree that Tonto is a stereotypical protrayal of a native who never masters the English language, is totally devoted to his white friend who rescued him from racist bullies (in one version of the story). He was created in 1933 for the radio show “in order to give the Lone Ranger someone to talk to”.
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THE LONE RANGER TONTO MOVIE
My second reaction was, “I really hope young people don’t see this movie and think Tonto is real.” The character of Tonto is problematic at best for all Americans, not just the native ones. It appears I needn’t have worried, since the movie bombed in its opening weekend and could cost Disney $150 million dollars.
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There are funny moments, but the plot is contrived, the jokes predictable, the characters one-dimensional and it’s at least 45 minutes too long. My first reaction after finally reaching the end of this seemingly interminable movie was, “I hope people don’t pay movie theatre prices to see this film.” On the most basic level, it’s just not a good movie.