Chad A. Barbour
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781496806840
- eISBN:
- 9781496806888
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496806840.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
This book examines the transmission of the ideals and myths of playing Indian in American popular culture. In the nineteenth century, American art and literature developed and nurtured images of the ...
More
This book examines the transmission of the ideals and myths of playing Indian in American popular culture. In the nineteenth century, American art and literature developed and nurtured images of the Indian and the frontiersman that
exemplified ideals of heroism, bravery, and manhood, as well as embodying fears
of treason, loss of civilization, and weakness. During this time, Daniel Boone emerged as an exemplary figure of crossing the white-Native line. In the
twentieth century, comic books, among other popular forms of media, would
inherit these images. The Western genre of comic books participated fully in that genre’s conventions, replicating and perpetuating the myths and ideals long associated with the frontier in the United States. A fascination with Native Americans was also present in comic books devoted to depicting the Indian past
of the U.S. In such stories, the Indian is always a figure of the past, romanticized
as a lost segment of U.S. history, ignoring contemporary and actual Native
peoples. Playing Indian occupies a definite subgenre of the Western comics, especially during the postwar period when a host of comics featuring a “white Indian” as the hero were being published. Playing Indian migrates into superhero comics, a phenomenon that heightens and amplifies the notions of heroism,
bravery, and manhood already attached to the white Indian trope. Instances of superheroes, such as Batman and Superman, playing Indian corroborate with the depictions found in the strictly Western comics. The superhero as Indian is
revived in the twenty-first century via Captain America, attesting to the
continuing power of this ideal and image.Less
This book examines the transmission of the ideals and myths of playing Indian in American popular culture. In the nineteenth century, American art and literature developed and nurtured images of the Indian and the frontiersman that
exemplified ideals of heroism, bravery, and manhood, as well as embodying fears
of treason, loss of civilization, and weakness. During this time, Daniel Boone emerged as an exemplary figure of crossing the white-Native line. In the
twentieth century, comic books, among other popular forms of media, would
inherit these images. The Western genre of comic books participated fully in that genre’s conventions, replicating and perpetuating the myths and ideals long associated with the frontier in the United States. A fascination with Native Americans was also present in comic books devoted to depicting the Indian past
of the U.S. In such stories, the Indian is always a figure of the past, romanticized
as a lost segment of U.S. history, ignoring contemporary and actual Native
peoples. Playing Indian occupies a definite subgenre of the Western comics, especially during the postwar period when a host of comics featuring a “white Indian” as the hero were being published. Playing Indian migrates into superhero comics, a phenomenon that heightens and amplifies the notions of heroism,
bravery, and manhood already attached to the white Indian trope. Instances of superheroes, such as Batman and Superman, playing Indian corroborate with the depictions found in the strictly Western comics. The superhero as Indian is
revived in the twenty-first century via Captain America, attesting to the
continuing power of this ideal and image.
Chad A. Barbour
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781496806840
- eISBN:
- 9781496806888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496806840.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
The conclusion considers the power and persistence of playing Indian in American culture. From Daniel Boone to Captain America, from the frontiersman to the superhero, from the frontier to the city, ...
More
The conclusion considers the power and persistence of playing Indian in American culture. From Daniel Boone to Captain America, from the frontiersman to the superhero, from the frontier to the city, playing Indian maintains a powerful presence in American popular culture, reflecting and shaping perceptions of race, gender, and national identity.Less
The conclusion considers the power and persistence of playing Indian in American culture. From Daniel Boone to Captain America, from the frontiersman to the superhero, from the frontier to the city, playing Indian maintains a powerful presence in American popular culture, reflecting and shaping perceptions of race, gender, and national identity.
Ann M. Axtmann
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813049113
- eISBN:
- 9780813050010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813049113.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
There are many non–Indians––wannabes, hobbyists, and New Age practitioners––who dance at powwows by “playing Indian.” This chapter continues the discussion, begun in chapter 3, of the long history of ...
More
There are many non–Indians––wannabes, hobbyists, and New Age practitioners––who dance at powwows by “playing Indian.” This chapter continues the discussion, begun in chapter 3, of the long history of this practice from colonial times onward. By close examination of how these non–Indians move, we can appreciate the stark contrasts of wannabe and Indian dancing. Axtmann discusses early dance scholars––Bernard S. Mason, Ernest T. Seton, and Julia M. Buttree––and modern dance innovators of the twentieth century––Ted Shawn, Lester Horton, Martha Graham, Erik Hawkins, Mexican-born José Limón, and Tom Two Arrows (Thomas Dorsey) of Lenni-Lenape descent ––within the context of wannabes and as people duly influenced by Native culture. Considering the proliferation of wannabes outside the United States––on the world stage––and the ideas of masking and appropriation, Axtmann addresses two primary questions: (1) Why are wannabe non-Indians so invested in Native dance? and (2) What meanings and motivations drive their actions?Less
There are many non–Indians––wannabes, hobbyists, and New Age practitioners––who dance at powwows by “playing Indian.” This chapter continues the discussion, begun in chapter 3, of the long history of this practice from colonial times onward. By close examination of how these non–Indians move, we can appreciate the stark contrasts of wannabe and Indian dancing. Axtmann discusses early dance scholars––Bernard S. Mason, Ernest T. Seton, and Julia M. Buttree––and modern dance innovators of the twentieth century––Ted Shawn, Lester Horton, Martha Graham, Erik Hawkins, Mexican-born José Limón, and Tom Two Arrows (Thomas Dorsey) of Lenni-Lenape descent ––within the context of wannabes and as people duly influenced by Native culture. Considering the proliferation of wannabes outside the United States––on the world stage––and the ideas of masking and appropriation, Axtmann addresses two primary questions: (1) Why are wannabe non-Indians so invested in Native dance? and (2) What meanings and motivations drive their actions?
Chad A. Barbour
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781496806840
- eISBN:
- 9781496806888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496806840.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
The introduction discusses the connection between Native activism and popular culture as an entry into considering the recurring trope of playing Indian in
American culture, especially focusing on ...
More
The introduction discusses the connection between Native activism and popular culture as an entry into considering the recurring trope of playing Indian in
American culture, especially focusing on comics. Comics provide a representative body of work for American popular culture, demonstrating how playing Indian circulates and is transmitted throughout American culture. A theoretical
consideration of visual rhetoric, including Charles Peirce's semiotics, helps
establish the unique nature of playing Indian in comics because
of the visual nature of the medium. A consideration of whiteness and control of racial identity illustrates the contradictory dynamic of playing Indian.Less
The introduction discusses the connection between Native activism and popular culture as an entry into considering the recurring trope of playing Indian in
American culture, especially focusing on comics. Comics provide a representative body of work for American popular culture, demonstrating how playing Indian circulates and is transmitted throughout American culture. A theoretical
consideration of visual rhetoric, including Charles Peirce's semiotics, helps
establish the unique nature of playing Indian in comics because
of the visual nature of the medium. A consideration of whiteness and control of racial identity illustrates the contradictory dynamic of playing Indian.
Chad A. Barbour
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781496806840
- eISBN:
- 9781496806888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496806840.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
Chapter three follows the lineage of frontier and Western fantasies from the nineteenth century to the twentieth via the comic book adaptations of novels like The Last of the Mohicans and comic ...
More
Chapter three follows the lineage of frontier and Western fantasies from the nineteenth century to the twentieth via the comic book adaptations of novels like The Last of the Mohicans and comic depictions of frontier figures like Boone and Girty. Following in the line of late-nineteenth century dime novels and early twentieth century film, comic books inherited many of the tropes and
conventions of the Western and frontier genres, including those of the white
Indian and playing Indian. Multiple adaptations of The Last of the Mohicans, from
the 1940s to the 2000s, testify to that story's persistent appeal. In the 1950s, a
flurry of Boone comics demonstrates his popularity as an American hero while engaging in many of the themes and cultural implications that are essential to this book's focus.Less
Chapter three follows the lineage of frontier and Western fantasies from the nineteenth century to the twentieth via the comic book adaptations of novels like The Last of the Mohicans and comic depictions of frontier figures like Boone and Girty. Following in the line of late-nineteenth century dime novels and early twentieth century film, comic books inherited many of the tropes and
conventions of the Western and frontier genres, including those of the white
Indian and playing Indian. Multiple adaptations of The Last of the Mohicans, from
the 1940s to the 2000s, testify to that story's persistent appeal. In the 1950s, a
flurry of Boone comics demonstrates his popularity as an American hero while engaging in many of the themes and cultural implications that are essential to this book's focus.
