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I am rewatching much television, and find myself newly fascinated by a series of four episodes that all came out in fairly quick sucession. They are:
Spirits (from Stargate SG-1)
Pangs (from Buffy)
The Indians in the Lobby (from The West Wing)
Skinwalker (from Smallville)
I find these interesting, because:
- They are all clearly written in an attempt to get Native Americans represented on television more (a fairly good idea).
- They are all clearly trying to be highly respectful of Native American culture (a fairly good thing).
AND YET
- They all fail horribly (with one exception).
So, here's my theory. I think the writers were each handed instructions of "write an episode of your tv show about Native Americans", and did the best job they could. But, because of the complete dearth of Native Americans in the previous few decades of television shows, the writers were all flying blind.
And, if you look at the episodes in question, they're all taking a very logical approach to fitting this episode into their show:
Stargate puts Native Americans in space, and relates Native American mythology to aliens (as they do with EVERY OTHER CULTURE).
Buffy raises a vengeful Native American spirit, to take vengeance for past wrongs (one of the more common Buffy plotlines).
The West Wing raises a political discussion on a subject of concern, and come up with absolutely no solutions (see: EVERY OTHER episode of The West Wing).
Smallville gives Native Americans an important link to Superman's destiny (as they do with EVERYTHING ELSE).
But, comparing and constrasting, I think there's a simple reason why the West Wing episode works, while all the others fail so horribly. All the other shows are taking a stereotype of 18th century Native American culture, dumping it unchanged into their script, and talking about "how connected these people are to their culture!". Which… doesn't work at all.
Whereas The West Wing is talking to Native Americans NOW about issues which affect them NOW. They're treated as real people, rather than mythical, totally-connected-to-their-really-awesome-culture stereotypes.
Spirits (from Stargate SG-1)
Pangs (from Buffy)
The Indians in the Lobby (from The West Wing)
Skinwalker (from Smallville)
I find these interesting, because:
- They are all clearly written in an attempt to get Native Americans represented on television more (a fairly good idea).
- They are all clearly trying to be highly respectful of Native American culture (a fairly good thing).
AND YET
- They all fail horribly (with one exception).
So, here's my theory. I think the writers were each handed instructions of "write an episode of your tv show about Native Americans", and did the best job they could. But, because of the complete dearth of Native Americans in the previous few decades of television shows, the writers were all flying blind.
And, if you look at the episodes in question, they're all taking a very logical approach to fitting this episode into their show:
Stargate puts Native Americans in space, and relates Native American mythology to aliens (as they do with EVERY OTHER CULTURE).
Buffy raises a vengeful Native American spirit, to take vengeance for past wrongs (one of the more common Buffy plotlines).
The West Wing raises a political discussion on a subject of concern, and come up with absolutely no solutions (see: EVERY OTHER episode of The West Wing).
Smallville gives Native Americans an important link to Superman's destiny (as they do with EVERYTHING ELSE).
But, comparing and constrasting, I think there's a simple reason why the West Wing episode works, while all the others fail so horribly. All the other shows are taking a stereotype of 18th century Native American culture, dumping it unchanged into their script, and talking about "how connected these people are to their culture!". Which… doesn't work at all.
Whereas The West Wing is talking to Native Americans NOW about issues which affect them NOW. They're treated as real people, rather than mythical, totally-connected-to-their-really-awesome-culture stereotypes.
