This week I thought I'd share something that I stumbled across, yet again, on the Aboriginal and Tribal News Facebook page, and they were also, yet again, sharing a post from the White Wolf Pack Blog. I found the blog post interesting because of the post Dr. Morris shared with us like a week ago, about Johnny Depp playing Tonto in the new Lone Ranger film. The blog post is about the 30th Annual Gathering of Nations that just commenced this past April. Apparently, the gathering opened with a video greeting from none other than Johnny Depp. Also, the author of the White Wolf Pack blog even suggests that Depp's greeting may have been the highlight of the night. The author writes, "The 30th Annual Gathering of Nations closed last night, April 27, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after another hugely successful run. It may have been what opened the gathering that generated the most excitement, though." The author then follows this statement with a description of what he was alluding too. The author writes, "In a video message, Johnny Depp, who plays Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger film, welcomed attendees to the massive pow wow and Native festival."
This is the video the author is referencing:
Additionally, I found the comment section rather interesting as well. For instance, many of the comments are positive and offer words of thanks and gratitude to Johnny for his greeting; however, there are also some who question the greeting, Depp's motives, and even posit that it is nothing more than a promotion for his upcoming film.
For example, Thunderhawk leaves this comment:
"From Bobby Thunderhawk Jones, narragansett indian nation... just wanted to thank you for entertaining us through the years, one of the best actors of all time.. many blessings".
Billie Kihega then leaves this comment:
"Mahwoomae always a pleasure to hear you speak, We will always love you and cherish your friendship and remember you forever your Comanche name suits you honorably and perfectly may this lifetime give you many blessings to you and your family love and peace your Numunuh sister Billie Kihega family, Udah hites."
But, then a few anonymous messages are also left. They read as follows:
"Why isn't Jonny Depp there in person--couldn't he take the time out of the whole year to show up--if he really cares wouldn't he have planned so that he could have made it...Also why did he speak of a "strange and unknown force"--why would it be strange to him--and why is it unknown to him if he really has the connection that he speaks of...Do you think that he only sent the video so as to try to promote the new movie that he is in-where he plays Tonto?--these are some things to consider about Johnny's message..."
"Strange and unknown force? Nature? And what a long list of names. Was this the academy awards? I hope he didn't leave anyone out that could be important for his career! Besides the people he named and the people inviting him to their gatherings, who here among you felt anything except a slight repulsion at the bad writing his 'people' stuck up on his screen? Sorry to be negative. I just think as transparent as this video promotion was, the saddest thing is all the wonderful people who fail to taste, smell and feel the sneering distaste this man obviously has for being paid to read this pathetic greeting card in his slowed down (insultingly) official voice. As someone who has always enjoyed his work as an artist/actor I have to say this performance was dismally disappointing. Johnny, your director should have made you do this over for something akin to emotion. You may be a shapeshifter but under the obvious meaning I think that the one who named you might not have been overly impressed with you either and perhaps he picked this name as an insult. lol."
So, based on those last two comments, I think it's safe to say that some people were not very pleased with the greeting, haha. I just thought this was an interesting glimpse into the controversy surrounding Johnny Depp at the moment, and Native American opinion on the matter, as highlighted by Dr. Morris in the Indigenous Rhetoric blog post entitled "The Tonto Controversy."
I doubt that Depp had any ulterior motives for this broadcast; I think he's too dumb for that; I believe he genuinely thought he was doing a service for Native Peoples and Indigenous Causes. Unfortunately, his use of terms such as "strange and unknown forces" of "nature" as well as his talk of "shapeshifters" is the worst sort of cultural appropriation. It's assuming the dialect of a group to whom you do not belong. The problem with cultural appropriation such as Depp engages in is that it sets the stage for material appropriation; when one appropirates the culture of anOther, while simultaneously praising that culture, it makes it possible for less genuinely motivated (or dumb) cultural appropriators to engage in the same behavior, with disastrous results.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this video with me, I found it quite interesting especially in light of Dr. Morris' post about the Tonto controversy. After reading Cait's comment, I couldn't help but think that Johnny Depp would benefit from taking our Cultural Indigenous Rhetorics class. I think he could learn a thing or two about cultural appropriations. The controversy is interesting to me because I can kind of see both sides. After weeks of this course, I can mostly understand why Native Americans would be insulted by Johnny Depp's role, but I can also see why people might just be interested in the movie. After all, contemporary indigenous peoples are entertained by famous actors just like the rest of the world. Also, after reading the Native appropriations blog last week, people commenting their hate about bloggers' posts is like breathing for some. I think the debate makes it interesting.
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