1. In Celluloid Indians, Kilpatrick discusses the American frontier, stating that it "provided a challenge against which Euro-Americans, especially white males, could pit themselves. ... It was the cultural frontier that established the identity of the American West and the settlers and cowboys who pushed that frontier ever westward." In "The Battle at Elderbush Gulch" what type of identity is portrayed in regard to the American West? Additonally, what role did the orphans play in shaping the Indians' identity?
2. Kilpatrick also discusses the level of intelligence of American Indians in film. She states that "Aside from bloodthirstiness, (Bird's) Indians seemed only slightly more intellgent than the rocks they hid behind. One very effective method for transmitting their stupidity to the reader was linguistically through the use of pidgin speech, recognizable now as Tonto-talk." What methods were used in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch to convey the Indians' level of intelligence? Which methods were most effective in their pursuit? Consider the role of music as well as film.
-Rochelle Rogers
This is my response to question 2.
There were many ways that showed the intelligence, or lack there of it, within the movie The Battle of Elderbush Gulch. First, Kilpaterick describes the stereotype being used as mental., saying “the actual words are stupid or dumb.” (xvii) Within the first scenes of the film we are shown the Native American with this mental stereotype. First, they are just laying around camp and doing nothing; words such as lazy, dirty, and stupid come straight to mind. Second, we see the Native Americans try to feast on the orphan’s dogs. Now, I know in some American Indian tribes they do eat dogs as a meal, but looking at this from a Euro-American perspective eating a dog shows a lack of intelligence. To the Euro-American eating a dog first shows that the tribes are starving, and because they are starving and dying out they must resort to eating a cute, little puppy. Also eating dog shows they are dying out they are not intelligent enough to learn to survive like the Euro-Americans. Next, we see the American Indians dancing around a fire preparing a War Party for an all out battle against the towns people. It reminds me of the scene in Disney’s version of Peter Pan when they sing “What Makes the Red Man Red” Aside from being wildly racist the scene shows Native Americans dancing the same way. It only furthers the mental stereotypes about Native Americans showing them dancing like animals around a fire because they do not have the sense to talk things over and go straight to war. I think the one that is most effective is Native Americans eating the dog. It spoke to me in a way that the stereotypes have never effective me. I have experienced aspect of each of the forms of stereotypes mental, physical, and spiritually but Native Americans acting in a new way of “savagery” was the most “huh” moment to me.
“The Battle of Elderbush Gulch” portrays the American West as this frontier against which noble cowboys have to defend from savage Indians in many ways. The most notable and climatic is the final rescue of the townsfolk holed up the uncle’s house by the cavalry from the wild tribe. Just when it seemed all hope was lost and the townsfolk were going to be burned up; the cavalry comes and saves them so they can rebuild their town. The destruction of the warriors ensures peace for the town to begin anew without the threat of savage Indians destroying their way of life. The cut scenes to the Indian village also showcase how much of a frontier the “West” was. The Indian village is seen as a shanty-town of tipis and of lazy Indians scattered throughout. There was no obvious civil engineering in terms of having a road or order to buildings like in the white town. The people in the white town were shown to be more civilized by engaging in polite conversation while all the Indians did was stand around in their blankets, lie about or dance wildly. This showcases the American West as literally being the edge of American civilization.
The orphans represent the childlike wonder and hope many frontiersmen had invested in expanding the American West (i.e., America as a whole). The orphans unwittingly began a skirmish with the chief’s son and his friend which can be thought of as the way many “battles” (since the United States never officially declared war on Indians) were incensed by frontiersmen antagonizing tribes into fighting. The use of the puppy seems significantly pointed when many plains Indians ate dogs and so many of the battles began were often over access to hunting grounds. In “The Battle of Elderbush Gulch” the Indians’ identity is boiled down to savages who will go to any terms to secure food for themselves. Their will to survive is not seen as noble or even biological but as a fierce, scary excuse for them to destroy the frontiersmen and their dream of westward expansion.
Jenny Burnett
Response to question 1:
“The Battle of Elderbush Gulch” portrays the American West as this frontier against which noble cowboys have to defend from savage Indians in many ways. The most notable and climatic is the final rescue of the townsfolk holed up the uncle’s house by the cavalry from the wild tribe. Just when it seemed all hope was lost and the townsfolk were going to be burned up; the cavalry comes and saves them so they can rebuild their town. The destruction of the warriors ensures peace for the town to begin anew without the threat of savage Indians destroying their way of life. The cut scenes to the Indian village also showcase how much of a frontier the “West” was. The Indian village is seen as a shanty-town of tipis and of lazy Indians scattered throughout. There was no obvious civil engineering in terms of having a road or order to buildings like in the white town. The people in the white town were shown to be more civilized by engaging in polite conversation while all the Indians did was stand around in their blankets, lie about or dance wildly. This showcases the American West as literally being the edge of American civilization.
The orphans represent the childlike wonder and hope many frontiersmen had invested in expanding the American West (i.e., America as a whole). The orphans unwittingly began a skirmish with the chief’s son and his friend which can be thought of as the way many “battles” (since the United States never officially declared war on Indians) were incensed by frontiersmen antagonizing tribes into fighting. The use of the puppy seems significantly pointed when many plains Indians ate dogs and so many of the battles began were often over access to hunting grounds. In “The Battle of Elderbush Gulch” the Indians’ identity is boiled down to savages who will go to any terms to secure food for themselves. Their will to survive is not seen as noble or even biological but as a fierce, scary excuse for them to destroy the frontiersmen and their dream of westward expansion.
Jenny Burnett
In Response to Rochelle's Question 2:
While DW Griffith’s The Battle of Elderbush Gulch is unable to fully use what Bird says is a very effective cinematic or literary form of insulting American Indian intelligence, Tanto-talk, because it is a silent film, it manages to quite successfully paint the Indians featured as “only slightly more intelligent than the rocks they hid behind (Kilpatrick 8).” The Indian characters receive no dialogue at all, in the form of cards, like the other characters do- their story is told for them, with no shortage of negatively connotative words, thus implying they cannot communicate for themselves.
In the first scene that Indians are shown in the film, they are seen chaotically and widely dancing around a fire at the “Feast of the Dogs.” There is no discernable pattern to the dance, thus establishing the notion that Indians are not civilized or organized. This of course plays into the conventions previously established by US government and society that Indians were savages and that the taking of their land was the “inexorable advance of civilization (Kilpatrick 7).” The music in the scene starts as dark and ominous, telling the audience immediately that the Indian is dangerous. The music becomes more light-hearted, implying comedy, later in the scene as the Indians are seen lounging around after eating- ie being lazy. This mix of danger and comedy helped the audience of the time to gloss over the killing of Indians and taking of their land, and any conflicting feelings surrounding those events, by making Indians something to fear and laugh at, but never sympathize with. (Nowhere in the film is an Indian seen in any way but as a figure to laugh at or to fear.) Also, there is a scene later in the film where a small girl is able to easily knock over an Indian man with an ill placed punch, while this may not be an insult on intelligence it is certainly a comment on the strength and skill of Indian warfare and the superiority of the US cavalry which, as always as the film and US government would have you think, comes to save the day.
Lauren Scheller