First question:
In the film, Drums Along the Mohawk, the leader of the British calls his armed forces, the Indians, back after a resounding defeat by the frontiersmen. He yells, "Call the filthy beggars back!", referring to the Indians fighting for his army. First the American Indian is attacked within the film, by the actual characters in the movie. Second the American Indian is attacked by the film itself and the choices made of their portrayal. In Celluloid Indians, Kilpatrick states, "The celluloid Indians could not be allowed to win. They had to remain consciously Other, and they had to in one or many ways be held as inferior."(47) Discuss the two different ways that the American Indian is held as inferior in the film Drums Along the Mohawk. First, internally, by the characters in the movie and second, externally, by the choices of the filmmakers.
Second question:
In Drums Along the Mohawk, compare the social status of Blueback to the lead female character. There were several scenes in which Blueback berated women in the film. Give examples of these and discuss why the director and/or writers made conscious choices to portray Blueback as misogynistic. What were/are the benefits of portraying the American Indian in this way?
Patti Sloan
Response to Second Question:
Despite women's success at gaining the right to vote in 1920, gender inequality was far from over in western society. American Indian people were also gaining citizenship and rights in the twenties so there was a certain leveling of mandated respectability between women in general and American Indians, yet both groups were still viewed as the negative Other in binary opposition to the white man and thus treated inferior. As Kilpatrick discusses in Celluloid Indians, “...a director can position a camera to...'look down on' Indian camps or women of any race,” (Kilpatrick 30). This building up of the white man and looking down at Indians and women is not only a cinematic technique used in the 1939 film, Drums Along the Mohawk, but it's also built into the plot. The character, Blueback, is an American Indian functioning to at once reinforce the white man's superiority and also further naturalize the inferiority of women. His misogynistic comments, like those about why babies and child-rearing are women's work, are provoked by the questions of white men who then chuckle, establishing an accepted eternal truth to the statement about women while also distancing themselves from the ease with which the primitive mind is spoken via a native tongue, one undeterred by the weight of political correctness. This way, the director is able to mask the perpetuation of negative stereotypes about women by giving the lines to another disrespected member of society, an American Indian. This action both displaces the blame for such beliefs and points at the American Indian's non-progressive views on gender roles as a way of suggesting that, despite all other differences that exist between whites and Indians, male-superiority is an area of converged opinion. With the Indian representing the primitive or the “original man,” the gender inequality also becomes seen as timeless, something that needn't be questioned but rather softened by proper, white, social etiquette.
--Stephanie O'Donnell
Response to Patty’s Question 2
Class, gender, and race have been the frontrunners for decision making over the years. There are several examples of this in the film Drums Along the Mohawk. The movie begins with a regal wedding in Albany, New York where higher-class citizens are celebrating the union of a newly married couple. It then moves to the “wilderness” where the farming class subside. The newly married wife is clearly not happy with her new humble log cabin, and to make things worse the large Indian starring at her in the doorway frightens her. Her husband who informs her that Blueback is a good Christian, possibly a better Christian then they are slaps her for being so hysterical. She replies by saying she does not care what kind of a person he is. Blueback then gives him a fairly large stick with which to “make her a better lady”. This is the first example we see of Blueback degrading women. Further examples show him telling the men that it is women’s duty to deal with childbirth and that they should go far away and do their business themselves before coming back to the man.
Although Blueback is not the only man to treat women unkind in Drums Along the Mohawk, he is definitely made to be the most obvious. Kilpatrick makes the point that many of these films were made during a time “when ‘masculine fantasies of omnipotence’ were selling very well (53)”. This film was created shortly after women received the right to vote and were still being treated very poorly and often times as insufficient. Women were still the cooks and cleaners and baby makers, while the men regardless of race or background were still the fighters and breadwinners in the family. I believe it is mainly because of this concept of man trumps women that Blueback is able to berate Lana and other women. In addition to showing that all men are superior to women the directors are also showing that white man is superior to the native man. When Blueback suggests Gil use a stick on Lana, Gil just laughs it off and places the stick up on the mantel as a warning. He will use his open fist but he is not “savage” enough to use a stick. Therefore the directors are increasing the stereotype that even the most socialized Natives are still savage when it comes to women.
Katrina Schlosser