on nativity

[Jonathan Lighter]

The quotes make this semantically interesting and revealing:

1996 Edmund J. Yorke in Iain Stewart & Susan Carruthers, eds. _War, Culture
and the Media_  (Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson U. P.) 95: Heroic myths
were still perpetuated in films such as _Bengal Rifles_ (1954), featuring
Rock Hudson as a British (!) officer bravely suppressing a "native"
rebellion.

In fact, the rebels depicted in the film really are "natives" - of India
- whereas Rock Hudson, Arlene Dahl, and the other cast members are
colonials.  By being in a movie, however, the natives become "natives" -
cliche' Western caricatures of colonized indigenous people. Few if any of
the actors were Indian, but that's irrelevant to the story being told.
(Michael Ansara, not an Indian but an Indian rather, has a conspicuous role
as an Indian.)
Even though the fictional "natives" really *are* "natives," Professor
Yorke or his editors wish to avoid the impression either that the film
"natives" are cinematic "natives" or are played by actors who are actual
"natives" - if that word is permissible here.

The obvious solution, therefore, is to call them "natives" rather than
natives.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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