Movie Boycott -Stereotyping Native People

[maestas at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu]

Most people refer to the idea that Cortes was mistaken for
Quetzalcoatl as a real life example of Native Americans
deifying white men.  However, I challenge anybody to find a
reference to Cortes as Quetzalcoatl that predates the 18th
century.B by which time, the romanticization of the invasion as
spiritual conquest was in full effect.  For an alternative
interpretation and understanding of Quetzalcoatl not as a white
bearded man or anthropomorphic god, but rather as the barbed visage of the
sun see:
Paredez, Domingo Martinez.
1967   Un Ccontinente y Una Cultura.  Mexico: Editorial Orion.


On Sat, 22 Jan 2000, Craig Berry wrote:

> On Sat, 22 Jan 2000 HJVsqzIMIS at aol.com wrote:
>
> >     Friends in the Native American Community shared this with me.
> [snip]
> > Once there, they encounter an ignorant group of savages who quickly=20
> > pronounce them ``Gods,=92=92 and an enticing, voluptuous native woman who=20
> > quickly takes on the role of faithful sidekick. Then, of course, there=92s t=
> > he=20
> > fanatical native ``priest=92=92 who lusts for personal power and calls for h=
> > uman=20
> > sacrifice. Portraying native people in this fashion is like passing off Al=20
> > Jolson and Amos & Andy as black culture.
>
> I'm sorry, but it's hard to characterize the movie as distorted history
> (any more than most entertainments based on history) based on the above
> alone.  It is fairly clear that the possibility of Cortez being in some
> sense Quetzalcoatl or at least his avatar or emissary did indeed
> contribute to the Nahua paralysis in effectively dealing with the
> Spaniards.  A native woman, Malinche, did in fact become Cortez's
> "sidekick" in short order, and played a crucial role in the conquest.  And
> native priests did in fact practice human sacrifice, and it's relatively
> clear that at least in late Tenochtitlan mass sacrifice was used for
> political terror as well as for religious purposes.
>
> So, precisely what are your objections?
>
> --
>    |   Craig Berry - cberry at cinenet.net
>  --*--  http://www.cinenet.net/users/cberry/home.html
>    |   "The road of Excess leads to the Palace
>       of Wisdom" - William Blake
>
>