If only I were an Indian, de John Paskievich

Résumé du document

The film "If only I were an Indian", incorporates many controversial topics. It is mainly focused upon the borrowing of cultures and traditions. The film is about a group of Czech people who, from time to time, attempt to live the traditional lives of the people from the Plains of North America. This small group has a romanticized view of these peoples, which is often linked to the misrepresentation popularized by mass media. In the following write-up we will delve into specific topics related to this film.

Extraits

[...] If only I were an Indian, de John Paskievich The film only I were an Indian”, incorporates many controversial topics. It is mainly focused upon the borrowing of cultures and traditions. The film is about a group of Czech people who, from time to time, attempt to live the traditional lives of the Plains peoples of North America. This small group has a romanticized view of the Plains peoples, which is often linked to the misrepresentation popularized by the mass media. [...]

[...] If I want to be a Zulu, can Not either. Or if you really want, you need to live with the Zulus and see if they accept you after a while as a member of their culture. But obviously being an Inuit in South Africa only because I want it makes no sense; nor being an in Czechoslovakia while being born in a Czech family. Culture is not a game; people can sometimes chose to renounce to their own culture through assimilation (if we can really call that a but people can certainly not chose to adopt another culture just for the reason it sounds Cultural Borrowing: Theft or Celebration? [...]

[...] An Indian is not exactly the same thing as a Native. Are they considering what they do a game? We cannot really know but it looks like they do; they still can go back to life after a week-end living in teepees Misrepresentation of culture and its meaning I would like to deal with this question from my own viewpoint and experience of cultural misrepresentation and appropriation. I lately attended a symposium called “Transporters” about modern Native art and this issue had been raised by a young Mohawk woman after viewing an interactive piece of art diverting the Mohawk ceremony of thanksgiving into a way that completely changed its character, but without any intention of doing so from the artist. [...]

[...] We can learn from each other and benefit from each other. At the same time we must respect our own heritage, history, traditions and worldviews. One must never forget their past, for it is our past that shapes our future. Maybe it is better to face one's own identity and history than searching for exchanging it with another identity or history. Let's live in the real world; living in one's own dreams generally leads to deception in the end. Reality eventually catches you up. [...]

[...] This is obviously a problem when one believes in authenticity as these Czech people seem to do so. This issue is not raised in the movie possibly because these people do live the Native way only within short periods of time, during the weekend for instance. It is also interesting to consider whether the English translation of the film's dialogues is really accurate. According to a Czech student of the class, it is not; it may be useful to look closer at the terms they use to define themselves: Indians? [...]