OK, somehow I completely missed this post until someone else pointed it out as meta this morning (oyceter, did you take a long time composing it and post it without adjusting the time? That's the usual reason I miss posts), but I feel the need to point out that Gat looks exactly like a 20th century Native American. :) Cowboys don't wear fringe except in 1950s singing-cowboy movies, that's more of an NA thing, and he's got the feather braided into his hair. The bandana on his head codes as NA to me as well, but I can't say why - probably because Hazel's hat from the front looks like a cowboy hat, even though it goes into that bizarre tricorn thing from the side and back.
A decade or so back I was talking with a curator or collections manager, something like that, at ... I want to say the Denver Museum of Art, since I was in Denver getting my anthro/museum degree, and they talked about arguing with the Powers that Be at whicever museum this was about a new exhibit. The exhibit was supposed to reflect the contemporary reality of NA culture, and have art objects and artifacts that were relevant to modern NA life. So this person fought long and hard to have a beat-up Ford pickup included, because that's exactly what's replaced the horse and currently occupies the same position in NA life as the horse used to, but the Powers that Be prevailed. Why? Because that was too weird and everyone (meaning: the people who come to the museum and give them lots of money) knows that Indians ride horses.
At any rate, I think my point when I started that is that the contemporary Native American looks a lot more like a cowboy than people realize. :D
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Re: Finally got my copy
Tue, Jul. 4th, 2006 04:36 pm (UTC)except in 1950s singing-cowboy movies, that's more of an NA thing, and he's got the feather braided into his hair. The bandana on his head codes as NA to me as well, but I can't say why - probably because Hazel's hat from the front looks like a cowboy hat, even though it goes into that bizarre tricorn thing from the side and back.A decade or so back I was talking with a curator or collections manager, something like that, at ... I want to say the Denver Museum of Art, since I was in Denver getting my anthro/museum degree, and they talked about arguing with the Powers that Be at whicever museum this was about a new exhibit. The exhibit was supposed to reflect the contemporary reality of NA culture, and have art objects and artifacts that were relevant to modern NA life. So this person fought long and hard to have a beat-up Ford pickup included, because that's exactly what's replaced the horse and currently occupies the same position in NA life as the horse used to, but the Powers that Be prevailed. Why? Because that was too weird and everyone (meaning: the people who come to the museum
and give them lots of money) knows that Indians ride horses.At any rate, I think my point when I started that is that the contemporary Native American looks a lot more like a cowboy than people realize. :D