This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
"White Man's Image" - Period 6
Today you watched the film, In the White Man's Image. Post your thoughts about the film and make sure to comment on at least one other student's post.
17 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I found the movie to be interesting. I didn't know that Cherokee Indian warriors were taken prisoner and kept in Florida. I think the movie was important in showing how white Americans of the time were able to label a race as sub-human. It would be hard to take such violent action against a relatively peaceful group, seeing them as humans and individuals. Indians at that time were viewed as uncivilized, animalistic savages. White men clearly cut a divide between we and them in this case.
I thought that the individual case that we saw in the movie showed a lot about the relationship between Indians and White Men in 19th century America. The White Men insited on "taming" the Indians. "Taming" in the eyes of white society was really a conversion of the Indians to white culture. It was easy to see how the influence of society affected different people to a different degree. For instance, after being emersed in white society some Indians chose to stay and others chose to return to their former lives. This story was similar to the bear story in that once the Indians became surrounded by white society it became very difficult to maintain their former identity. The influence of society is very strong and can be overwhelming for some individuals.
I agree with Brian. In the movie some people went along with the changes that were forced upon them, but others were more resistant and held onto their cultural roots, showing that it is hard to maintain your identity when people are telling you that it is wrong, and also that, like the bear story, if you think that what you believe in is right you need to stick with it.
I thought that the movie reiterated concepts that have been taught previously about the early United States, and how the only people that were given the freedoms we have today were WASPs. However,as Brian said, I was not aware of the "taming" of the Indians that was basically forced conformation into white society, rather then allowing the Indians to live with their own culture. White men destroyed a culture systematically, and were able to convert one group of people to fit into a mold set by the white man.
I thought the movie was very interesting and also eye-opening. Like Evan, I was unaware that the Cherokee Indians were held as prisoners. This movie showed the disturbing affect of racism and superiority complexes. We talked in class about the White Man's superiority complex when we listed off how they felt about themselves vs. the Indians. It's pretty upsetting when you take a step back and look at the list we created- the actions taken in the movie were a direct result of the baseless and unwarranted emotions listed. The movie shows society's need to conform people, to transform them into some predetermined concept of "perfect". In this case, the concept of perfect is the "White Man's Image", and society leaves no room for the Indians because they are different. I agree with Kelsey's emotions towards the victimization of the Indians. It's sad that they were forced to leave behind a life that they cherished and then forced to accept new values and ideas.
The film we watched in class today was very interesting. I do not think what the white men did to the Native Americans was right. They said they were going to help them adapt and learn the white mans ways but instead forced them to change by cutting their hair and changing their cloths. One thing that really stood out to me was how the respect changed once the Indians looked like the whites. The attitude towards the Indians was affected by how they looked. This just shows how image affects people’s opinions on others drastically.
I really liked the video that we watched today. I thought that this movie truly gave the viewer a better understanding of what happened to the Indians because of the "white man". What I thought was ridiculous was when something happened within the white community (a massacre), and then all of a sudden the people of the community in Florida told Pratt "to lock up his Indians", despite the fact that these Indians were out there a few weeks back helping the community with a massive fire. The Indian people, because uneducated according to the white man, was easily influenced by the white man because of the psychological and physical power that the white man held over the Indians. I completely agree with Brian and Evan. This is not the first time that this has happened in history, and sadly, it continues to occur even though we condemn these sort of actions.
I thought that this movie was really eye-opening. I knew that Americans killed millions of Native Americans, but I didn't know that they also tried to convert some of them to the white society. What I thought was incredibly ironic was that while they were capturing the Native Americans and forcing them to change their entire culture, the men in charge of this operation actually thought they were doing the right thing by helping "tame the savages." Many of the Native Americans tried to resist, but I thought it was extremely sad that some of them actually believed the lies that the white men were telling them. I agree with what Marwa said about how ignorant the white people really were compared to the Native Americans. When they heard about a massacre in a completely different part of the country, they wanted to lock up all of the Native Americans because they assumed that they would also start a massacre, even though they had just recently been helping the white men by putting out a fire.
This movie presented a side of our rich history that I would rather not know. We came into the native Americans land and took over without thinking about their own thoughts or feelings. They were humans too despite what some of our American "heros" have to say about it. I thought Evan made an excellent comment about the divide that white men created and completely agree with him.
I think that Gayle brings up a good point of the idealization and "perfect" representation of a person in society. This has been the case since the origins of nationalism and continues to happen today in places such as social circles.
The movie we watched today seemed togivethe audience a better understanding of the Indians point of view, especially with the stories on the trains to exile. Also, there was the Indian historian that gave the Indians point of view on certain topics. It was interesting hearing all of the stories and being able to see a more in depth view of this social experiment.I also agree with Kelsey, because although the film talked about how the white men were the educated ones, the way they treat the Indians show how uneducated and uncilivized the WHITE men were. Opposite to the idea of the Indians being the uneductaed and uncivilized ones
I really liked the film today. I thought that it showed a really good representation of the we and they concept which is more difficult to understand without visible representation. Whites thought they were superior to "savages" and most thought that the only way was to kill the Indians. A few Indians were kept in Florida and some tried to convert them. I think that it was interesting how that cutting their hair, new clothes, and teaching them english didn't change the views on them. Once they were helping put out a fire at 2 in the morning and the next moment the people were saying lock up the uncivilized savages at night. I tihnk this movie shows how far we have come as a nation as so many races are living in peace here. There will always be racism and predujice people no matter where one goes. I like how Kelsey said this movie shows how uneducated white men are. To think that they are better because of their skin color is really naive. Because of this time period and the feelings that were had that the Indian culture today is uncommon.
I agree with Brian's comment. I believe this movie is very similar to The Bear Story. The white men captured the Indians and turned them into what they believed was right. The white men made the Indians wear American Clothes and cut their hair. In The Bear Story, the bear is convinced that he isn't a bear after being constantly told things from other people. The Indians had been transformed and forced to believe in the same things as the white people. After being introduced to the white values, several Indians had trouble returning to their previous lives.
I think this movie served as a great example of the differences of "us versus them." While many in white society believed that it was clear that the whites were "us" and the Indians "them", this film made it clear that the Indians could have just as easily been "us" and the whites "them". However, the whites were the ones who truly acted on their belief, thinking that the Indians should desire to become engulfed in white society. I agree with Brian on the idea that this film is closely related to the bear story, as the Indians had a very difficult time maintaining their centuries old identity in the face of the oncoming "civilized" society.
I thought the movie we watched today i was very interesting, along with other people i was totally unaware that this human experimentation had been conducted. I think its pretty rediculous that they tried to tame the indians as if they were a bunch of dogs. I also like think that Ted is very right in saying that the white people were very ignorant of the indians and that it is the best word to describe the white people who were part of this.
I think the movie really showed that America was similar to nazi germany in many ways. America had a certain template for what was an acceptable American Citizen, and if a group didn't conform this template, then people would force it upon them. This is something that isn't covered upon as extensively as it should be in history class. I think the things that American's did to the indians could easily be compared to how the nazi's treated jews, but luckily we didn't start a genocide, when the German's did.
I agree with evan that the Americans labeled the Native American's as sub-humans when they are such a peaceful people. And i think that this is ironic because when people first came to America, the native americans were the ones that showed us how to farm and hunt, and now that we control the land we just threw them to the side.
Today you watched the film, In the White Man's Image. Post your thoughts about the film and make sure to comment on at least one other student's post.
17 comments:
I found the movie to be interesting. I didn't know that Cherokee Indian warriors were taken prisoner and kept in Florida. I think the movie was important in showing how white Americans of the time were able to label a race as sub-human. It would be hard to take such violent action against a relatively peaceful group, seeing them as humans and individuals. Indians at that time were viewed as uncivilized, animalistic savages. White men clearly cut a divide between we and them in this case.
I thought that the individual case that we saw in the movie showed a lot about the relationship between Indians and White Men in 19th century America. The White Men insited on "taming" the Indians. "Taming" in the eyes of white society was really a conversion of the Indians to white culture. It was easy to see how the influence of society affected different people to a different degree. For instance, after being emersed in white society some Indians chose to stay and others chose to return to their former lives. This story was similar to the bear story in that once the Indians became surrounded by white society it became very difficult to maintain their former identity. The influence of society is very strong and can be overwhelming for some individuals.
I agree with Brian. In the movie some people went along with the changes that were forced upon them, but others were more resistant and held onto their cultural roots, showing that it is hard to maintain your identity when people are telling you that it is wrong, and also that, like the bear story, if you think that what you believe in is right you need to stick with it.
I thought that the movie reiterated concepts that have been taught previously about the early United States, and how the only people that were given the freedoms we have today were WASPs. However,as Brian said, I was not aware of the "taming" of the Indians that was basically forced conformation into white society, rather then allowing the Indians to live with their own culture. White men destroyed a culture systematically, and were able to convert one group of people to fit into a mold set by the white man.
I thought the movie was very interesting and also eye-opening. Like Evan, I was unaware that the Cherokee Indians were held as prisoners. This movie showed the disturbing affect of racism and superiority complexes. We talked in class about the White Man's superiority complex when we listed off how they felt about themselves vs. the Indians. It's pretty upsetting when you take a step back and look at the list we created- the actions taken in the movie were a direct result of the baseless and unwarranted emotions listed. The movie shows society's need to conform people, to transform them into some predetermined concept of "perfect". In this case, the concept of perfect is the "White Man's Image", and society leaves no room for the Indians because they are different. I agree with Kelsey's emotions towards the victimization of the Indians. It's sad that they were forced to leave behind a life that they cherished and then forced to accept new values and ideas.
The film we watched in class today was very interesting. I do not think what the white men did to the Native Americans was right. They said they were going to help them adapt and learn the white mans ways but instead forced them to change by cutting their hair and changing their cloths. One thing that really stood out to me was how the respect changed once the Indians looked like the whites. The attitude towards the Indians was affected by how they looked. This just shows how image affects people’s opinions on others drastically.
I really liked the video that we watched today. I thought that this movie truly gave the viewer a better understanding of what happened to the Indians because of the "white man". What I thought was ridiculous was when something happened within the white community (a massacre), and then all of a sudden the people of the community in Florida told Pratt "to lock up his Indians", despite the fact that these Indians were out there a few weeks back helping the community with a massive fire. The Indian people, because uneducated according to the white man, was easily influenced by the white man because of the psychological and physical power that the white man held over the Indians. I completely agree with Brian and Evan. This is not the first time that this has happened in history, and sadly, it continues to occur even though we condemn these sort of actions.
I thought that this movie was really eye-opening. I knew that Americans killed millions of Native Americans, but I didn't know that they also tried to convert some of them to the white society. What I thought was incredibly ironic was that while they were capturing the Native Americans and forcing them to change their entire culture, the men in charge of this operation actually thought they were doing the right thing by helping "tame the savages." Many of the Native Americans tried to resist, but I thought it was extremely sad that some of them actually believed the lies that the white men were telling them. I agree with what Marwa said about how ignorant the white people really were compared to the Native Americans. When they heard about a massacre in a completely different part of the country, they wanted to lock up all of the Native Americans because they assumed that they would also start a massacre, even though they had just recently been helping the white men by putting out a fire.
This movie presented a side of our rich history that I would rather not know. We came into the native Americans land and took over without thinking about their own thoughts or feelings. They were humans too despite what some of our American "heros" have to say about it. I thought Evan made an excellent comment about the divide that white men created and completely agree with him.
I think that Gayle brings up a good point of the idealization and "perfect" representation of a person in society. This has been the case since the origins of nationalism and continues to happen today in places such as social circles.
The movie we watched today seemed togivethe audience a better understanding of the Indians point of view, especially with the stories on the trains to exile. Also, there was the Indian historian that gave the Indians point of view on certain topics. It was interesting hearing all of the stories and being able to see a more in depth view of this social experiment.I also agree with Kelsey, because although the film talked about how the white men were the educated ones, the way they treat the Indians show how uneducated and uncilivized the WHITE men were. Opposite to the idea of the Indians being the uneductaed and uncivilized ones
I really liked the film today. I thought that it showed a really good representation of the we and they concept which is more difficult to understand without visible representation. Whites thought they were superior to "savages" and most thought that the only way was to kill the Indians. A few Indians were kept in Florida and some tried to convert them. I think that it was interesting how that cutting their hair, new clothes, and teaching them english didn't change the views on them. Once they were helping put out a fire at 2 in the morning and the next moment the people were saying lock up the uncivilized savages at night. I tihnk this movie shows how far we have come as a nation as so many races are living in peace here. There will always be racism and predujice people no matter where one goes. I like how Kelsey said this movie shows how uneducated white men are. To think that they are better because of their skin color is really naive. Because of this time period and the feelings that were had that the Indian culture today is uncommon.
I agree with Brian's comment. I believe this movie is very similar to The Bear Story. The white men captured the Indians and turned them into what they believed was right. The white men made the Indians wear American Clothes and cut their hair. In The Bear Story, the bear is convinced that he isn't a bear after being constantly told things from other people. The Indians had been transformed and forced to believe in the same things as the white people. After being introduced to the white values, several Indians had trouble returning to their previous lives.
I think this movie served as a great example of the differences of "us versus them." While many in white society believed that it was clear that the whites were "us" and the Indians "them", this film made it clear that the Indians could have just as easily been "us" and the whites "them". However, the whites were the ones who truly acted on their belief, thinking that the Indians should desire to become engulfed in white society. I agree with Brian on the idea that this film is closely related to the bear story, as the Indians had a very difficult time maintaining their centuries old identity in the face of the oncoming "civilized" society.
I thought the movie we watched today i was very interesting, along with other people i was totally unaware that this human experimentation had been conducted. I think its pretty rediculous that they tried to tame the indians as if they were a bunch of dogs. I also like think that Ted is very right in saying that the white people were very ignorant of the indians and that it is the best word to describe the white people who were part of this.
I think the movie really showed that America was similar to nazi germany in many ways. America had a certain template for what was an acceptable American Citizen, and if a group didn't conform this template, then people would force it upon them. This is something that isn't covered upon as extensively as it should be in history class. I think the things that American's did to the indians could easily be compared to how the nazi's treated jews, but luckily we didn't start a genocide, when the German's did.
I agree with evan that the Americans labeled the Native American's as sub-humans when they are such a peaceful people. And i think that this is ironic because when people first came to America, the native americans were the ones that showed us how to farm and hunt, and now that we control the land we just threw them to the side.
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