Michelle Williams criticised by Native Americans

Residents FanResidents Fan Posts: 9,204
Forum Member
Michelle Williams has been accused of being disrespectful
to Native Americans after dressing up as a Native American
women for the magazine AnOther . NA Journalist
Ruth Hopkins accused Williams of appearing
in "redface" and
Native American Journalists Association stated:
In regard to the Michelle Williams photo shoot, anytime a non-native person dresses up as a Native American this leads to problems like:
1. That Native people don’t care about people playing dress up
2. It perpetuates the stereotype that all Native people look like this
3. That Native people do not exist or even comparisons to mythical creatures perpetuates this myth.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/03/14/michelle-williams-redface/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ew%2Fpopwatch+%28Entertainment+Weekly%2FEW.com%27s%3A+PopWatch%29

What do you think? Is Williams' costume an offensive
stereotype of Native Americans, or a legitimate
artistic statemen?

Comments

  • Big Boy BarryBig Boy Barry Posts: 35,293
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    It's not redface. Fuss over nothing really.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,538
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    She looks well cute
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,888
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    It's not redface, take the feather out and it's just lumberjack style
  • haphashhaphash Posts: 21,448
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    Is kids dressing up as cowboys and indians not allowed now either?
  • Residents FanResidents Fan Posts: 9,204
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    haphash wrote: »
    Is kids dressing up as cowboys and indians not allowed now either?

    Are kids still interested in Cowboys and Indians anymore?
    All the small kids I know are more interested in superheroes
    or pirates.

    As for the outfit: NA commentators have pointed out that
    Native American communities in the US are extraordinarily
    diverse, so they feel donning a few feathers and necklaces
    etc, (often from completely different tribes)
    and passing that off as a "Native American" costume
    is misrepresenting their people.

    For a comparsion, imagine if whenever
    people dressed up as "Europeans", they donned Flamenco
    hats, Aran Sweaters, kilts and clogs. ;)

    To make things worse, Williams made a comment
    likening Native Americans to "Munckins" in a
    recent interview:
    ...rather than delving more intensely into the fantasy of Oz, you declared that when you thought of these Munchkins “as Native Americans trying to inhabit their land or about women getting the right to vote, it made a lot more sense.”

    Native Americans are not Munchkins, Ms. Williams—and neither were the suffragettes who fought for your right to vote. To even suggest a comparison between imaginary Munchkins in a film and Natives in real life fighting for untold stakes is perilous because it sustains the entirely racist notion that Natives are cute creatures that require safekeeping. Unlike the costume you wore and later discarded, Natives cannot shake off five centuries of injustice after a photo shoot.

    http://www.thenation.com/blog/173292/native-americans-are-not-munchkins-open-letter-michelle-williams
  • Saltydog1955Saltydog1955 Posts: 4,134
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    I've no idea who she is, but it looks like a big fuss about nothing. If she'd dressed in buckskins and moccasins with a tomahawk in her hand, I might understand their wrath, but one feather in her hair does not a Native American make.
  • haphashhaphash Posts: 21,448
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    It sounds as if she meant to say that the munchkins were oppressed. She probably could have expressed it better, but really why do people get so uptight about what actresses say? Its all hot air and this is a lot of fuss about nothing.
  • *Sparkle**Sparkle* Posts: 10,955
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    The Native American Journalists Association are doing far more harm to the image of Native Americans than Michelle Williams. I will continue to presume that most Native Americans are not that stupid and/or po-faced at Ruth Hopkins, and that most don't try to abuse others for the sake of a cheap publicity stunt.
  • wear thefoxhatwear thefoxhat Posts: 3,753
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    I think 'offensive'is the most over used word of the last few years, folk ought to just grow up and stop searching for a racesist angle in every thing, no one bothered when Adam Ant wore all that redskin garb on Top of the Pops.
  • LyricalisLyricalis Posts: 57,958
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    If you don't offend someone you ain't doing it right.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,834
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    Hmmm if you had asked me what she was representing I would have gone BoHo Geisha lol
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,682
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    Who cares, she was the best actor on Dawson's Creek
  • haphashhaphash Posts: 21,448
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    MrsOrin wrote: »
    Who cares, she was the best actor on Dawson's Creek

    True. I could never understand why Katie got more attention at the time.
  • SpaceToiletsSpaceToilets Posts: 3,343
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    I find her very attractive.
  • BeethovensPianoBeethovensPiano Posts: 11,689
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    Redface??
  • ThaGazBoiThaGazBoi Posts: 15,518
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    haphash wrote: »
    True. I could never understand why Katie got more attention at the time.

    She was awful in Dawson's Creek. By the end of the series it was basically Joey's Creek with guest appearances by the others.
  • SuperAPJSuperAPJ Posts: 10,402
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    I didn't know whether this thread was going to be about the actress or everyone's third favourite member of Destiny's Child!
  • Residents FanResidents Fan Posts: 9,204
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    Redface??

    That's when a White actor dons make-up to portray
    a Native American-similar to "Blackface" and
    "Yellowface". The pratice used to be very
    common in Westerns, but now it's disapproved
    of, because it stops NA actors getting work.
  • AerickAerick Posts: 1,528
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    My opinion is, if you are not part of the 'group' that is claiming disrespect, then there really is no way for you to gauge how inappropriate something is or isn't to them.

    The only place where I saw 'redface' mentioned was in the EW Pop Watch article saying she donned redface, I didnt recall it asking viewers their opinions on red face or to gauge 'how much red face she donned'.

    Anyway, it's an American Indian thing (or the more politically correct term Native American), not a British one. I"m not sure how some of you can comment on what is or what is not appropriate. I'd say the same to to white Americans. If these groups say they are offended, then believe them. You don't have to feel the same.

    btw, my mothers side is from the Fort Peck reservation in eastern Montana and I am half Assinaboine and Sioux. Her side of the family still lives there as does she.

    I personally am not offended by this. Not every Native American is.
  • FingersAndToesFingersAndToes Posts: 9,956
    Forum Member
    Aerick wrote: »
    My opinion is, if you are not part of the 'group' that is claiming disrespect, then there really is no way for you to gauge how inappropriate something is or isn't to them.

    The only place where I saw 'redface' mentioned was in the EW Pop Watch article saying she donned redface, I didnt recall it asking viewers their opinions on red face or to gauge 'how much red face she donned'.

    Anyway, it's an American Indian thing (or the more politically correct term Native American), not a British one. I"m not sure how some of you can comment on what is or what is not appropriate. I'd say the same to to white Americans. If these groups say they are offended, then believe them. You don't have to feel the same.

    btw, my mothers side is from the Fort Peck reservation in eastern Montana and I am half Assinaboine and Sioux. Her side of the family still lives there as does she.

    I personally am not offended by this. Not every Native American is.

    I agree with this. It has been lately said a few times, that donning a costume which has cultural or some other significance to a minority group, it would be best not to wear that costume or whatever it is. Didn't No Doubt get tons of backlash for a music video just recently? And Victorias Secret as well?
  • AerickAerick Posts: 1,528
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    I agree with this. It has been lately said a few times, that donning a costume which has cultural or some other significance to a minority group, it would be best not to wear that costume or whatever it is. Didn't No Doubt get tons of backlash for a music video just recently? And Victorias Secret as well?

    Yes, I think Gwen as well as Victorias Secret were criticized too. I didn't want to sound condescending or anything. I mean, I would never personally try to know what it is like being Black or to tell them they shouldn't take something personally lol.

    I think this is simply a new era in these sensitive issues and we have to try to put ourselves in their place and see their point. What was once done years ago is looked upon differently. I wonder had Cher done her 'Half Breed' video now would it be criticized? She does claim some American Indian heritage from her mothers side though. dunno. Looking at it again, I do not think it would be warmly accepted..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZbkuPi2_Y

    There is another issue brewing and that is with the American football team name of Washington Redskins and cries of them asking for it to be changed. And yes, they've had it for decades (the name), but still, American Indian groups do feel negativity towards the term 'redskins' . I guess that is akin to using 'chinaman' 'yellow' or others..

    Per wiki on 'redskin':
    he term was used throughout the English-speaking world (and in equivalent transliterations in Europe) throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a common term of reference for indigenous Americans.

    The term was once in common use, as evidenced in Western movies, but is now largely considered a pejorative and is seldom used publicly (aside from the football team - see below). As with any term perceived to be discriminatory, different individuals may hold differing opinions of the term's appropriateness.[4] However, common wisdom appears to have settled on the notion that the term is a particularly egregious racial epithet that represents a bloody era in American history in which Indigenous Americans were hunted, killed, and forcibly displaced removed from their lands by European settlers.[5]

    I wanted to explain when I said "I was not offended, not all Native Amerians are". Personally, I was born and raised in California, never ever lived in Montana and always lived a well off middle class existence. My mother was brought to California from Montana just before I was born as my father (from California) was in the Air Force stationed in Montana at the time. I never really grew up with that strong tie to the land so that is partly why I am not offended. My mother also did not instill a lot of cultural awareness with me. To her, getting off the reservation was a good thing, So I simply just do not have the same reaction to this as someone tied to that life does. She moved back there a few years ago as her ties were far stronger after all these years.
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