Marsbert
02-17-05, 12:30PM
I actually get to write about my absolute favoritest show FOR A GRADE for my American Identities class....and it's not all BS! Can you tell I'm excited? Here it is, the first draft anyway....
Futurama vs. the Native Americans
The episode of Futurama, “Where the Buggalo Roam,” is a contemporary criticism of how the Native Americans were treated by the colonial settlers. This episode critiques the manipulation of the Native Americans in a unique way, by paralleling it to the plight of the Native Martians of the planet Mars in the year 3001. The writers of the this episode have an eye for poking fun at otherwise serious social issues, by using their outlandish brand of comedy, to subtly get their point and ideas across to their viewing audience. The Indian Removal Act was the target of this episode, criticized mainly by their portrayal of the removal of these Native Martians, and also the stereotypical way the Martians were portrayed in order to make fun of our own history, and point out its weaknesses. Through these elements, this episode of this Emmy Award winning creation of Matt Groening has a much more sophisticated and important social standing than any other cartoon.
Like the Native Americans as a result of the Indian Removal Act, the Native Martians on the planet Mars were moved onto reservations after selling their land for a single bead. To poke more obvious fun at the mistakes and wrong-doings of the American settlers and their treatment of the Native Americans, the writers of this episode have had these “peace loving” natives moved not only onto a Martian Reservation, but an underground reservation, no less. As the character of Mr. Wong says, “they been gently encouraged to live on reservation deep underground.” Above land, Mr. Wong’s family says they own, “17.9 billion acres! We own entire western hemisphere. That the best hemisphere,” exhibiting that these settler’s greed and hunger for power rises above all else. The land of the planet has been bought and claimed for so long, that there isn’t any room for the natives who aren’t as rich or greedy as the settlers who came to dominate them. When Mr. Wong said that they own “the best hemisphere,” he is poking fun at how Americans tend to think of their land as the best, the most advanced, and the most free. Every country has nationalism, but it has almost always been known that Americans seem to think they are better than any other. The American settlers started this way of thinking when they deemed the Native Americans too savage and ignorant to be able to keep their native land. When the settlers moved these natives, they proved that not only is their nationalism overwhelmingly fierce, but in a way they are playing God. This nationalism among a group of people that are in fact not even from that particular nation is portrayed both in actual history by the colonial settlers, and parodied by the writers of Futurama.
Fry: So what's Mars Day all about anyway?
Mrs Wong: It commemorate the day centuries ago when
our ancestor Sir Reginald Wong bought Mars from stupid
natives.
Leela: How can you call the Native Martians stupid?
Mr Wong: They sell whole planet for one bead. Sound
stupid to me!
Leela: I can't believe you're laughing at the tragic exploitation
of a proud, bead loving people.
Fry: Lighten up Leela, it's funny!
Leela: Of course it is. But you don't have to laugh!
This snippet of dialogue from the episode shows just how the natives – of both this fictional Mars and in our own history – were thought of by the settlers. They weren’t even considered human enough (or in the case of the Martians, they weren’t considered good enough by fellow aliens) to be left in peace, so they were shuffled around like animals.
Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the condemnation by the writers of this episode of those early colonial settlers is the blatant stereotypes they slipped in for the sake of political and social satire. Every scene is ripe with several farcical stereotypes for the sake of getting their point across. The first and foremost major stereotype would be the Native Martians look and dress. They wear head dresses and loin cloths, much like how someone would describe an “old fashioned” clichéd Indian. These Native Martians are also so amalgamated to their sacred land that they can control the wind and create sand storms, and they have that same connection with all of Mars’ creatures, so only they are able to fly Buggalo. Another stereotype addressed and brought to the extreme by Futurama’s writers, was the Native Martians’ use of bad grammar. As the eloquent Mr. Wong says, “I know it them, cos they no use good grammar,” an ironic comment to make no doubt, but yet another effective way to show how the Native Americans were thought of as dumb and incapable of learning anything, and therefore not as great as the white man and hardly human at all. These Native Martians also steal the Wong family’s Buggalo, and then they go as far as to kidnap young Amy Wong and ransom her. This is obviously a reference to the number of documented kidnappings of white colonial settlers by the Indians. The fact that Amy Wong is a woman shows another similarity between these fictional natives and the real ones in our own history. The selected narratives discussed in class describing the experiences that some white women had with the Native Americans, are brought to mind when viewing this comedic commentary. These Native Martians are also aligned with our Native Americans by their “peace pipe” that they force Lt. Kiff Kroker to smoke after he shows his ability to control the Buggalo. The smoking of this peace-pipe takes place inside what looks to be a Native American teepee. Of course, when Kiff accidentally gags on the smoke from the pipe, it is taken by the Martians as a sign of disrespect, so they automatically start to torture him with the one bead their sacred land was traded for centuries ago. “Chief Singing Wind: You have coughed at our offer of peace. So you must die! The very bead used to crush our dreams shall be used to crush your bones.” There in lies the irony, because that one bead turned out to be a gargantuan, priceless diamond. These Native Martians didn’t know they had in their possession such a thing that could have led to the end of their suffering ages ago. Chief Singing Wind goes on to say,
Singing Wind: Hmm. We always thought bead was worthless. We assumed our ancestors were cheated because they not have concept of ownership.
Bender: So we can have the diamond?
Singing Wind: No. We do have concept of ownership. You are free to go. Sorry about all the rustling and kidnapping.
The Native Martians end up taking their diamond and leaving Mars to find a brand new planet that they can buy with their new found fortune. The irony shown here of how they really didn’t care all that much about their “sacred land,” is the writer’s way to bring about a happy ending quickly for this episode. If only it could have been that simple for the Native Americans here on planet Earth.
Even in such a contemporary and bizarre comedy such as Futurama, serious social issues and debates can be touched upon and discussed. It is a strange and unusual feeling to find a connection between class discussions and a well-loved cartoon, but also a befitting notion to finally discover that everything is there for a reason.
Futurama vs. the Native Americans
The episode of Futurama, “Where the Buggalo Roam,” is a contemporary criticism of how the Native Americans were treated by the colonial settlers. This episode critiques the manipulation of the Native Americans in a unique way, by paralleling it to the plight of the Native Martians of the planet Mars in the year 3001. The writers of the this episode have an eye for poking fun at otherwise serious social issues, by using their outlandish brand of comedy, to subtly get their point and ideas across to their viewing audience. The Indian Removal Act was the target of this episode, criticized mainly by their portrayal of the removal of these Native Martians, and also the stereotypical way the Martians were portrayed in order to make fun of our own history, and point out its weaknesses. Through these elements, this episode of this Emmy Award winning creation of Matt Groening has a much more sophisticated and important social standing than any other cartoon.
Like the Native Americans as a result of the Indian Removal Act, the Native Martians on the planet Mars were moved onto reservations after selling their land for a single bead. To poke more obvious fun at the mistakes and wrong-doings of the American settlers and their treatment of the Native Americans, the writers of this episode have had these “peace loving” natives moved not only onto a Martian Reservation, but an underground reservation, no less. As the character of Mr. Wong says, “they been gently encouraged to live on reservation deep underground.” Above land, Mr. Wong’s family says they own, “17.9 billion acres! We own entire western hemisphere. That the best hemisphere,” exhibiting that these settler’s greed and hunger for power rises above all else. The land of the planet has been bought and claimed for so long, that there isn’t any room for the natives who aren’t as rich or greedy as the settlers who came to dominate them. When Mr. Wong said that they own “the best hemisphere,” he is poking fun at how Americans tend to think of their land as the best, the most advanced, and the most free. Every country has nationalism, but it has almost always been known that Americans seem to think they are better than any other. The American settlers started this way of thinking when they deemed the Native Americans too savage and ignorant to be able to keep their native land. When the settlers moved these natives, they proved that not only is their nationalism overwhelmingly fierce, but in a way they are playing God. This nationalism among a group of people that are in fact not even from that particular nation is portrayed both in actual history by the colonial settlers, and parodied by the writers of Futurama.
Fry: So what's Mars Day all about anyway?
Mrs Wong: It commemorate the day centuries ago when
our ancestor Sir Reginald Wong bought Mars from stupid
natives.
Leela: How can you call the Native Martians stupid?
Mr Wong: They sell whole planet for one bead. Sound
stupid to me!
Leela: I can't believe you're laughing at the tragic exploitation
of a proud, bead loving people.
Fry: Lighten up Leela, it's funny!
Leela: Of course it is. But you don't have to laugh!
This snippet of dialogue from the episode shows just how the natives – of both this fictional Mars and in our own history – were thought of by the settlers. They weren’t even considered human enough (or in the case of the Martians, they weren’t considered good enough by fellow aliens) to be left in peace, so they were shuffled around like animals.
Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the condemnation by the writers of this episode of those early colonial settlers is the blatant stereotypes they slipped in for the sake of political and social satire. Every scene is ripe with several farcical stereotypes for the sake of getting their point across. The first and foremost major stereotype would be the Native Martians look and dress. They wear head dresses and loin cloths, much like how someone would describe an “old fashioned” clichéd Indian. These Native Martians are also so amalgamated to their sacred land that they can control the wind and create sand storms, and they have that same connection with all of Mars’ creatures, so only they are able to fly Buggalo. Another stereotype addressed and brought to the extreme by Futurama’s writers, was the Native Martians’ use of bad grammar. As the eloquent Mr. Wong says, “I know it them, cos they no use good grammar,” an ironic comment to make no doubt, but yet another effective way to show how the Native Americans were thought of as dumb and incapable of learning anything, and therefore not as great as the white man and hardly human at all. These Native Martians also steal the Wong family’s Buggalo, and then they go as far as to kidnap young Amy Wong and ransom her. This is obviously a reference to the number of documented kidnappings of white colonial settlers by the Indians. The fact that Amy Wong is a woman shows another similarity between these fictional natives and the real ones in our own history. The selected narratives discussed in class describing the experiences that some white women had with the Native Americans, are brought to mind when viewing this comedic commentary. These Native Martians are also aligned with our Native Americans by their “peace pipe” that they force Lt. Kiff Kroker to smoke after he shows his ability to control the Buggalo. The smoking of this peace-pipe takes place inside what looks to be a Native American teepee. Of course, when Kiff accidentally gags on the smoke from the pipe, it is taken by the Martians as a sign of disrespect, so they automatically start to torture him with the one bead their sacred land was traded for centuries ago. “Chief Singing Wind: You have coughed at our offer of peace. So you must die! The very bead used to crush our dreams shall be used to crush your bones.” There in lies the irony, because that one bead turned out to be a gargantuan, priceless diamond. These Native Martians didn’t know they had in their possession such a thing that could have led to the end of their suffering ages ago. Chief Singing Wind goes on to say,
Singing Wind: Hmm. We always thought bead was worthless. We assumed our ancestors were cheated because they not have concept of ownership.
Bender: So we can have the diamond?
Singing Wind: No. We do have concept of ownership. You are free to go. Sorry about all the rustling and kidnapping.
The Native Martians end up taking their diamond and leaving Mars to find a brand new planet that they can buy with their new found fortune. The irony shown here of how they really didn’t care all that much about their “sacred land,” is the writer’s way to bring about a happy ending quickly for this episode. If only it could have been that simple for the Native Americans here on planet Earth.
Even in such a contemporary and bizarre comedy such as Futurama, serious social issues and debates can be touched upon and discussed. It is a strange and unusual feeling to find a connection between class discussions and a well-loved cartoon, but also a befitting notion to finally discover that everything is there for a reason.