Question number 4 really sparked my interest. I mean, you can tell that the Austrian camp counselor has a good heart and he didn’t mean to be offensive by agreeing to be a counselor for the camp. Regarding the question, “What do you think is the purpose behind such a camp” He believes it is to promote brotherhood, unity, and teach young boys to work together. I agree with where he’s coming from and think it’s a good idea. But there are other ways to promote these values in a camp than to make the camp a stereotypical Native American atmosphere. (painting the boys head to foot in stripes, the mud pit wrestling, the loud chanting imitating Indians in the media) I also thought it was pretty embarrassing that he said he could learn about their mentality after watching two or three films. I was embarrassed for him. That made him seem pretty unknowledgeable. If he wanted to run a camp to embody Native American Culture then he would have done his research and not gotten all his thoughts through Hollywood film. Luckily, even though he thought he knew about the “mentality of the natives” at least he got a positive image out of it though- thinking that the point of the films was to show the Indians unity. A practice like this could be harmful because it could be teaching young boys such things as screaming and banging on lunch tables is how Indians always act. Movies should obviously not be trusted as sources for accurate representations of Native Americans, as we learned from the reading. Hollywood films have portrayed many stereotypes, which I won’t list because I’m sure we all know them by now, and it’s sad that not only were there plenty of movies, there are now institutions out there (like this camp) that are keeping the stereotypes alive. (Even if they mean well…)
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