Week 9: Taking Literary Stock

Examining the levels of respect currently held for Indigenous people globally, we have to remain conscientious of the methods in which we interact and pay respect to the cultures of the people's who's land we reside on. In Latin America this is truly evident with the historical to present portrayal of the Indigenous people, we go from castas paintings to Disney, with an advancement unprecedented in its lack of actual speed. This so called advancement is called into question by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart by their calling out of the "Noble Savage" in their essay From the Noble Savage to the Third World. Depicting Disney's representation of the Indigenous people in Mexico, "Aztecland", and representing Indigenous cultural identity through gross appropriation and racism. The essay continues to analyze the harmful stigmas that are represented through the framework which the "Noble Savage" is represented. Although this essay is from 45 years ago, its criticism are as valid as they were then, the frame which Indigenous people of Latin America area "allowed" to exist and represent themselves and their ancestral identity is influenced heavily, if not dictated, by the oftentimes shallow perspective of mainstream media.