Reader 'choked'

Dear Editor:

It is with disappointment that I write this letter. I have gone over, in my mind, Gary Farmer's demeanor throughout his presentation "Savage: Images of Native Americans in Film" in Calgary and still find myself with the same overall impression.

On the one hand, I with Farmer that Native American misrepresentation in the mainstream media must be addressed. It is a very important issue that needs to be brought to light. At the same time, however, I found myself questioning his style.

Farmer made statements to the affect of "you probably don't know this," directed at the Aboriginal audience. After each, he would point out in some way or other how the audience members did not "know this." In one instance he used "Indian" girls to get his point across. He said he encountered the girls at a movie theater watching Black Robe. He heard them "tsking " during certain parts of the movie and, from this, made the assumption that they did not understand the history of the movie.

Farmer said that, to his understanding, "the animated film Pocahontas is the only film in Disney's history to feature a girl as a sexual. Seductive being." Has he not heard of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He then went on to show a clip from his upcoming film The Gift, which featured a scantily clad, beautiful, young "Indian" maiden who was dancing seductively and sexually, to imitate "Mother Earth" giving birth. What can one make of that?

I certainly went to the presentation expecting to be enlightened on this issue and came away feeling choked by Farmer's general assumptions concerning our First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.

Sandra LaFleur

Calgary