Ramon: Week 5, Powwow Highway and "Saint Marie"

The characters, Buddy Red Bow, Filbert Bono, and Marie all deal with cultural subordination in vastly different ways. However, the constant within these three character’s paths of subordination is the destruction of their Native American culture.

We will start with Filbert Bono of PowWow Highway. Filbert is an interesting character in this situation because he is somewhat naïve to what is truly going on around him. He is of middle age from what I could gather in the film, but he has a child-like mind. Filbert has the goal of becoming a great Native American warrior. In Filbert’s mind, all he has ever known is the Native American culture. The ironic thing about Filbert’s character is that he tries so hard to become a warrior, but he still is sucked in by Americana. Two large examples of this is his “pony” and his eating styles. His “pony” is a beat up car and the only things that Filbert eats, according to Buddy Red Bow, are hamburgers and fries. When one thinks about Americana, the automobile industry and the fast food industry are the two distinguishing factors of Americana. It I ironic that this Native American warrior journey is laid side by side with two of Americana’s major elements.

We now move to Buddy Red Bow. Red Bow’s situation is also quite ironic. He is so gung-ho about preserving the reservation from the mining scheme and keeping Americana away from the Reservation. He goes so far as to park violence towards the white-man. However, when he and Filbert attend the Powwow, Red Bow states his hate of the Powwow. Granted, Red Bow does partake in ceremonial dancing at the Powwow, but in my examination of this scene, Red Bow joins in the dancing to make Filbert happy.

Lastly, Marie’s character in “Saint Marie” is partnered with another large element in Americana, the Christian religion. This nation was founded on religious principles, but the native inhabitants of the “New World” were pushed back and lowered to third class citizens. This short story made me think about my time in Belize. In Belize, young Mayan women are taken under the wings of multiple religious orders, such as the Palatine Sisters. This is not a knock on the Palatines at all and I am not saying that the Palatines are taking the Mayans away from the Mayan culture. In this story, Marie simply deals with the treatment she undergoes from Sr. Leopolda. I am in full support of the Mayan youth being taken in by the sisters. However, are the Mayans (and Native Americans) being “forced” to do these things and tricked into thinking that doing dishes is for God? I do not know and will not know