Journal Entry6

Several days ago, I found a piece of news which is about Native Americans. In this news, the author tells us that Native Americans have one-sided portrayals in Hollywood for a long time, including such stereotypical characters as the war-whooping savage or the grunting tribesman, and many Native American people are trying to write their own scripts now.
The news takes two people who are both Indian people and artists for example. One is Charlie Hill. He is a comedian. He says that a TV stereotype still stands out in Hill's mind. Like the show The Lone Ranger in 1950s, there was an Indian character Tonto in the show, and to Hill, Tonto belonged to no tribal nation, was "just a generic Indian that was created by the white man." And Hill says that they are indoctrinated that they don't know better. When people think about Indians, they always think about Tonto who was just “Ugh, me not know”. When Hill became comedian, people also liked to make him do like Tonto and wear traditional Indian clothes.
Another person is Elaine Miles. She played on the 1990s TV show Northern Exposure. She says she idolized the Mazola girl who has magical power, just like a stereotype about Native American spirituality like New Age drum circles, power crystals and silken dream catchers. Through her character Marilyn, Miles hopes she has represented herself and her culture well to future generations. Miles says she wants more roles that counter stereotypes of Indians.
But maybe Hill tells the truth, he says he would be out of work if all misperceptions of native people disappeared.

When I read this news, I think of the aboriginal Taiwanese. When it comes to aboriginal Taiwanese, people usually think that they are good at singing and sport, cheerful but thoughtless, like to drink and not suit to the job which asks more knowledge or higher education. We knows lots of good singers and athletes who are aboriginal Taiwanese and take this thing for granted, but if there was a aboriginal Taiwanese who won the math competition, people would think that it was surprised.
People also associate aboriginal Taiwanese with their traditional clothes, houses and handicrafts, so when we come to some tribes, we can see those native Taiwanese in their traditional clothes, making a performance and selling some special handicrafts. They do these things, keep an appearance that their life never change to save their culture and, I think, to make money for their livelihood.
Sometimes people have pity for those aboriginal Taiwanese and think that we should break those stereotypes. It is true that some of those stereotypes are ridiculous and they make aboriginal Taiwanese get limitation and trouble when they find the job. However, just like Hill says that he would be out of work if all misperceptions of aboriginal people disappeared, some aboriginal Taiwanese earn a living by those stereotypes. Some tribes were demanded to keep their tradition house intact, even though many of them live the life just like us. It is such a strange thing. Maybe when people(including aboriginal Taiwanese) say that everyone should break those stereotypes, we should consider this contradictory situation.