Is Twilight Racist?

Is Twilight Racist?
yet another look/view of the role Native American's play in Twilight and is the depiction of NAs deemed racist? Here's what The Buffalo Post says today. What do you think?


Is Native theme in ‘Twilight’ films racist?
Some professors at the University of Victoria in British Columbia think so.
A forum there in a couple of weeks will examine the question, according to this story by the Victoria Times Colonist:

The [April 21] gathering will look at whether the portrayal of the indigenous character Jacob, who turns into a werewolf, is a breakthrough or perpetuates stereotypes about native men.
“He doesn’t have feathers in his hair and doesn’t live in teepee,” said Janni Aragon, a University of Victoria political science professor.

“So just the fact there are indigenous men in this book and movie is a big thing. We could say that’s a win. But the next step is to say is how are these men portrayed.”

The insanely popular movies, “Twlight,” and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” are based on the insanely popular teen vampire books by Stephenie Meyer.

Werewolves in the series are ostensibly members of the Quileute tribe, and are played in the movie by Native American actors.

As the story notes, the main Quileute character, Jacob Black, is ” muscular, hotheaded, passionate and often dressed in cutoff-style jeans or shorts. That’s in contrast to the very white vampire Edward, who is well-groomed, elegant and rational.”

And, says Sikata Banerjee, a University of Victoria women’s studies professor and associate dean of humanities, Jacob is also portrayed as somewhat childlike – “irrational and emotive, and not really equal in citizenship.”

That, she says, is dangerous, in the way that it reinforces negative stereotypes about indigenous men. What do you think?