Role of Native Americans in the Early Foundations

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Role of Native Americans in the Early Foundations

• The Mission
• Last of the Mohicans

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(No Transcript)
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Film Information

• 1986 Film by Roland Joffe
• Also known for The Killing Fields, Fat Man and
  Little Boy, The Scarlett Letter and the episodes
  of the new History Channel series, Texas Rising.
• Joffe is nominated for the Oscar for Directing
  The Killing Fields and The Mission
• The Mission is nominated for several Oscars but
  wins for Cinematography

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Basic Story

• The action takes place in South America in the
  18th century. Two great colonial forces are
  competingthere are the imperialist plunderers,
  who want to establish a trade in riches and
  slaves, there are the missionaries, who want to
  convert the Indians to Christ.
• Mendoza (Robert De Niro) begins the story as a
  slave trader who needs forgiveness after he
  murders his own brother. After a Damascus
  conversion, he joins the Jesuit priesthood.
• Mendoza and the leader of Jesuits Father Gabriel
  (Jeremy Irons) seek to protect the Guarani
  people.

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Who are the Guarani people?

• PRONUNCIATION gwah-rah-NEES
• LOCATION Paraguay Brazil
• When the Spanish first arrived, many Guaranís
  helped them in their wars against other Indian
  groups. Many Spanish men married Guaraní women
  which produced the Paraguayans of today.
• Guaraní groups fell under the control of the
  Spanish and the encomienda system.
• War, conquest, and European diseases have
  destroyed much of the Guaraní population. The
  more traditional groups continue to live a
  lifestyle of simple and basic needs, such as food
  and shelter. Some of these Guaranís live mainly
  apart from the cash economy. There is an active
  trade in basic implements for hunting, fishing,
  and cooking.

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This movie is based on real events!

• Based on difficulties between the Guarani people
  and the Portuguese between the 1630s and 1750s
  .
• Although the film combines a series of histories
  into 1 film, you can see indication of the Battle
  of Mborore (1641) the Guarani War of 1754-1756
  and various rebellions in-between.

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The Jesuits

• The Jesuits had become a very powerful force in
  Latin America. The Spanish and Portuguese saw the
  Jesuits as enemies. Spain feared them because
  their loyalty was to the Catholic Church, and not
  to Spain. Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola,
  pledged poverty to help others.

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Historical Inaccuracies

• The characters of Father Gabriel and Rodrigo
  Mendoza are fictional.
• The Jesuits never disobeyed the orders of the
  Church.
• Jesuits never assisted the Guarani against the
  Spain/Portugal.
• The Guarani were not as submissive as shown in
  the film

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The WaterfallPuerto Iguazu, Misiones,
ArgentinaFoz do Iguassu, Parana, Brazil
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The Last of the Mohicans
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Film Information

• 1992 Film by Director Michael Mann
• Heat, The Insider, Ali, Miami Vice, Public
  Enemies and Blackhat (2015)
• Won the Academy Award for Best Sound (1992)
• 40 Million dollar budget, 75.5 million NA Box
  office return.

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Last of the Mohicans

• Part of James Fennimore Coopers series The
  Leatherstocking Tales
• The first best selling novel in the United
  States.
• 1st published in 1826
• Other Books-The Deerslayer, The Pathfinder, The
  Inland Sea, The Pioneers, The Prairie

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The Many Names of Natty Bumpo

• In the Book The Last of the Mohicans he is
  called Hawkeye or La Longue Carabine or Long
  Rifle
• In the rest of the series he is called, Natty
  Bumpo
• In the movie, he is called Nathaniel

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Basic Story

• The story takes place in 1757, during the French
  and Indian War
• Hawk-eye and his Indian friends come to the
  rescue of Cora and Alice, the daughters of a
  British colonel fighting the French and their
  Native American allies for control over the North
  American colonies.

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Major differences between the movie and the book

• The book is not a sexual escapade
• In Coopers book the relationship between the
  Duncan Heyward and Hawk-eye is not strained, both
  are willing to give of each other to survive
• There is no rivalry between Heyward and Hawk-eye

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Hawk-eye and Chingachgook

• Hawk-eye is the adopted white son of Chingachgook
  but is much older than portrayed in the movie

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Duncan and Alice Sitting in a Tree

• In the book Duncan fancies Alice instead of
  Cora.
• Cora is the dark-haired daughter who is most
  likely mixed-raced

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• Col. Munro and Duncan Heyward both live
• Cora is stabbed to death
• Uncas is killed by Magua but Hawk-eye kills Magua

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• Were you surprised by the lack of care and
  concern towards the Jesuits in the film The
  Mission? (Consider that Portugal was a Catholic
  Nation) Why or why not with examples?
• Compare and contrast European attitudes towards
  Native Americans in the films, The Mission and
  Last of the Mohicans.
• What are the major similarities in the outcomes
  of The Mission and Last of the Mohicans.
• Which film did you enjoy more, why? At least 3
  specific reasons and explanations.

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• Was Chingachgook (The father Mohican) correct
  that even his frontier white son, Nathanial,
  would soon find the world too difficult for him?
  Explain.
• Was the end of the Native American way of life an
  inevitability due to European settlement? Yes/No
  with examples?
• Looking at the stereotypes of Native Americans
  discussed before we began the film viewingstoic,
  angry, doomed, find examples of each in the film
  Last of the Mohicans.
• Consider the end of the film, The Last of the
  Mohicans, the film was released in 1992, describe
  at least 3 instances that filmmakers may have
  added or changed to better relate to a modern
  audience with modern knowledge of the outcomes of
  Native Americans.