The Desire to Crunch Bone: Daniel David Moses and the “True Real Indian”
When there was talk in 1970 of adding the name of Chief Dan George to the list of Oscar nominees for his performance in the film Little Big Man, the idea was quashed by a Los Angeles movie critic who, with what seemed like breathtaking logic at the time, pointed out that “it would be ridiculous to g...
| Published in: | Canadian Theatre Review |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
1993
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ctr.77.004 https://ctr.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/ctr.77.004 |
| Summary: | When there was talk in 1970 of adding the name of Chief Dan George to the list of Oscar nominees for his performance in the film Little Big Man, the idea was quashed by a Los Angeles movie critic who, with what seemed like breathtaking logic at the time, pointed out that “it would be ridiculous to give an Academy Award to an Indian for playing an Indian” (Lucas 75). This remark, while asinine, does point to a recurring and difficult problem in the critical analysis of Native theatre, namely, the issue of “Indianness” and how it affects both how Native performance is received by an audience and what Native playwrights choose to dramatize. Is a Native playtext or an individual Native actor’s performance more “Indian” if it is perceived by an audience to tell the “truth” about Native identity? And what determines the boundaries of the perception of truth in these cases? By centring on the work of the Delaware First Nations playwright Daniel David Moses, I hope to suggest some ways in which Native playwrights like Moses hold funhouse mirrors up to our own desires for “real Indians” in Canadian theatre. |
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