Say what Johnny Depp?

[E.P. Grondine]

The Tonto speak doesn't bother me, as Tonto is shown speaking some native language quite fluently with the horse. 

As long as it is shown that English is Tonto's second or third language, it's okay by me.

Optimist that I am, there's hope that anything really, really offensive will be taken out, re-dubbed, or re-shot after the NDN preview audiences comment.

We still have not seen what Tonto looks like in street clothes, if he ever appears that way.

[milehighsalute]

i dont care......its a FICTIONAL character in a movie i probably wont go see. now i would have a problem if they chose a non-native to play geronimo or crazy horse or pope' or any other historical figures.......but tonto is make believe

[tecpaocelotl]

http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/04/johnny-depp-speaks-to-gathering-of.html

More info including a video from Johnny Depp.

[Defend the Sacred]

F*** you, Johnny Depp: http://www.disneystore.com/disney/store/DSIProductDisplay?catalogId=10002&storeId=10051&langId=-1&N=1000395&productId=1332995

[milehighsalute]

F*** you, Johnny Depp: http://www.disneystore.com/disney/store/DSIProductDisplay?catalogId=10002&storeId=10051&langId=-1&N=1000395&productId=1332995

if depp cared so much about the people why didnt he just go make an appearence at GON......hang out....talk to the people....take pics....eat frybread? he was hoping to tap into legit indian who will go see him movie and give him credibility

[Defend the Sacred]

Another take on Johnny Depp's video message to GON: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SahzBTvYjos

[Laurel]

I started a new thread for that one in Comedy Channel--should I take it down?

Also this:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/971456_10151468934797749_1980342397_n.jpg

[Defend the Sacred]

Nah, leave it up. For those who can still laugh at this racism.

Depp shows up at Oklahoma showing, wearing medallion of himself in redface. White children in redface spotted at premier.

https://twitter.com/mizblossom/status/348842842396971008

[Defend the Sacred]

And... he promotes even more negative stereotypes to Rolling Stone:

http://nativeappropriations.com/2013/06/johnny-depp-tells-rolling-stone-more-about-tonto.html#comments

“I wanted him to be no joke. First of all, I wouldn’t f**k with someone with a dead bird on their head. Second of all, he’s got the f**king paint on his face, which scares me…I wanted to maybe give some hope to kids on the reservations. They’re living without running water and seeing problems with drugs and booze. But I wanted to be able to show these kids, ‘F**k that! You’re still warriors, man.’”

Guess Johnny boy doesn't know there are still warrior societies. As well as a fairly wide range of economic situations on different reserves and reservations. But of course, he probably saw Diane Sawyer's "drunk and penniless" poverty porn and thinks that's how all NDNs live.  Totally colonial of him to think he's the one to inspire kids by playing a character called "stupid" who talks like he has a head injury. F him.

[catbus]

Nah, leave it up. For those who can still laugh at this racism.

Depp shows up at Oklahoma showing, wearing medallion of himself in redface. White children in redface spotted at premier...

Guess Johnny boy doesn't know there are still warrior societies. As well as a fairly wide range of economic situations on different reserves and reservations. But of course, he probably saw Diane Sawyer's "drunk and penniless" poverty porn and thinks that's how all NDNs live.  Totally colonial of him to think he's the one to inspire kids by playing a character called "stupid" who talks like he has a head injury. F him.

Serious, hits the nail on the head. I hope Mr. Depp would encounter such sentiments and turn 'red-face' in embarrasment for his own foolishness and hypocrisy in this role.

[E.P. Grondine]

It makes you gasp...

It is clear that Disney missed a wonderul opportunity to bring back the "real" life human Tonto we knew as children.

Instead, we have a Tonto and Lone Ranger who are fantasy comic book characters in the same mold as Pirate Jack.

(I do not know if Depp can act the role of  a mere mortal now.)

In making this decision Disney used up an opportunity to provide young people with role models, and I think that it is likely that it is this loss that irritates many.
 
As far as the stereotyping goes, it reminds me of that quote from that author whose nme I can not remember (and please help me out here)  that now NDNs are portrayed as keepers of hidden mystic knowledge.

[E.P. Grondine]

Sometimes all you can do is laugh. Reposted from Comedy with props and thanks to Laurel.

Hysterical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SahzBTvYjos

In my view, the only way to judge the current Tonto will be as a fantasy figure.

[E.P. Grondine]

And old The Lone Ranger and Tonto took on New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans:

http://youtu.be/94vjNOC5t-Q

If one had money, copies of the original films, and a lot of computer time,
one could put them in HD, edit the action, music, and sound, and colorize them, then stream them out.

Oh well...

[Epiphany]

Before there was the Lone Ranger and Tonto, there was… Elizabeth Key and Chief Kanagatucko? New research from Ancestry.com reveals both Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp – the leading actors of Walt Disney Pictures’ “The Lone Ranger” – are direct descendants of two real American freedom fighters. Armie Hammer Is Descended from Cherokee Chief Kanagatucko and Johnny Depp’s 8th Great-Grandmother Is Elizabeth Key, the first African-American Slave to Sue for Freedom

-

Who Was Elizabeth Key?
Unlike Johnny Depp’s vigilante character Tonto, his ancestor Elizabeth Key worked within the law to win her freedom. Born to a British Aristocrat father and an African American mother, Key successfully sued for her freedom and that of her infant son in the mid-1600s. Invoking British colonial law, which stated that civil status as being determined by the father, she won her freedom on July 21, 1656 in the colony of Virginia, where some of Depp’s family members have lived since the early 1600s.

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2013/06/26/lone-ranger-heroes-hammer-depp-family-trees/

So Johnny Depp's genealogy has been worked up by professionals, notice that there is no mention of any NDN heritage.

[Otter3]

Before there was the Lone Ranger and Tonto, there was… Elizabeth Key and Chief Kanagatucko? New research from Ancestry.com reveals both Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp – the leading actors of Walt Disney Pictures’ “The Lone Ranger” – are direct descendants of two real American freedom fighters. Armie Hammer Is Descended from Cherokee Chief Kanagatucko and Johnny Depp’s 8th Great-Grandmother Is Elizabeth Key, the first African-American Slave to Sue for Freedom

-

Who Was Elizabeth Key?
Unlike Johnny Depp’s vigilante character Tonto, his ancestor Elizabeth Key worked within the law to win her freedom. Born to a British Aristocrat father and an African American mother, Key successfully sued for her freedom and that of her infant son in the mid-1600s. Invoking British colonial law, which stated that civil status as being determined by the father, she won her freedom on July 21, 1656 in the colony of Virginia, where some of Depp’s family members have lived since the early 1600s.

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2013/06/26/lone-ranger-heroes-hammer-depp-family-trees/

So Johnny Depp's genealogy has been worked up by professionals, notice that there is no mention of any NDN heritage.

In this article (June 30, 2013) the NDN heritage is discussed again in detail.

In today's San Francisco Chronicle, "Depp defying horse, skeptics to play Tonto" by Michael Ordona.    Quote from article:  "Depp has often invoked his own ancestry in expressing his desire to 'redress the balance of the way they have been mistreated in cinema.'  His great-grandmother Mae Sloan would tell him as a boy of his American Indian blood, although the actor is unsure of the tribe, Creek or Cherokee." 

Depp's Tonto appearance is based on a painting by (white artist) Kirby Sattler, "I am Crow."  Depp says that when he saw the painting, at first thought that the crow was his headdress, but then he realized the crow was flying behind him.  But he liked the idea of the crow as a headdress for Tonto, who is viewed as an eccentric by his own people. 

And,  another quote from Depp:  "..They [the Commanche and Navajo] may have nothing, but they'll give you a piece of turquoise that has been in their family for 200 years.  I've never met a warmer people."

Ugh.