(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

Okay, so I got to replying to comments in that post I did yesterday about the use and abuse of Maori culture in non-NZ works. I was specifically thinking of issues 16 and 17 of the Gotham Knights comic, written by Devin Grayson and set in the DCU (that's Batman & Robin, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but not Spiderman, the Hulk, or the X-Men.) I really liked GK a lot when I read it, and I like Grayson's writing a whole heap as a rule; but parts of these did kind of grate on me, so I went through and scanned a few bits to explain why.

So, Batman is angsting away in Gotham in normal Batman styles, pausing occasionally to fight a little crime, when he runs into this dude calling himself Matatoa. Matatoa claims not to be Maori but to have spent a lot of time with them, and wants to - surprise! - kill Batman and eat his soul. The Maori culture related stuff in these issues can be split into roughly three sections: the actually pretty good, the wtf, and the out of my country NOW.


So. The good is mostly some reasonably fair moko art:



This one's from the cover, and it's really not too bad. The moko on his face probably aren't really deeply accurate, but they at least look authentic; he also has a bunch of other tats, but it's not unbelievable or even unlikely that this guy would be big into body mutilation so. (joke, guys.)



Nothing wrong with that art there at all.

The wtf:



I'm willing to keep giving them the benefit of the doubt for the so very not Maori tattoos, but I'm not sure whether they were intended to look authentic or not. For what it's worth, they don't.



I, uh. Okay, so it is possible Matatoa was intended to be an Australian who popped over to Aotearoa for a bit of a learn-up and live-in. He says "mate" a lot, for one thing (although I've noticed this used as a marker for almost any non-American English-speaking country, including Canada.)

Or, on the other hand, Ms Grayson was really, really confused. Facepalm, continue.

The awful:



It is possible that a freaking blowpipe was not intended to be read as a Maori weapon. But there's only so much benefit of the doubt I can give. BLOWPIPES BLOWPIPES BLOWPIPES, OUT OUT OUT.



*crying* Okay, where do I start?
a) TOTEM POLES.
b) WAR DANCES AROUND A FIRE. WITH TOTEM POLES.
c) EVERYONE AND HIS DOG HAS A MOKO (For non-NZers: moko are signs of age and mana and prestige and they are intended to be meaningful. They're not to be used as markers of OOH LOOK A PRIMITIVE.)
d) FUR. FUR ON THEIR BACKS. All together, everyone: New Zealand has exactly how many large mammals?

NONE. We have one native mammal and it is a bat, hur hur, and there are not enough of them to make one coat out of.

[ETA: sixth_light suggests seal fur cloaks. Okay, if that looks like seal fur to you, I'm willing to let that one slide. But it doesn't. The other possibility of course is feather cloaks, which are and were incredibly valuable, so NO.]

e) TOTEM POLES.
f) It is actually not possible to "live with the Maori". Particularly not in crazy longhouse teepee things, which they never lived in, but in general, there is no "the Maori." Maori do not live on reservations, they live in cities and on farms. Maori don't dance around war fires (not that they ever, ever did), they march on Parliament and are also very influential politicians. They play rugby and make movies and work in banks and libraries and offices and shops and go to university and make money and go on the dole and do everything everyone else in this counry does. They also don't wear grass skirts, ever, except for kapa haka performances.
g) On the other hand, matatoa actually does mean fearless and the idea of the moko as a spiritual quality is almost interesting, as are some of the resonances this page stirs associated with things like ritualised cannibalism.



Shaman. Medicine man. These are american concepts. They are concepts that have no place in the South Pacific. Please, please, please think a little before you use words that you associate with indigenous cultures, and check that those words are associated with all indigenous cultures. You could have Don effing Brash read this and tell you that these were not the appropriate words to use.



So, in conclusion: the whole thing is a mishmash of imagery associated with a lot of different indigenous cultures, pretty much like someone wanted something vaguely ethnic and specifically First Peoples - hence blowpipes and totem poles. The sad thing is, some of it was absolutely right... it just didn't make up for the sheer awfulness of shaman. A little research would have fixed so much. It's also possible to fanwank this into something mostly vaguely believable, taking care of, say, the kookaburras and possibly the depiction of the Maori as a primitive culture. You have to make Matatoa an Australian whaler from the 1800s, but you can do it. But some of these sins are unforgiveable, like totem poles, and war dances, and medicine man. These are blatant borrowings from Native American culture (possibly even Native American pop culture misconceptions) and they're ridiculous and offensive and they would have been easy to avoid. Really.

AND! four pages that I really like a lot about these issues, because I really do.

Nightwing runs into Matatoa and starts to give him a beating, including some pretty good banter.

And Bruce has something he finds difficult to say. And this is almost what made me angriest: this whole kerfuffle happened for an absolute landmark moment.

Comments

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

Actually, 'Shaman' isn't a Native American word, it comes from the Sami (Laps).

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*wince* Okay, a NORTH HEMISPHERE word. :P

I bow to your auperior knowledge of, like. Stuff.

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine a Maori elder passing things on to his son. I was fairly sure that it was involved procedure to become the next one.

That whole conversation seemed wierd to me.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

sixth_light says the same thing, and it did hit me as odd, but I don't know enough about tohunga and so forth to hold forth an opinion. But prevailing sentiment agrees with you. :P

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

Hey, maybe Batman was just wrong about the passing it down to his son thing. As for the timing... the shirt he's wearing in the first panel does, as Hayley points out, seem modern, but it -could- concievably be the early 20th century, when it might still have been possible to find Maori living in pretty much undisturbed tribal communities... who knows.

The blowpipe could just be something he'd picked up somewhere, too.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Except for the Batman thing- Batman is never wrong, especially not when he's making Emotional Speeches - you're right, a lot of the problems can be handwaved away into "Well, he's immortal, so maybe that was ages ago" and "well, maybe he picked up the blowpipe somewhere" and "well, maybe he really likes tattoos" and "well, maybe he;s really from Australia" and that kind of thing. But I find that frustrating because it seems to me to be missing the point. Yes, a lot of the problems can be explained away, but that doesn't mean they're not problems to start out with. One or two of these things, as you say, can be explained away; but all of them together is less a couple of forgiveable errors and more a giant mess of pick-and-mix culture.

As pleasant as playing devil's advocate is, I can't really buy into the idea that Devin Grayson thought that hard about it, or that the majority of readers were intended to read, say, that page as being set in the early 1900s, or Matatoa as being specifically Australian who has spent time in New Zealand. And authorial intent counts for a lot with me.

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that was educational.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*grin* Really? If so, perhaps my rants aren't the massive drain of resources I usually consider them! Education is occurring!

Of course, it's occurring in the people who need it least. But hey, it's a start.

PS: I feel like I should disclaimer: I really know very, very little about the Maori and Maori culture. I know enough to know what's wrong, but none of the subtleties or anything; I wish I could rec a really great place to find out more for those who are interested. Maybe I'll ask around...

[dukesnorre.livejournal.com]

Still you know more than, say, I do. :P

[cactus-cat.livejournal.com]

*cringes* Painful.

It is actually not possible to "live with the Maori". Particularly not in crazy longhouse teepee things, which they never lived in, but in general, there is no "the Maori." Maori do not live on reservations, they live in cities and on farms.

Isn't it possible that that flashback was before we pakeha came to NZ? He does say "In order to stay alive -- forever". Or is there other evidence that he hasn't lived long enough?

You can just imagine the writer reading it back to him/herself as "may-OR-i". *shudders*

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Isn't it possible that that flashback was before we pakeha came to NZ? He does say "In order to stay alive -- forever". Or is there other evidence that he hasn't lived long enough?

I'll admit, that hadn't occurred to me and it is possible. Except... gah, I don't know, he's wearing that bandana in all the shots of him, and they're modern, right? ;) Okay, heh, no, you could be right. But it seems impled to me this is all now.

EW OMG YES.

[cactus-cat.livejournal.com]

I don't think bandannas are a recent invention - but then, it is entirely possible that I watch too many pirate movies. ;) Not having read the comic, I couldn't comment on the timeline, but from what you've posted I'd say that it's unclear.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*grin* Okay, maybe he was a whaler! That actually fits, right? And they're definitely like pirates...

The timeline is about as specific in the comic as it is in the pages given here, which kind of leads me to think that it's intended to be set semi-recently. As I said to amarynth, while a lot of it can be explained away, I have a feeling that if Matatoa was supposed to be a whaler, he would have been called a whaler; if that scene was supposed to have been set well into the past, it would have been explicitly set in the past; if Matatoa was supposed to be an Aussie, hence kookaburra, he would have called himself an Aussie. (That "kookaburra" really seems to me to be trying to add a kind of "native" flavour to his dialogue. That the culture kookaburras are native to is totally different to any of the other cultures he seems to be representing really reads like a mistake to me.)

[cactus-cat.livejournal.com]

Hmm... looking closer, the shirt he's wearing in the first panel with the Maori looks quite modern. Not really conclusive evidence, but still.

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.

*cringes*

I have to say, some are indeed better than I had expected. Some are waaay below expectations though :S

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

The inconsistencies- especially in the art- are the worst, because it just shows that it could have been done well. *shrug*

[blademistress.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

Totem polls... *dies all over again* I'd really really like to try and argue those are the wooden carvings they have (I so know their name, but it's left my head) but it's just so obviously a totem poll I can't.

Their mokos suck. Isn't it about how only cheifs have them, and they do them in part, not in a whole go. And I'm pretty sure they use the lines of their face as a guide, which is why no two are exactly the same...

Blowpipes *giggles* that's so dumb, seeing as some of the actual Maori weapons are awesome. Like the greenstone stuff, which really will freaking kill you.

I'm betting they even cook their food on that fire.


This still isn't as bad as some of the crap I've heard, like someone trying to tell me they went surfing in Milford Sound (yeah the lake) and then when I tried to explaining adamantly insisting.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I'd really really like to try and argue those are the wooden carvings they have (I so know their name, but it's left my head) but it's just so obviously a totem poll I can't.

Ditto. I think it's something about their shape which really is pretty good, except I'm fairly sure they're not supposed to be, like, free-standing.

Isn't it about how only chiefs have them, and they do them in part, not in a whole go.
I thiiiink so, although what I know about moko I could fit in a smallish paper bag. OTOH, Matatoa at least seems to have, um, inherited his from the chief he killed, so the all-in-one-go thing is okay.

Blowpipes *giggles* that's so dumb, seeing as some of the actual Maori weapons are awesome. Like the greenstone stuff, which really will freaking kill you.

I learned the other week that there are a whole bunch of motions used in kapa haka dances with, I think they're called "patu"? The smallish club-like things? Anyway, the motions associated with those were used specifically to chop the top of someone's head off. juicy stuff. ;)

This still isn't as bad as some of the crap I've heard, like someone trying to tell me they went surfing in Milford Sound (yeah the lake) and then when I tried to explaining adamantly insisting.

... bzuh? Uh... jetskiing, maybe?

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

As far as I am aware, warriors would slowly get more moko on their face and important women would get the chin thing.

It's very much related to one's standing and history, not just an aesthetic or rite of passage therefore all end up with one.

Patu are the small clubs, but I find the long wooden spears (Taiaha) way more impressive. The whirring sound at the beginning of Once Were Warriors is Taiaha spinning at speed.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

(finally playing catchup on these, plz to excuse delays)

but I find the long wooden spears (Taiaha) way more impressive.

Ditto. But I'm pretty sure you can't make taiaha out of greenstone. There are some super-cool scenes with taiaha in Whale Rider (which apparently varies a bit from tribe to tribe)

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

You fail at Kiwiness. You do not know your Footrot Flats.

If you did, you would have noted that Rangi Jones spends much time in the earlier books trying to make the Dog into a dogskin cloak. Yeah, we don't have native land mammals, but we do have fur seals and kuri, both of which were routinely skinned for clothing. So they get a pass on that one.

Also: IIRC, being a tohunga was not patrilineal, it was an apprenticeship deal. Not much passing down to sons. Just passing down. There, they fail.

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

I love the second picture. Very standard Taniwha sort of drawing.

I like the idea that he's an Aussie who's adopted some of the look just for show. It explains the adapted tattoos and so on. Also, if he was back in the old days, he could've escaped from the prison.

Well, there are authentic poles. Usually they're part of a building, though. Pou.

I am giving benefit of the doubt, but maybe it was a meeting of chiefs? I'll give them that one for effect, though, as art-wise it looks cooler.

The fur... better than expected. Though possibly they shouldn't all be wearing them. Again, creative license.

I was thinking this was back in Cannibal Jack's time*, of early settlers and so on. Is it supposed to be modern? *headdesk*

Shaman and Medicine Man are unforgivable.

*The guy who first built our pub. Apparently he wasn't a cannibal, but he got the nickname because he hunted and lived with the locals.

Hey... You are AWESOME!!

[(Anonymous)]

Just wanted to tell you the truth in my ever-recognizable American tongue. Stepped in here after a while away... I'm glad you pick up on things like this...in comic book. You should write them a letter and let them know all this. By the way, will you marry me in the next life? :-)

I can't get enough people to realize how awful and offensive X-Men 3 is, will you help me??

Best,
Michael D.