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May. 31st, 2006 12:56 amOkay, 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.
( some fairly large panels, and one full page, under the cut. )
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.
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.
( some fairly large panels, and one full page, under the cut. )
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.
