JE #1B

Through watching "The Lone Ranger" for the first time, I realized how bigoted the media has been since the production of Television. I hadn't heard of this series but I was intrigued at seeing the way in which Indians were depicted in comparison to the white men. This episode (and probably the whole series) clearly displays "The white savior complex," in which white folks feel entitled to be the saviors/heroes of those who may be oppressed. In this episode, there are various clues that showcase the way in which white men abuse and torment the Indians. And there is also the rare white man who fights for justice (as shown through the character of The Lone Ranger) and in turn saves the Indians. It's upsetting to think that such series could show the way in which white men helped out the Indians, but neglects the fact that they were the primary reason for the dissolution of their lands, homes, customs, traditions through the mass genocide of Native Americans. In addition, one can also analyze the way in which the characters spoke. The white men generally spoke eloquently with whole sentences, whereas, the characters that identified as Indians often spoke in broken English, I think this is reflective of society today among the Latin@ community. The media often shows Latin@s/Chican@s as monolingual Spanish speakers and/or with little to no knowledge of the English language, thus making them appear incompetent and less than their white counterparts. Lastly, one of the white men mention deportation when addressing the Indians held hostage by saying that they will be, "...deported to the Florida Everglades," this is important to note because it is also very reflective of the way in which law enforcement has overused their power by deporting a record number of undocumented folks in the United States (ugh obama.) Much like recent times, the thought of removing the Indians from the only land they know correlates with the current battle with lack of immigration reform and deportations in the United States.