Speedy's Blog

JE#1B

The ideological messages encoded into the Lone Ranger were not difficult to identify. The messages that stood out to me were: the White Man is always the savior, and American Indians (or colored folks) are inferior, stupid, and can be easily manipulated to do whatever the white supremacists want and is usually done so with force. I'm sure others have noticed this, but the fact that the faithful Indian companion to the Lone Ranger is named, "Tonto"is striking. It is obviously pronounced in a more American Indian way, but if it were to be pronounced in Spanish, it would be 'tonto' and as a Spanish speaker I know this means, dumb or naive. I don't doubt that this was done intentionally, especially since these Tejanos were also fighting against the Mexicans, whom speak Spanish and probably called them, 'Tontos' at one point, who knows? But, thinking about it, the Lone Rangers loyal friend, Tonto, does seem to be a bit dumb or naive in the sense that he could not defend himself and doesn't have the same type of presence that the Lone Ranger has. I noticed that the episode I watched addressed the fact that American Indians were not the criminals or desperados and it was really the Anglo-American officials whom were the villains. Historically, this portrayal in the Lone Ranger is more accurate, but I don't believe there should be a white savior because, were there any? I don't think so. But, the episode exaggerates the Lone Rangers "good deeds" by having Swift Eagle say, "Swift Eagle and his people will never forget this day" and then ending the episode with, "The Lone Ranger fights on for Justice, Law, and Order". As if justice, law and order were ever achieved or given to the American Indians who suffered the stripping of their culture and land. The episode reveals some truth about what the U.S did to the American Indian population so then the audience is angered yet a little appreciative at the fact that the U.S is not covering the truth up. But then it is romanticized so that the audience is left with a positive view of the U.S because not all Anglo-Americans in the U.S are the same, some are like the Lone Ranger. And by the end of the episode, the harm has been undone because of the Lone Ranger and the audience ceases to be critical or analytical because it came to such a romanticized close. The messages in this show are different to those in Speedy Gonzalez because Speedy actually outwits the nemesis and does not need any saving. However, the other Mexican mice are like the Indians in the Lone Ranger because they need Speedy to save them. I guess the difference would be that the savior in the Lone Ranger is not American Indian and cannot fully relate to the American Indian community, which is why he needs his "loyal companion, Totno",  while the savior in the Looney Tunes series is Speedy Gonzales and he is actually a part of the community that needs the saving.