San Francisco Chronicle VIEW 'Apocalypto' does disservice to its subjects Zachary X. Hruby, Special to The Chronicle Monday, December 11, 2006 "Apocalypto," Mel Gibson's new thriller about the ancient Maya civilization, is exactly that: thrilling. But this entertainment comes at a price.Yeah, the price of a ticket. I bet now I'm going to have to explain how Hollywood movies are supposed to be simplified entertainment. Of course, they have a responsibility to generally get it right, but by the nature of cinema, simplification MUST occur.
The Maya at the time of Spanish contact are depicted as idyllic hunters and gatherers, or as genocidal murderers, and neither of these scenarios is accurate.So, there were absolutely no hunter-gatherers in all of South America during the period in which the Mayan Empire existed? I'm no historian, but I hardly think depicting one village of hunter-gatherers equates to committing a grievous misrepresentation of the Mayan people.
The film represents a step backward in our understanding of the complex cultures that existed in the New World before the Spanish invasion, and it is part of a disturbing trend re-emerging in the film industry, portraying non-Western natives as evil savages.The catch is that the film's heroes--the lead characters were portrayed as every day humans--people who work, play, joke, love and have healthy lives with each other. Don't get me wrong, I am aware that Hollywood still portrays "the other" as savage, evil--but this film, I found to be fairly balanced. The "country" folk are peaceful and the "city" folk are violent. Last time I checked, in America, to this day, the dynamics are still portrayed (some would say accurately) as such.
"King Kong" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" show these natives as uncaring, beastlike and virtually inhuman. "Apocalypto" achieves similar goals, but in a much subtler fashion.I agree with the interpretation of those other films, but the characters in Apocalypto, in my judgment were far from "beastlike" certainly when compared to the islanders in King Kong.
As in "The Passion of the Christ," Gibson utilizes native language to invoke a veneer of credibility for his story, in this case Yucatec Maya, a technique that unfortunately does much to legitimize this rather strange version of Maya history.I can't wait to hear how this version of Maya history is "rather strange." I hope this guy has stacks of evidence, so I can learn more about Maya history.
First, a typical Maya village is shown as an unorganized group of jungle people who appear to subsist on hunting alone.True enough. There was nothing in the film about the lead characters farming, or practicing any sort of local politics, though the lead characters father does seem to have some sort of leadership role. Though I think such exploration of politics and farming may have taken away from the message of the film--that power corrupts and simple is better (that's what I got from the movie, anyway).
The Maya were an agricultural people with a very structured social and economic system.I didn't see anything that contradicted this. There are scenes where we see other Mayans on farmland, just not the lead characters.
Even small villages in the hinterlands of large cities were connected to some political center.OK, but are you saying that a truly tiny village like the one in the movie could not have existed? I think this is a little bit like saying a tiny town in the middle of rural Alabama would have close ties to the state capital. Possible, I suppose, but in the lives of these "country folk" it would seem to be unlikely.
The jungle people in Gibson's movie are flabbergasted at the sight of the Maya city, exclaiming that they have never seen such buildings.I don't have a perfect memory, but I don't remember them speaking of the city at all. They were tied to bamboo poles by their necks and were generally silent during their captivity. They did speak but only a couple of lines of dialog and I don't remember them talking about how they had never seen such buildings.
The truth is, pyramids of comparable size were never more than 20 kilometers away from anywhere in the Maya world, be they occupied or abandoned.20 kilometers was a long way back then--I'm not sure I've ever traveled that far on foot and I know people who have never walked beyond the borders of Los Angeles, which I'm not sure is much larger than 20 kilometers (actually, I have no idea how big LA is).
Second, Mayan city people are shown as violent extremists bent on harvesting innocent villagers to provide flesh for sacrifice and women for slaves, leaving the children to die alone in the jungle.No, just some of them were. Many were portrayed as rich, "cultured" people with amazing costumes, make-up and body jewelry. The sequences in the city were fascinating because of the various people they portrayed. The political leaders of the city were the ones portrayed as violent extremists bent on harvesting innocent villagers to provide flesh for sacrifice. These same politicians turn around and lie to their people saying that the men who were about to be sacrificed were brave, willing warriors. Believe it or not, this is Mel making a statement about politics, here. The city-dwellers, trusting their leaders, believed them, much like modern day Americans have been known to trust their leaders when they probably shouldn't.
Hundreds of men are sacrificed on an Aztec-style sacrificial stone,Well, that I can't judge as I couldn't tell you the difference between Aztec and Maya sacrificial stones. I understood that all South American cultures of that time period practiced ritual human sacrifice.
their headless bodies thrown into a giant ditch reminiscent of a Holocaust documentary or a scene from "The Killing Fields."Ah, here's where we get to an interesting point. Suggesting that there is no way Mayans could not be these same kind of genocidal murderers as Nazis suggests a sort of inverted racism where the Maya are not subject to the same emotions of greed, hate and racism as the white man is. This suggests that the white man is the source of all corruption in the world. Now, I'll admit to some of that corruption sourced with us pale-skin types, but come on--fighting racism with racism? But back to the giant ditch of decapitated bodies...
Problem is, there exists no archaeological, historic or ethnohistoric data to suggest that any such mass sacrifices -- numbering in the thousands, or even hundreds -- took place in the Maya world.But plenty of artwork depicting such acts or else where would we get the idea that any human sacrifice occured at all? This is can be justified by realizing that Mel Gibson doesn't make films that are historical documents--he tells fables, legends--simplifying historical events in the interest of making a more exciting story (and thus making it more likely to be seen again and again). Come on, didn't you go to film school? ;)
Third, once Gibson paints this bloody picture of 15th century Maya civilization, the ultimate injustice is handed the pre-Columbian Maya. As the jungle hero escapes the evil city and is chased to the edge of the sea by his antagonists, with literally nowhere else to turn, Spanish galleons appear, complete with a small, lead boat carrying a stalwart friar hoisting a crucifix. For Gibson, the new beginning for these lost Mayan people, the Apocalypto, evidently is the coming of the Spaniards and Christianity to the Americas.OK, you DEFINITELY saw a DIFFERENT MOVIE FROM ME. The scene that he describes above that I saw depicts the lead character at the end of a long series of obstacles that threaten his life and indirectly the lives of his family. His final two pursuers have caught up to him but all three are distracted by the European ships. The film's hero realizes his pursuers are distracted by the men on small boats coming ashore, so he quietly backs into the forest and rescues his wife. As the hero and his wife climb a nearby hill, overlooking the ships, the wife asks her husband if they should see who these new people are. The lead character thinks for a moment and then says something like "No, let's go into the forest... where we can find a new beginning." Tell me how you get that Mel is saying the Europeans are the "new beginning" for the Maya. Seriously--the lead characters are heading away from the Europeans!! How is this an example of the primitive savages finding a new beginning with the white men?? Besides that, everyone knows that the Mayan Empire no longer exists--so, how could the Europeans' arrival be a good thing for the Maya if the Maya aren't even around any more?
Although this film will undoubtedly create interest in the field of Maya archaeology by way of its spectacular reconstructions and beautiful jungle scenes, the lasting impression of Maya and other pre-Columbian civilizations is this: The Maya were simple jungle bands or bloodthirsty masses duped by false religions, resulting in the ruin of their mighty but misguided civilization, and their salvation arrived with the coming of Christian beliefs saddled on the backs of Spanish conquistadors.The "salvation" of the Maya people is not represented in this film. Once again, if moviegoers are aware of the single fact that the Mayan Empire went extinct around this time period, I fail to see how the film infers that "salvation" arrived with the white man. If anything Mel is suggesting with this film that if we're not careful we might end up like the Maya--as the author of the opinion piece says, " The Maya were simple jungle bands or bloodthirsty masses duped by false religions". Often times filmmakers will provide commentary about modern society or politics by presenting examples of past cultures. Look at MASH and how it commented on the Vietnam War despite being about the Korean War. In my opinion, this is Mel's point. Issues and fear and political corruption do appear in this film, so that's how I take it.
As archaeologists struggle to accurately reconstruct ancient Maya society, obstructed by their decimation via Western diseases; destruction of their books, art and history by Spanish friars; and their subjugation and exploitation by the conquistadors,I find it pretty messed up that you failed to mention the genocide by Europeans... Just "subjugation and exploitation".
such films as "Apocalypto" represent a significant disparagement of that process.I disagree. This film will invariably inspire some to seek out more regarding the Mayan People. ANY film about the Maya is going to have some sort of positive impact especially when not every Mayan is portrayed as a bloodthirsty maniac. Mayans in this film are portrayed as both blood thirsty and peaceful, responsible and reckless--in other words, they're portrayed as human.
Further, inaccurate representations by Hollywood of indigenous peoples as amoral, inhuman or uncivilized can only lead to greater misunderstanding and strife in contemporary society. This may be particularly important in a modern world, where common ground is increasingly difficult to come by.I think the writer of this opinion piece has a right to his opinions, but I feel that he is allowing himself to be swayed by his emotions rather than the film he saw. Saying the film unfairly portrays Mayans as bloodthirsty people or simpletons is a little bit like saying the film It's A Wonderful Life portrays all white people as greedy, warped rich bastards bent on propping up the institution of the corporation. This ignores George Baily's fight for his family and for his beliefs, the same way such judgment of Apocalypto ignores the struggle of the film's lead character to protect his family, his beliefs and his future.
Zachary X. Hruby, Ph.D., is a lecturer and research affiliate in the department of anthropology at UC Riverside, and senior archaeologist at CRM Tech in Riverside. He divides his time between Southern California and Guatemala. This article originally appeared on mesoweb.com.Ah, well, that explains it--he knows nothing about cinema. No wonder he seems to think presenting a segment of Mayan culture to be stupid, simple or bloodthirsty provides "significant disparagement" of the process of learning more about the Maya people. While I'm no anthropologist, it is my understanding that Mayans did, in fact, practice human sacrifice, therefore, ignoring that aspect of them would also serve as "significant disparagement" of the process of learning more about the Maya people. Take the good with the bad or you'll never learn from history--all humans, throughout history, have been guilty of tremendous atrocities all around the world. You can't use this film to accuse Mel of racism against Mayans unless you use Braveheart to accuse Mel of racism against white, British Christians. As someone who knows very little about Mayan culture, I can't say whether or not this film is an accurate portrayal of Mayan history. To me, it seems like there are enough contrivances for the sake of plot to make it evident that this is more of a fable about Mayan culture than something like an historical document. And hey, sad as it is to say, why not compare the accuracy of this film to all of the other films on Maya culture? You can't because there are no other films on Maya culture... I'm not saying you should count your blessings, but for the first modern major Hollywood film about the Maya, I'd say it does pretty damn well.
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1 comment:
I don't happen to agree with your assessment of my op-ed, dude.
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