MovieChat Forums > A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) Discussion > Did anyone else feel a odd at the Mayflo...

Did anyone else feel a odd at the Mayflower part with the Indians?

posted 16 years ago by scarletminded
8 replies | jump to latest

First off, the kids WITH adults that didn't go "wah-wah-wah". I thought I was in another dimension! SO WRONG!!!

I watched the end of an hour of Thanksgiving specials on ABC tonight, I missed A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (rats!), but caught most of the Mayflower/Pilgrim part of the second half. I am assuming this is part of the This Is America, Charlie Brown special, is it?

Anyway, it seemed a lot of stress was put on the Native Americans like Squanto and Samoset knowing English very well...it was said over and over again, to the point I thought maybe it was to show they weren't evil savages and were like civilized white people. I am part Native American myself, I just felt odd that the Native Americans at the feast were sitting at their own table and not with the white pilgrims. And the way Squanto talked about being a slave to white people in a way that it was a good thing, so he could come back here and buy land...land that was his in the first place!

I thought they might have a Christian prayer to convert the savages next! But that never came to my relief.

I mean, this was made in 1998, not in the 50's, so I can't excuse its lack of sensitivity when it comes to Native Americans. They helped out the pilgrims and then got wiped out by other Europeans who settled here. End of story.

Yeah, I know it's a kids cartoon...but still.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!! I guess over all, it is still a day of goodwill, no matter how history turned out.

[–] sjbradford 16 years ago

I also thought it was weird that we saw actually saw the adults - that never happens in the regular specials.

[–] SarahKatherine247 16 years ago

I don't think Schulz did the entire amination for this. No doubt they hired some Koreans. And the Native Americans looked like F-Troop Indians, know what I mean?

PALIN in 2012, bitches!

[–] novastar_6 16 years ago

I don't know what you're squawking about, the cartoon was to give kids an idea as to how the first Thanksgiving came about, you don't teach them in one half hour cartoon the Indians saved the Pilgrims lives and then their land got takena way from them by the new Americans and then they started scalping people. The idea of a first Thanksgiving cartoon is to give kids an idea of why we celebrate and what people have always had to be thankful for.

[–] rochelle-rochelle 16 years ago

I couldn't believe that the adults spoke normal english and that we saw their heads. This is NOT the Charlie Brown cartoon we've come to know and love. What happened?

Take it easy. We're not making a western here.
~~Uncle Junior

[–] ghoolsby 16 years ago

It was weird seeing woodstock eat turkey.

And I gotta say they did a lousy job picking the voice actors.

[–] robken0174 16 years ago

Ohhh, here we go. Let the whining PC bleeding hearts come out. First off, much like the blacks who blame the purchasing slaves in Africa on the Europeans (not remembering that the tribe leaders sold their people in the first place), minorities today blame all of the Native American deaths on whites. There were several Indian tribes here in the US before we Europeans came over, and believe me, they fought and killed each other for land and territory.
Besides, this IS a cartoon and was trying to keep it light for the kids...NOT show battle scenes and scalpings. Scarletminded, get over it. Next year, how about NOT watching this special? You uptight folks really have ruined so much with your bitching and over-sensitive PC junk.

[–] rowdyturner23-1 16 years ago

This was actually made in 1988 which just pre dated the PC era we all have come to know and love. Also Mr. Indian man, your people lost to the white man, so we get to tell the story however the hell we feel like. That is the beauty of winning the fight, you live on to tell the tale.

Plus, you don't know anymore about what really happened nearly 400 years than me or the creators of this show. All we know comes from stories and journals passed down over the years. I'll bet they were skewed over time, but that is the way things work.

I think the portrayal of the Indians in this special was flattering. They showed them as intelligent, resourceful and kind people. What did you want them to show? The Indians kidnapping and butt raping all the women folk, well that might have happened, but this was a kid’s cartoon.

[–] avortac4 (3752) 3 years ago

"This was actually made in 1988 "

How could something that was made in 1973, have suddenly been made in 1988?

If you look up there, you see: "MovieChat Forums > A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) Discussion"

What kind of time-travel logic would explain that??