영화 "앞서가는 여자"에 나타난 반복된 인디언 문화 원형

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze specific ways how Susanna White’s film Woman Walks Ahead (2017) contributes to repeating the stereotypical romantic images of Native Americans on one hand, strengthening dominant American studies discourses as to the Dawes Act, democracy, individualism, and capitalism on the other. It delineates superficially the romantic affairs between Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull, assuming the successful result in the interracial marriage. The deeper reading tells us that the film delves into the effective strategies made by American government as well as white scholars and artists in order to guide Native Americans into the pathway to American civilization. Compared with its former masterpieces Dances with Wolves (1990) and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007), Woman Walks Ahead tries to portray different perspectives towards Sitting Bull and his people especially by making the Indian hero an ideal man with a good balance of masculinity and feminity. Such generous and comprehensive approaches, however, lead to make stereotypical images of traditional Indians like those who are doomed to disappear in American history, Furthermore, by revealing several American policies applied to Native Americans in the late 19th century,the film highlights the aftermath of the polemical agenda.