REPRESENTATIONS OF REDFACE: DECOLONIZING THE AMERICAN SITUATION COMEDY'S "INDIAN" Dustin S. Tahmahkera A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2007 Committee: Lynda Dixon, Advisor Bradford Clark Graduate Faculty Representative Don McQuarie Angela Nelson © 2007 Dustin Tahmahkera All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Lynda Dixon, Advisor This study critically analyzes the thematic development of representations of redface, or of playing “Indian,” by non-Native characters in live-action and animated American sitcoms. Predominantly White characters have played “Indian” to reeenact nostalgic colonialist versions of historical events, to gain fame and fortune deceptively, to be honorary members of a tribe, to acknowledge heritage through a distant “Indian” relative, and to be in “Indian” clubs. This dissertation also discusses the dehumanizing roles of rare on-screen “Indians” as cultureless dupes or subservient, vanishing Natives who legitimize and authenticate non-Indigenes’ constructions of redface. Representations of redface in American sitcoms, from their appearance in the 1951 I Love Lucy “The Adagio” to the 2006 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody “Boston Tea Party,” have largely defined the sitcom’s “Indian.” The result is a redface collective that emphasizes the recurring visibility of (mis)leading “Indian” players that represent, or stand in for, the mostly invisible Indigenes. American sitcoms have set forth a restricted logic on how “Indians” in comedic television should appear. In turn, this limited logic of the sitcom’s “Indian” transmits a narrow, non-fully human view of real Indigenes to non-Indigenous and Indigenous audiences. A major objective of this study is to interrupt the perpetuation of “Indian” play by decolonizing the stereotypical, mythic, and fabricated representations of redface through decolonized viewing. As a media-focused area of decolonization that responds to media colonialism, decolonized viewing is a critical approach for Native and non-Native audiences to apply to their interpretations of American sitcoms. After iv explaining decolonized viewing in one chapter and applying it to the next three chapters of analyses, this study concludes with explaining the importance of shifting from the sitcom’s “Indian” to the Indigenous sitcom, a crucial part of Indigenizing television. v For my four favorite ladies of four generations: Gran, Mom, Maria, and Maya Grace vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I give thanks to all who have helped me to be where I am today and will be in the future. Thanks/Urakok and praise be to Jesus, Ahpu, the Heavenly Father for love, for life, for strength, for guidance, and for faith. During my dissertation research-and-writing process, three very special people passed on: my Uncle Steve in June 2006, my first mentor Dr. Jeff Campbell (who challenged and inspired me to take knowledge seriously) in July 2006, and my Gran in February 2007. They are three of my biggest fans. In July 2006, a very special person entered this world: my daughter/nu petu Maya Grace Tahmahkera. Thanks to my wife/nu kwuhu Maria for being an awesome mom and for understanding my many, many busy times with coursework and the dissertation (and thanks for saying, “I do,” a few days before I began the Ph. D. program). Thanks to another awesome mom, my Mom, a wonderful and beautiful woman in so many ways, and to Dave for supporting me (and for being fellow Dallas Mavericks fans). Thanks to John for believing in me and for the long-distance conversations. Thanks to Dr. Lynda Dixon, a good person (even though she is Cherokee, not Comanche). I am honored to call Dr. Dixon my friend/nu haitsi, my dissertation chair, and one of my strongest supporters. Thanks to Dr. Don McQuarie, my friend and departmental chair who erroneously thinks the UT Longhorns are superior to the OU Sooners. Don is a good listener and has provided me with excellent opportunities during my time at BGSU. Thanks to Dr. John Warren for encouraging and respecting my creative endeavors inside and outside of the classroom. Thanks to my other dissertation committee members Dr. Angela Nelson and Professor Brad Clark for their insights and assistance. Thanks to Dr. Phil Terrie, Dr. Kris Blair, and all other professors who contributed to helping along the way in my doctoral studies. vii Thanks to friends I’ve made at Bowling Green, especially Michael “like a big brother” Lupro, Beth “so kind, so loving, but must be to put up with Mr. Lupro” Kaufka, Pawin “my ping pong playin’ partner and ½ of the international Thai-Comanche connection” Malaiwong, Gloria “always ready for one of my jokes and likes to leave the ACS office by noon (yes, another joke!)” Pizana, Matt “influenced me in good ways more than any other colleague in my coursework” Barbee, Christina “so admirable in her love for dogs” Gerken, and Jason “guitar in one hand, tennis racket in the other” Schmit. Thanks to Lisa Alexander, a recent Ph. D. graduate in ACS, for her friendship and supportive emails. Thanks to Julie O’Reilly whose impressive 2005 ACS dissertation served as a good model for my project. Thanks to Erik Wade, a very special friend with a gentle, loving soul that I would encourage others to emulate. Thanks to Joelle Ruby Ryan for helping to open my eyes to alliances between Transgendered Peoples and Indigenous Peoples. Thanks to officemates and neighbors in East Hall and Shatzel Hall, including Colin[izer] Helb, William Emerson, and Dellareese Higgs. I have enjoyed our conversations even if they sometimes distracted us from doing our work. Thanks to Stephanie Rader and Dr. Tim Messer-Kruse for all of your help with my teaching over the past year in Ethnic Studies. Thanks again to Michael Lupro, who may be wondering why he didn’t get an entire sentence devoted to him earlier. And thanks/ura to those of you reading this page. I hope you’ll continue with the next page and the next and … viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION: HOW TO BECOME A (MIS)LEADING “INDIAN” IN UNDER 30 MINUTES.............................................................................................................................. 1 History of Redface ..................................................................................................... 4 Literature Review....................................................................................................... 6 Sitcoms and Redface.................................................................................................. 13 Methodology—Critical Textual Analysis.................................................................. 15 Postcolonial Theory ................................................................................................... 18 Purpose of Study........................................................................................................ 20 Decolonizing the American Sitcom’s (Mis)Leading “Indians”................................. 21 Organization—Thematic Analysis............................................................................. 23 Outline of Chapters.................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER I. DECOLONIZED VIEWING: A PROCESS FOR READING AMERICAN SITUATION COMEDIES..................................................................................................... 31 Colonized Viewing and the Curriculum of Colonialism ........................................... 33 Decolonized Viewing................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER II. “I WANNA BE AN INDIAN!”: SITUATING THE SITCOM’S “INDIAN” IN HISTORICAL REDFACE REENACTMENTS ................................................................... 52 Custerization… .......................................................................................................... 53 Little Big Horn as Metaphor...................................................................................... 54 Non-Indigenous Hosts and Indigenous Visitors ........................................................ 56 Boston Tea Party’s Revolutionary “Indians”............................................................. 60 ix (Un)Settling Small-town America ............................................................................. 63 Conclusion...... ........................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER III. TRICKSTERS IN REDFACE: PLAYING “INDIAN” FOR FAME AND FORTUNE…………. ........................................................................................................... 71 “Pass that Peace Pipe, Bury that Tomahawk” ........................................................... 72 Chief Lotsa Loot and Princess Sitting Hawk ............................................................ 79 Bank Account “Indians” and an Unaccountable Banker ........................................... 82 Chief Grand Cherokee .............................................................................................. 86 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 91 CHAPTER IV. WHAT’S YOUR “INDIAN” NAME?: NEWLY FOUND “INDIANS” AND TOMAHAWK CLUBS ......................................................................................................... 93 That’s the Way We Became the Brady Braves.........................................................