Tiger Eyes is a film based on a book of the same name by Judy Blume. The film focuses on a 16 year old girl, Davey Wexler, who is dealing with the sudden death of her father. Her mother, also dealing with the grief from her husband's death, decides to move in with her sister and her sister's husband in their house in Los Alamos, New Mexico. While living there Davey meets Wolf or Martin Ortiz, a Native American descending from the Tewa people. Through their relationship Davey overcomes her guilt and sadness over her father's death, and eventually moves back to New Jersey with her mom and little brother.
Although Martin is a supporting character in the film, he is the main force driving Davey to accept her father’s death and learn to believe in happiness once again. Because of the mostly positive portrayal of Native Americans in this film it can be hard to recognize the influence of stereotypes in this film. It was hard to find a negative review of this film or the book, or a critique of Blume's use of Native American culture. That being said I did notice two stereotypes in the film concerning Native American men. The first is the portrayal of Native American men as the "wise man" and the second is the portrayal of Native American men as the object of white women's desire or lust.
When Davey starts to volunteer at a hospital she unknowingly meets Martin's dad, Willie Ortiz, who is dying of cancer. Despite his illness he appears to be happy and even jokes around. Davey is taken back by his positive outlook and acceptance of his fate, which is the opposite of how she feels about her father's death. Willie tries to comfort her by assuring her that he is not upset and is happy his pain will be over soon. Martin also tries to comfort Davey by leaving her a note telling her to remember his father and the happy life he lived after he dies. Both Willie and Martin depict the stereotype of giving the white hero advice. Historically, this stereotype is common in film and is even part of the Thanksgiving narrative in which Native Americans teach white men and women how to survive in North America.
The second stereotype depicted in Tiger Eyes is Native American men being the object of white women's desire or lust. Compared to other films and books like the Twilight series, Martin is not as obviously sexualized as Jacob Black. For instance, Martin remains fully clothed from head to toe the whole entire film. However, in one scene Davey suddenly kisses Martin and when he asks her why she did that she responds that she is doing "exactly what she feels like doing". Although this may be seen as being bold in a romantic way, it can also be seen as objectifying. After this one incident Martin and Davey do not seem to further their romantic relationship but remain close friends. Also Martin continues to comfort and give Davey advice when she feels sad about her fathers death perpetuating the "wise man" stereotype.
Overall Martin Ortiz is different than other portrayals of Native American men because he is seen as more than just a "wise man" or an object of Davey's desire, he also has dreams and aspirations that are depicted in the film although quite briefly. For instance, Willie Ortiz proudly tells Davey in the hospital that Martin earned a full scholarship to Cal Tech to study physics. Normally Native Americans are represented as being bound to their family and culture in a way associated with negative characteristics such as lack of productivity. In contrast Martin is shown as faithful to his culture as well as ambitious. In this way I think that Martin's character contests the economic and social marginalization of Native Americans. As a whole Tiger Eyes as a film does not completely adhere to a stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans. While two main stereotypes the "wise man" and the object of white women's desire are depicted; it is more covertly shown in the film than in other films and TV shows. Because Martin is more of a secondary character it is hard to assess whether or not his representation either fully contests or justifies the marginalization of Native Americans. Furthermore, the characterization of Willie and Martin Ortiz probably does both. Despite this I have learned that generally Native Americans are marginalized in society and by perpetuating these stereotypes Native Americans will continually be marginalized and poorly represented.
Reading this blog was unsettling on how these stereotypes are still alive and well in films. Everything from the Natives names, their emotions and their willingness to help a distressed white person who objectifies them in the movie. I’ve never seen this movie but reading this blog has shown how Natives are still being portrayed falsely in films. The fact that ‘Wolf’ was shown for not being upset with his father dying from cancer was upsetting. My step mom has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer and everyone in our family was/is devastated, especially her children. We have the same emotions as every human being. I also thought this blog did a good job of dissecting the movie with its stereotypes, and will most likely result in not watching the film myself. Dakota Cuny (Being posted by instructor R.LeValdo)
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