When disneys the lone ranger comes to theaters on july 3, audiences will experience director gore verbinskis heroic and fanciful vision of the old west. The early interpretations of tonto were, indeed, subservient. A new film revives the lone ranger, but has it eliminated the tv series racist undertones. His name was bass reeves, who was a legendary lawman of the wild west. Bailey notes that, despite depps lip service to a tonto who would break with tradition, the character as played still maintains the most culturally. Disneys the lone ranger clip arresting tonto youtube. Say what you will, but that is not the case with this movie.
Silverheels achieved his greatest fame as the lone ranger s friend tonto. One might expect that from a modern day lone ranger movie. He was best known as tonto, the faithful native american companion of the lone ranger in a longrunning american television series. But when a movie like the lone ranger gets remade like this, with its tonto. Johnny depps tonto marks the first native american leading character because armie hammers john reidlone ranger certainly isnt the star of this movie. What do you mean we, white man or paleface, or kemo sabe, depending on the version. For an indepth discussion of the film by the screen rant editors check out our lone ranger episode of the sr underground podcast. Already, johnny depp s portrayal of the lone ranger s native sidekick, tonto, has created a storm of controversy, with many saying that the character is racist. For one glorious weekend in the summer of 20, your unapologetically racist franchise is not the most grotesque pop. Disneys the lone ranger opens in theaters today, but debate over the big budget western epic has been raging online for years, ever since.
Depps portrayal of tonto in the 20 movie the lone ranger was also criticized, despite the actor working with. The lone ranger is a 20 american western action film directed by gore verbinski and written by justin haythe, ted elliott and terry rossio. The release of the lone ranger is a good time to recall vine delorias tonto. To contemporize tonto for a broad audience required discarding a century of cultural tropes about native americans. The relation between the lone ranger and tonto was that of master and servant, without question. Does disneys tonto reinforce stereotypes or overcome them. I saw the lone ranger so you dont have to native appropriations.
Anyway, my wife gave me a choice of either the new sandra bullock movie or the lone ranger, and i told her that many movies dont translate well to a smaller television screen my way of getting out of seeing another stupid bullock pic. The movie starts with prologue, set in 1933 at a san francisco sideshow, when a kid who adores the lone ranger radio series, finds a geezerish tonto depp in. If this were a vanity project for johnny depp, the lone ranger might. It was one of americas most influential and successful shows ever, which saw the ranger become a real icon. The real lone ranger was black, and now there is a movie about him watch the trailer to hell on the border, about bass reeves, the first black u. Although these are considered racial stereotypes of native americans. Bailey describes the plotline of the lone ranger as a narrative that has been twisted into pretzels to try not to be racist and yet still is.
The lone ranger was a tv show featuring a brave texas ranger who fights crime across the state. Hollywood superproducer jerry bruckheimer tweeted the first official photo from the lone ranger movie hes producing for. These sets pretty much render the legend of the lone ranger movie superfluous as all three episodes that were combined in 1952 to form the movie are included in these releases. Gore verbinskis the lone ranger 20 has been criticized for reinforcing racial stereotypes about native americans.
Alex yarde discusses the blatant racism in the new disney film, the lone ranger. Im reminded of king kong, another famously racist story from the 1930s. If youve seen the movie and want to discuss details about the film without worrying about spoiling it for those who havent seen it, please head over to our the lone ranger spoilers discussion. Even if youve never heard or seen a single episode of fran strikers early 20 thcentury creation the lone rangerbegun on the radio, continued in books and on television, and soon to hit. And so, the saga of johnny depp attempts to fix racism while being a total racist continues. On one hand, the characters seemingly been around forever. Then a masked lawman, the lone ranger clayton moore and. Watching it recently i realized racist the depiction of tonto was racist. Disney has been especially careful to cover all their bases with the lone ranger, probably knowing full. Tonto may be the fool of the movie, but the lone ranger, and even the audience look to him when. The original lone ranger was an early attempt at socializing the public with the idea of the faithful colored companion.
The honorable, wise, and reliable nonwhite as ally against the bad nazilike enemy. And spying the boys small black mask, he proceeds to tell him the story of the lone ranger. Its the racism, stupid the hysteria over johnny depp as tonto is probably in its denoument. With or without johnny depp as tonto, the lone ranger. The name luke hartman was used in the 2003 tvmovieunsold series pilot. The ranger was always accompanied by his native american sidekick. But the lone ranger, contrary to most of those wild west, cowboy and indian movies, actually at least has an indian as a good guy. Even if johnny depp hadnt made some rather boneheaded comments about his intentions in bringing back tonto, the american indian. In 1890, at wounded knee, on the lakota pine ridge indian. With the lone ranger hitting theaters nationwide today, audiences can thrill once more at the adventures of the brave masked lawman and his trusty partner.
With this movie you get an entertaining origin story of the lone ranger thats an action movie with comedic elements and the odd bit of mysticism thrown in. Racial controversy in film lone ranger and hollywoods. The lone ranger is also john reid in dynamite entertainments licensed lone ranger comic book series that began in 2006 and in the 20 disney film the lone ranger. How disney and johnny depp dealt with the lone ranger. Reeves was a reallife africanamerican cowboy who one historian has proposed have inspired the lone ranger tv show and movie. Seeing it now with tontos use of me tonto me this and me that was embarrassing. The magnificent seven, the lone ranger, and the whitewashing. Asianamericans report nearly 700 racist attacks in a week, from being spat on and screamed at to fullon physical assaults. The fumbling of that issue isnt the sole undoing of gore verbinskis new movie theres plenty. Dior stokes outrage with racist new ad campaign starring. With or without johnny depp as tonto, the lone ranger was too racist to reboot.
Even the fictional character of the lone ranger who originally debuted in a radio show in 1933 shares striking similarities to bass reeves, believed to be the first black u. The lone ranger and tonto find themselves surrounded by hostile indians. My first reaction after finally reaching the end of this seemingly interminable movie was, i hope people dont pay movie theatre prices to see this film. Code switch the lone ranger has long been a fictional hero, taming the wild west. Dior stokes outrage with racist fragrance ad campaign featuring johnny depp. The real lone ranger was black, and now there is a movie. The lone ranger riding the rails of the lone ranger behind the scenes duration. Disneys the lone ranger opens in theaters today, but debate over the bigbudget western epic has been raging online for years, ever since johnny depp first said in 2011 that he wanted to make a movie of the radio and tv classic and that, rather than playing the masked man, he wanted to play t. I found a dvd of the lone ranger at my local library and checked it out. Rancher reece kilgore lyle bettger picks a fight with indians in the hope that he can run them off their land and mine it for silver.
Silverheels achieved his greatest fame as the lone rangers friend tonto. The character of tonto has always been extraordinarily racist, because he is portrayed as a character featuring all of the stereotypes that are associated with native americans. The early episodes hark back to radio as there is considerably more voiceover narration used as an introduction and to introduce key plot moments. Jay silverheels may 26, 1912 march 5, 1980 was a canadian mohawk actor. Based on the radio series of the same name, the film stars johnny depp as tonto, the narrator of the events and armie hammer as john reid, the lone ranger. The lone ranger is a film that manages to be bad in many ordinary ways and, also, to be bad in a rather extraordinary way. When a was a little kid my brother and i watched this show on tv a lot. The native american communityis so behind this movie, its fantastic, producer jerry bruckheimer said in a recent interview with sean. Johnny depp ready to return lone ranger star armie hammer is signed on for a couple sequels assuming they happen, while johnny depp says hes all ready to reprise as tonto. Its hard to take material that was written in such a different time and adopt it to a modern narrative, especially when a derogatory character was such a big part of it.
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