Unclear Description: Injun Country

I am having a hard time trying to figure out what, exactly, the Injun Country trope is supposed to be about.

Is this supposed to be about portrayals of Native Americans and their culture? The description seems to go that way, but it's unfocused — it goes from The Savage Indian and Hollywood Natives, then into Magical Native American and Noble Savages, and then a bit of The Rez and modern-day portrayals. But that's a very broad net to cast, and it's already covered by all of the other more focused tropes mentioned.

Or is this supposed to be about the physical location of Native Americans? E.g., a settings trope about Real Life and fictional places that invoke Native Americans (or their Fantasy Counterpart Culture equivalents)? A lot of the examples seem to be going in that direction, but not all of them do, and it clashes with the culture-focused description of the trope.

Thoughts?

—R.J.

edited 7th Jan '14 12:08:17 AM by rjung

The trope is about the use of Native culture, really.

...maybe I'm being dense, but what does that mean specifically? Most of the examples don't seem to cover cultural details, and I'm not sure if the description does either.

—R.J.

About how Native Indians (or whatever the term is) are portrayed in media.

In the Indexed States of America index, just about everything you mentioned are listed as sub-tropes of this.

Native culture is a perhaps the most significant part of North American culture as a whole. Having a trope that ties the portrayals together is pretty useful, if you ask me. It doesn't really seem that different from everything else in the Hollywood Atlas and National Stereotyping Tropes indexes.

edited 7th Jan '14 10:38:43 AM by Alucard

I agree that such an overview is useful, but then it seems less like a Trope and more like a Useful Notes instead.

—R.J.

It's a setting supertrope. Not a location, a Setting. A Setting is made up not only of the physical location, but of the related tropes that go with the physical location to produce the expected atmosphere. Other Setting supertropes are Lovecraft Country and Campbell Country, Überwald Grim Up North, Mordor, Genteel Interbellum Setting...

Okay, I can buy that, but I still think the description for Injun Country needs some work — as it is, it reads like a long and unfocused summary of the history of Native American portrayals, rather than a description of a setting or a period. Lovecraft Country makes it clear that it's about a place, Genteel Interbellum Setting makes it clear it's about a time, but when I read Injun Country I have a hard time understanding the point of the description.

Or maybe it's just me...?

—R.J.

No, it's not just you. It does need work.

Injun Country ought to delve more into how it's a place apart from the "civilized world" and so therefor the same rules don't apply.

This can be a lesson to the "soft" eastern man/woman who doesn't understand the need for rough frontier justice (a staple of Westerns), or it can be a fantasy land were the hero can kill and fight without concerns for the law (what law? The law of the gun!)

Even in modern times it can be a place where the "normal rules" don't seem to apply. (Movies such as Walking Tall come to mind. No, no 4th Amendment concerns here.)

So do we work out the changes here, or just jump into the page with red pencils drawn?

—R.J.

Since no one has a strong opinion either way, I went ahead and updated the description to put more focus on its use as a Setting.

—R.J.

Clock is set. Is there anything left to do here?

No, I think this is closed and finished.

—R.J.