Discussion Main / MagicalNativeAmerican

Is there any examples of this trope being good? I just want to know since I'm not sure, which ones aren't offensive to Native Americans.

This TRS thread voted to expand the scope of this trope include characters from other indigenous backgrounds.

I want to request a change upon the title of this trop from "Magical Native American" to "Magical Native." The concept is generally the same amongst any Indegenous peoples around the world, but Native American specifies to only this ethnic group. I'm sure there have been examples of African tribes being stereotyped as "magical" and even a subverted example was used here from Crocodile Dundee 3 upon Australian Aboriginies. I guess what I'm asking is a sense of political correctness and encompass all Indigenous examples into one.

In the FPS game Prey, the main character is a Native American that has a vision sequence with his dead grandfather where the setting is the "land of their ancestors" while trying to escape an alien spaceship ( It Makes Sense in Context ... kind of) The problem here is that the game calls them Cherokee. That is a tribe originating in the Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia area, but the 'ancestral land' looks like it is on a cliff face in Nevada. By all rights, you might as well say that one of the blond haired, blue eyed captives should be channeling a berzerker spirit since they are about as close to their real 'ancestral lands' and they practice Norse religion just as much as the main character at the start of the game.

Our Indians Are Different Page merged into Magical Native American per TRS thread

What is this trope about, exactly? Making a fictional American Indian tribe?

So something is bugging me about this trope, but I'm not sure how much, let alone what if anything should be done about it.

Basically, the trope is presented as "White men are materialistic and mundane, whereas Native Americans have magical powers" - i.e., Injuns = Witch Species. However, plenty of the examples are "Everyone uses magic, but Native Americans' magic is themed around their spiritual beliefs". Worth discussing, but devoid of the Positive Discrimination that plagues the former version.

Maybe the examples could be divided? At the very least the latter should be mentioned in the description.

Removed, because... what? I suppose the intention was "if Firefly is a Space Western, Reavers are the Redskins", but it doesn't really go on this page, as they aren't based on Native Americans, they're a replacement for them.

• The Reavers of the Firefly franchise are arguably a much more monstrous sci-fi stand-in for Indians in that setting. Either that, or they are meant to represent the Always Chaotic Evil Red Shirt Army portrayal of Indians seen in many 1920s-1930s' western movies. Usualy, the sole purpose of Indians in those flicks was to act as marauding raiders, the classic set-up being an ambush of an encircled wagon train. And since you probably know what Reavers do for a living... So Yeah... Other than that, they're more like Space Pirates than Indians.