WHY YOU SHOULD STOP CALLING CHARLIE DALTON “NUWANDA”
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A BIT OF BACKGROUND
The movie Dead Poets Society (1989) is a film directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman. Well-made and dually heartwarming as it is tragic, it’s set in New England, 1959, telling the story of a kind English teacher and his class of young men at an all-boys private school. It focuses on seven of his students in particular, demonstrating their efforts to Carpe Diem and make their lives extraordinary as inspired by their aforementioned teacher by rebelling against the expectations of their uptight families and strict school environment.As good as this movie may be, period-typical racism sours the experience for viewers of color in and out of the United States. It's important to understand that while the characters are lovable and the story is touching, there are still problems worth addressing, including but not limited to racism, glamorization of cultural appropriation, misogyny, romanticization of stalking and sexual assault, and sexualization of underage characters.(If you think that’s bad-- Trust me, the book is worse.)
SO, WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?
During the movie, one of the main characters, Charlie Dalton, adopts a new name and identity as a part of his effort to Carpe Diem. He names himself Nuwanda and uses red lipstick to draw imitation facepaint on his cheeks. Noteably, this takes place in what the characters call “The Indian Cave,” and spurs the other boys on to imitate Indigenous warcries. Later on in the movie, before Neil’s play begins, Charlie draws what he describes as an “Indian warrior symbol for virility” in red paint across his chest, saying it makes him feel potent as if he could drive girls crazy.
WELL, WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT?
If you read and comprehended that paragraph, then you’ll understand exactly what’s wrong. Charlie created a new identity for himself founded on racist stereotypes about Indigenous-American people and their cultures, to show not only a change of self, but a side to him that was wilder, stronger, and more masculine.For centuries continuing even until today, Indigenous-Americans have had to fight caricatures painting them and their cultures as savage and uncivilized. Colonizers used their prejudiced views of Indigenous-Americans to justify their horrific treatment of them, including but not limited to kidnapping, t*rture, forced sterilization, r*pe and s*xual assault, and mass g*nocide. Colonizers have been making devoted efforts for centuries to extinguish all flames of Indigenous culture, language, power, and people.If you are not Indigenous-American and want to call this privileged white character a name he appropriated from a culture he appropriated in the cave where the people whose culture he appropriated once lived before likely being expelled from it by the colonizers— that is deeply problematic and racist, NOT ignorant, now that you are aware of the problems with calling him that name.
FREQUENT ARGUMENTS
1. It’s just a name!
Countless Indigenous fans of this movie have shared how this stereotyping and appropriation hurt them. It’s not just a name. P.O.C. names are so often the target of cruel jokes and historically, Indigenous people were stripped of their ethnic names and given new, Anglo-Saxon names, often linked to Christianity. So, no, it’s NOT just a name.2. I headcanon Charlie as nonbinary/transfem and I want to give him an appropriate new name.
That’s fantastic, and you’re not at all alone! But Nuwanda is not the right name. It’s entrenched in racism and is simply disrespectful to continue using it.3. Well, I headcanon Charlie as Indigenous.
Wonderful! But please select another name. I suggest this website!