Posted on 12/07/2006 7:11:02 PM PST by paudio
Some descendants of the Maya tribes depicted in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto have denounced the movie as racist and not representative of their ancient culture. In an interview with Reuters, Ignacio Ochoa, director of the Nahual Foundation, said, "Gibson replays, in glorious big budget Technicolor, an offensive and racist notion that Maya people were brutal to one another long before the arrival of Europeans and thus they deserved, in fact, needed, rescue." Lucio Yaxon, described by Reuters as a 23-year-old Mayan human rights activist, added, "Basically, the director is saying the Mayans are savages." Today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times noted that archaeologist Richard Hansen was on hand throughout the shooting of the film, lending his advice to the production team. Production designer Tom Sanders told the newspaper, "It was really fun to say [to Hansen], 'Is there any proof they didn't do this?' When he said, 'There is no proof they didn't do that, ' that gives you some license to play."
You usually research things pretty well. What do you base that statement on? I've studied the Maya a lot and have never heard such a thing.
Ditto. I remember standing in front of the large sacrificial table at Chichen Itza with skulls engraved all the way around the table while the guide tried to say that maybe 20 or 30 people were sacrificed. Total.
Vikings could be savages, too, but I'm not offended by that fact. People need to get a life.
But but you are supposed to feel guilty because 700 hundred years ago...
silly isn't it?
It was a belief of anthropologist Marvin Harris.(Bless his soul)
He said there was a whole heirachy of butchers and processors and that selected parts went to the elites and all other parts were distributed to the lower ranking, etc.
So are you saying that the Mayans were the original proponents of the Atkins Diet?
Mayan culture probably collapsed as a result of incessant inter-city warfare combined with a long period of severe drought, according to modern sources. While they certainly performed plenty of bloody sacrifices they were for religious purposes, mainly related to rainfall and crop fertility. The majority of the victims were prisoners of war, often aristocrats from opposing cities. Any cannibalism I know of involved prisoners and was strictly ritualistic.
Considering the non-cannibalistic excesses of the Roman circus and the persecution of Christians and many others, it's hard for me to vioew the Maya as much more barbarous.
Hugo Chavez is mostly Indian with some Black blood and white blood. What kind of Indian I don't know.
Hugo Chavez is mostly Indian with some Black blood and white blood. What kind of Indian I don't know.
Like four-fifths of Venezuelans, Chavez was born of poor Black and Indian parents. Since the days of Columbus descendants of the Spanish conquistadores have supplied the governing classes of the Americas, and have denied indiginous people a say in their future. Chavez represents a strong challenge.
Chavez is not only proud of his biracial legacy, but........
That was the Aztecs.
The Aztecs engaged in lots more human sacrifice than the Mayans. I haven't seen Apocalypto but it seems to me Mel Gibson jammed Aztec human sacrifice into a movie about Mayans and their savagery. Rush Limbaugh liked the movie so I just may see it
No-actually live in Ohio-digging out from about 3" of snow today. I find Miller's commercials good but their beer bad-I prefer a nice Porter or Yinglings Black and Tan.
They were barbarians. You can rewrite history all you want, but it doesn't change history.
Why don't you define what you mean by "barbarian?"
no thanks.
That leaves as fair game only white males. Nothing that can be said about them will be criticized.
Everybody knows the Maya run the world by proxy.
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