What Was The Difference Between Roosevelt And Sacajawea

Bhabha suggests that Colonial discourse is the discourse in which representations, images, and identities of the colonial subjects: the colonizer and the colonized are unequally constructed and maintained for a specific reason ("The Other Question "18). Although, the cinematic Roosevelt has the historical Roosevelt's character he does not have his actual memories and life experience. He saves Sacagawea's l life by pushing her out of the way of a stagecoach. He tells her: “You worth saving my dear” (Night 1:30:46). This suggests that he, in the film, is a modified reproduction of the historic Roosevelt who describes Indians, in his book The winning of the West (1904) as "fickle savages"(127). and who writes about Native People in wartime:"The
defeat of average white force was usually followed by a merciless slaughter [by the] Indian "(The Winning 124).
When he is cut into two by this coach, Sacagawea melts him using fire. This suggests that Roosevelt is not real. Thus, his ability to split into two and be put back together is very telling part of the difference between them as he announces: "I was made in mannequin factory in Poughkeepsie"(1:18:37-1:1845). The Whites have the ability to survive and outlive Native Peoples. On the other hand, Sacajawea is represented as the real historic Sacajawea who is awakened in a statue form as a result of the mysterious Egyptian curse. Sacajawea never admits being the same like Roosevelt which may suggest that she may face death any time more than Roosevelt. She possesses the interiority of the real Sacajawea's memories and experiences. She makes fire using two rocks in the middle of snow (1:34:05-1:34:30). The way she makes fire suggests that she belongs to a vanishing race and vividly represents the Indian Princess stereotype that is in desperate need for the White man and exerts effort to sustain his presence. Finely in Queer Indigenous Studies (2012) "confirms that audiences are led to believe this statue of Sacajawea is the actual Sacajawea
(84). Sacagawea can go to the museum to use more modern way to make fire but she does not which suggests that she lives in the past as an uncivilized primitive savage, a member of dying race, like the cave man. They need a genetically superior race to save them from the 'unavoidable 'extinction. Her effort of putting Roosevelt back suggests strongly her wish to keep the white man in her life, in the museum and consequently in The United States.
Mise-en-scène” also includes the composition of the scene and the positioning and movement of actors, as well as objects, in the shot that includes Similar to Pocahontas, Sacagawea's appearance is closely related to Nature and cannot be transcended.
She is represented as closer to nature and less than human. Like Pocahontas in the Disney film whom D Mihesuash, in the book American Indians: stereotypes and realities (1996) describe as a heroine who is clothed provocatively (contrary to the modest dress typical of women in her tribe) and in true Disney fashion (10). Sacagawea's Costume simply refers to her race as wears a short-sleeved beaded buckskin dress but does not refer to her tribe as it does not go below her knees yet she is not cold in the New York winter. Denzin in "Sacagawea's Nickname, or Sacagawea Problem"(2006) explains:"The bodies of Native American woman have been turned into the object of male sexual gaze" (23). The gendered sexual gaze introduces and exposes the erotic, political side of everyday life under patriarchy. The active aggressive gaze of Lewis and Clark is harsh and masochistic(painful). It affirms their power over Native American women. At the same time, it suggests that sexual gazing was commonplace in the Expedition.
(23) As traced in this chapter, this attitude towards women becomes a trend, through ages up till the Film Night at the Museum. Sacajawea never admits being the same like Roosevelt which may suggest that she may face death any time more than Roosevelt, the White man. Finely in Queer Indigenous Studies (2012) "confirms that audiences are led to believe this statue of Sacajawea is the actual Sacajawea (84). This suggests that white people and white culture are able to outlive Native people and their culture. In this scene, Roosevelt as a symbol of white race turns to rescuer of Sacagawea and consequently to Native Peoples. In the Disney film Pocahontas, Smith also, a discussed before, turns from being rescued to being a rescuer.
The absence of presence: absence of her son Rebecca tells Larry that Sacagawea led Lewis and Clark across the country with a baby on her back. She does not explain where the baby is. This suggests that museums select what it represents and; consequently, excludes parts of history according to their interests, which resembles the white policy since the Native women's reproductive capacity impedes further colonization of Native lands, threatens the continued success of colonization. Torry D. Dickinson and Robert Schaeffer, in Transformations: feminist pathways to global change (2016), argue that the logic of genocide is one pillar of white supremacy (266). This logic requires the disappearance of the Native Peoples to allow the non-Native Peoples rightful claim over the land. There is a clear connection between colonization, and the desire to reduce Native American reproductive capacity. Consequently, Non-Native peoples become the rightful inheritors of all that belonged to Native peoples – resources, land, and culture. Jael Miriam Silliman, in Undivided rights: women of color organize for reproductive justice (2004) confirms that this absence is "another dimension of the 'present absence' syndrome"(108). The American colonial discourse supports and enforces, repeatedly, the conviction that Native Peoples are indeed vanishing and; consequently, the conquest of Native lands is justified. This means that though Native Peoples still live in The United States of America, they are absent for non-Native people. They are reserved and represented as something of the past in either in reservations or in museums. Even in cinematic representations, Sacajawea is not portrayed as a mother there is no slight reference to her child, which is an act of genocide. Native women's ability to give birth to children endangers and threatens the continued success of colonization. Native mothers and physical reproduction of Native Peoples are seen as a biological threat to the United States. New generations of Native peoples will cause Native Lands to be occupied by Natives who will own that land, which contradicts with the colonizers' desires. Besides, there are supported stories that Sacagawea's son, Jean Baptiste, was raised by Clark and was raised in aboard school (Slaughter 77). Representing Sacagawea with her child can evoke questions about the child's destiny and his right as the inheritor of land. Representation of Sacagawea's son could also raise questions about Sacagawea's feelings and about her consent to leave her child to be raised by Clark. Moreover, there is no mention of Toussaint Charbonneau, Sacagawea's husband either. However, Sacagawea falls in love with another white man in the film that supports the stereotype of Sacagawea, as an Indian princess who desires a White man in her life, which enhances the logic of patriarchy and white supremacy. Real Sacajawea is a mother of a male whose father is a white French trader. The child of this union becomes a white inheritor of the land. She is represented in the film without her son and without the slightest complains of his absence which, reflects the Indian Princess satisfaction. However, at the end of the film, Larry becomes a good father to his son but Sacajawea does not get her son back; instead, she chooses her love to a white man which supports the film's favoritism to white masculinity while disavowing a future for Native America. Sacagawea is a contradiction. The actual Sacajawea willingly stands in the museum and does not complain about losing her son or being kidnapped by Lewis and Clark. Sherman Alexie in "What Sacagawea Means to Me (and Perhaps to you)," in Time Magazine (2002), confirms the "difficulties of Sacagawea's life. She was kidnapped by other Indians while still a child, then quickly sold to a French Canadian man who had her in his possession as one of his wives and the mother of his child" (56-7). When Lewis and Clark appeared, she acted as a diplomat between her brother and the Lewis and Clark party. Sacagawea in the Film does not differ from Sacagawea in the representations in Wolform's Old play Sacajawea: The Indian Princess. She meets her brother while guiding the Lewis and Clark expedition. When Sacagawea's brother objects to making peace with his enemies who kidnapped her, she defends them saying: "they were kind to me. See I have a white husband "(20). In the film, Sacagawea never complains to Rebecca either the loss of her child or being kidnapped by another tribe or even complain about her People who consider her a traitor. She is powerless and satisfied with her new relationship with a white man, Roosevelt.