Thanksgiving Stereotypes

Watching the Thanksgiving edition of the Jay Leno show last night, I was taken aback by the blatant Native America stereotype used in one of his bits. In the bit, Leno goes door-to-door on Thanksgiving, and at one house, brings with him three "Native Americans" as guests. In the show, the "Native Americans" are men dressed in ridiculous looking headdresses, feathers, and face and body paint. As if this stereotypical representation of the "Indian warrior" wasn't enough, the three "Native Americans" immediately open up a poker table and begin playing cards, making fun of the ownership of casinos by Native Americans, and presenting a stereotype that all Native Americans own casinos and know nothing else but gambling.

We see this stereotypical representation of Native Americans constantly throughout the Thanksgiving season, and we have unfortunately become accustomed to it, but Jay Leno, as many do, takes it far past the Thanksgiving "Pilgrims and Indians" story, exaggerating the stereotypical outfits, behavior, and names of Native Americans even further, and adding a supposed obsession with gambling and casinos. In conjunction with the Walsh article, even with supposed objective historical representations of the encounter between Pilgrims and Native Americans, we see the subtle reinforcement of the primacy of white male hegemony, but with obvious, exaggerated stereotypes such as those used in The Jay Leno Show, this reinforcement is blatant and overpowering. Through representations of race in the media, we can see how our society discusses these issues, and in the case of Native Americans, our discussion of race is extremely inadequate and almost entirely stereotypical.

As of 11/27/09, this episode is not yet posted on NBC.com, but it should be soon. Click HERE to view clips or whole episodes of The Jay Leno Show on NBC.com.