The other night my boyfriend and I rented Pathfinder. Pathfinder is about an abandoned Viking boy, who is taken in by one of the nearby Indian villages. It is here that he grew up, but still had not found himself. Was he Viking or was he Indian? When the Vikings attack all the villages in the area, including his, he resorts back to his violent Viking heritage. To avenge his village, Ghost, battles the Vikings that had left him for dead when he was a boy. I chose to use Pathfinder as one of my media articles because the movie deals with racism. The movie took place such a long time ago and racism was the driving force behind the Viking attacks, it just seemed very fitting to use as a media post.
The whole movie is based on racism but there were a few quotes in particular that made me decide to use it. In the beginning when the Vikings are raiding Ghost’s village, the Vikings forced the Indian tribe’s pathfinder to fight them. Just when the pathfinder is about to be killed, the Viking king comes in and saves him, for a moment. The Viking king tells them to “Wait. Show some respect for our host. Even though they are savages, they should be treated with honor.” Then he yells “death by the blade!” and kills the pathfinder.
After watching the pathfinder’s death, Ghost goes on a rampage killing as many Vikings as possible. After he has eluded them, a cut scene goes to the Vikings healing some wounds. When the Viking king learns that they lost Ghost he says “I want to kill them all.” Then a bystander says “Good, wipe out and cleanse this land before we settle here.”
There is even a part in the movie where Ghost discriminates against one of his fellow Indians. When Ghost is out seeking revenge an obviously mentally challenged Indian decides to follow him. Ghost repeatedly yells for him to leave, I’m sure thinking that he will slow him down. However it also has the feel that Ghost is trying to protect the mentally challenged Indian. Either way it shows discrimination towards the mentally handicapped.
I chose to use Pathfinder as a media post because it made me think of Zinn’s chapter one
“ Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress.” Pathfinder reminded me of Columbus because just as the Vikings were out to kill the “savage” Indians as was Columbus. They both thought that Indians were savages and didn’t know how to use their land wisely. Then one of the Vikings talks about cleansing the land before they settle there, and that also brought Columbus to mind. He to wanted to cleanse the land of the Indians.
Unlike the Arawaks in Zinn this Indian tribe was not kind and welcoming. The tribe knew of the infamous reputation of the Vikings and tried to get away. Columbus was on a search for gold and the Vikings were in search of a lost soldier, Ghost. So even though they weren’t searching for the same thing they both used roughly the same tactics to get what they wanted.
I found it interesting to learn that the Vikings had terrorized the Indians before Columbus had, I never knew that. Similar to our discussion, in school we never learned about the massacre Columbus ensued, I never learned that the Vikings did the same thing. I knew there were Vikings and they sailed the ocean but that was about it. After learning about even more hardships the Indians endured, I am proud to say that I am part Indian, Cherokee to be exact. Granted they didn’t have it as bad as the Indians in Viking and Columbus’s time but still have overcome many obstacles in their lifetime.
