Dr. Perry came to tell us a story of two cultures who have made an enormous impact on each other, even though they were separated by many thousands of miles. She told us how this relationship turned from a one-way fascination to a creative retaliation against cultural appropriation. Ultimately, a story of the peculiarity of the human race.

doesn’t he look so graceful, I mean, who wouldn’t want to see that face?

 

What I found most interesting about Dr. Perry’s talk about the German fascination/obsession with the Native Americans wasn’t the strangeness of the subject matter but the motives behind it. The idea of the Native American obsession, especially Winnetou, always comforting Germany in times of need and that it is a source of hope for them – it makes it more understandable. This sense of escapism is painfully human. And it is interesting how much we focus on the subject matter rather than the motives – we think it so strange and sometimes, even insulting but most everyone turns to nostalgia when they need a mood lift whether that be a television show or a song. From my point of view, this is also why Germans have such an intense reaction from Native American and modern subversions of German westerns because they’re destroying the nostalgia, the most important element. Originally, this German fascination may have just been that – a fascination with another culture and the yearning for the freedom of an idealised version of this lifestyle, and though that may still play some part, it seems that Winnetou is, in essence, comfort and nostalgia.