Black Robe Movie Analysis

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Black Robe gave its audience a depiction of early colonial times when missionary work was a prominent goal in colonization. Upon first contact, the Native Americans were an essential resource for survival. As the years came the Native Americans became major trading partners with colonists, at least until their resources ran out. Over the duration of these relations each tribe reached a point of dependency on European goods. Black Robe provided us with an understanding of how misunderstands throughout history shaped the past of North America, along with an understanding of the Native Americans’ dynamic introduction into a global economy made them inferior and later a mere annoyance in the eyes of colonizers. Notably, many of the themes exemplified …show more content…
Black Robe made a solid attempt at exemplifying Christian Assimilation towns and the motivations of early missionaries. Confusion was shown amongst Native American worshipers at ceremonies through the myth of “Captain Clock”. The Native Americans while at Christian worship ceremonies were unable to understand the spirituality, they were only able to understand that “Captain Clock” determined the amount of time they were required to spend there. After “Captain Clock” croaked they were able to return to their own tribal communities and cultural proceedings. Conversely the missionaries seemed to view this allowed time period as a time of silent prayer and reflection. The movie Black Robe and the prominence of misunderstandings in history made it clear that Native Americans first had to understand Christianity before they could accept it. The basic misconception that Native Americans should be able to just accept Christianity, without understanding Christianity, became a major cause of violence impsed upon and by Native Americans far and wide in the coming …show more content…
Our readings including Shadows at Dawn: A Borderland Massacre and the Violence of History, A Western Nation’s Rise and Decline: Comanche Economy on the Southern Plains, and The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, highlighted the importance and prominence of raiding to the participating tribes. As history progressed, the cyclical narrative of raids and violence headed by both colonizers and Native Americans through North America was

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