Injun Country: Difference between revisions

American Indians (also Red Indians, Native Americans, Amerinds, or [[Canada, Eh?|First Nations]]) discovered America by walking across a [[wikipedia:Beringia|gigantic land bridge]] from Russia into Alaska. For a few thousand years they just took up space until Europeans rode massive wooden buckets across the ocean and crashed into the eastern shore. After a friendly "getting to know you" dinner party, the killing started, and lines were drawn between the Civilized World and '''Injun Country'''.

Injun Country is a staple of [[The Western]], where American expansion brought white settlers into conflict with Indians in [[The Wild West]]. Injuns of Injun Country all belong to a remarkably monolithic culture that spans all of North America. Their society is usually based on tribes of the Great Plains, with colorful details appropriated from other tribes at the author's whim. They are typically nomads who live in portable tipis or wigwams, hunt bison, wear war paint, and stick feathers in their hair. Standard issue outfits include [[Braids, Beads, and Buckskins]]. The chief always wears a giant headdress of feathers. They invariably greet other people with a gruff "How." Some of them speak broken English and pepper their phrases with peculiar terms and metaphors. When they have a "pow-wow," all the elders sit "Indian style" around a big bonfire and "smoke-um peace pipes." They are an extremely equestrian culture, even though horses would not be reintroduced to the Americas until European colonization. Their leather moccasins allow them to sneak up on just about anyone except another Indian. They often wield bows and carry tomahawks, but they might also have rifles. Indian attacks in Injun Country range from brainless [[Zerg Rush|Zerg Rushes]]es to special-ops night raids, though an average "brave" is rarely a match for even the greenest [[The Gunslinger|gunslinger]]. If Injuns ''do'' catch you, expect to be "scalped."

In more modern times, Injun Country has come almost [[Politically-Correct History|180 degrees from its origins]]. Indians are now [[Noble Savage|Noble Savages]]s who lived in an Edenic utopia before the serpent of Manifest Destiny tore it all down. An earthy people, Indians respect nature, use "all of the bison," and hunt only what they need to survive. Whereas once their religions were treated as crude superstition, it has now become a source of [[Magical Native American|ancient wisdom]]. They have "no system of ownership" and can't understand how whites can claim dominion over land and territory. They are clean, innocent, and noble, while white society is greedy, dirty, and corrupt. Essentially they have become the icons of "green living" and new age spiritualism.

* The Saint of Killers' backstory in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' involves him rescuing a young woman from [[Injun Country]]. When she tells him about the horrible things they did, he tells her bluntly that they learned it from the whites. While in reality Native American tribes were no strangers to brutality, they did learn scalping from Europeans during the French and Indian War.

* [[Blood Meridian]] by [[Cormac McCarthy]] (recently of [[No Country for Old Men]] fame) deconstructs this trope with what might be thought of as a ''meta'' revisionist historical [[Injun Country]], where, not to put too fine a point on it, all humans of all colours and cultures are essentially between one and zero steps removed from the dishonourable, brutal naked savage stereotype. Very adroitly [[Deconstructed]] by the author in order to make a case for [[Blue and Orange Morality]].<ref>Noted for its historical accuracy. Food for thought.</ref>

* The works of 19th century writer Karl May are the uber-example of this trope for anyone who learned to read in German as a kid. Despite never having been to the then still Wild West himself,<ref> presumably because he spent several years in prison for fraud</ref>, he wrote vivid first-person accounts of "his" encounters with [[Noble Savage]] Apache [[Winnetou]].

* As cited above, ''[[Wonderfalls]]'' takes place near [[Injun Country]]. One episode takes place on a reservation.

* ''Turok'' is a time-travelling Native American who hunts the most dangerous game--nogame—no, not [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game|that one]]--dinosaurs—dinosaurs.

* One episode of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' featured the Great Plains flavor of [[Injun Country]], complete with teepees, feathered headdresses, and a tribe of nature-loving [[Noble Savage]] buffalo who come into conflict with the local town of [[Wild West]] ponies.