Savages and Saviors:

1
Savages and Saviors The Treatment of Indigenous
Peoples in Apocalypto and Royal Hunt of the
Sun Mary DeLuca Michigan State University
Atahualpa as a Child in Royal Hunt of the Sun

• The Maya as Savages in Apocalypto
• (Mel Gibsons Version of History)
• Falsified Rituals of Sacrifice
• The movie shows the Maya capturing forest
  dwelling tribes and taking the tribe captive for
  sacrifice, but the sacrifice victims of the Maya
  were usually nobles.
• The sacrifice victim lays on a table while the
  high priest mercilessly cuts out his beating
  heart to place on a decorated plate. This type of
  sacrifice was more of an Aztec practice than
  Maya. The Maya most often practiced bloodletting
  where the sacrificial victim was only cut and
  allowed to drip blood into the ceremonial bowl.

• Introduction
• Hollywood portrays indigenous peoples as naïve
  and savage-like
• Case studies Apocalypto and Royal Hunt of the
  Sun
• Royal Hunt of the Sun depicts indigenous peoples
  as children when compared with the Spanish
  conquistadores.
• In Apocalypto the director portrays the
  indigenous peoples as savages.

• Mannerisms of Atahualpa
• The Spaniards hand Atahualpa a bible and the
  movie shows him scratching it, observing it, and
  smelling it much like a child with a new toy.
• Atahualpa throws the bible on the ground in
  distaste while the Spaniards watch peacefully.
• Immediately after Atahualpa tosses the book on
  the ground the Spaniards attack, similar to a
  child being punished immediately after doing a
  bad thing.
• In another scene a translator attempts to tell
  Atahualpa about God and Atahualpa struggles to
  pronounce God and understand this new concept.

• Violent Scenes without Historical Proof
• Post-sacrifice the Maya (in the movie) took their
  remaining captives to a type of archery range
  where the living captives were the target of the
  arrows. They were told if they could outrun the
  arrows they were free. The victims are shot down
  like rabbits as they try to run to freedom.
• One captive, Jaguar Paw, outruns the arrows and
  on his way to the forest he encounters a huge pit
  of dead bodies that the Maya had presumably
  tortured and killed. Mass pits such as this most
  likely did not exist. The Maya were agricultural
  people and would never have allowed rotting
  corpses next to their crops.

• Costumery of Atahualpa
• Straight, dark hair in the style of the 1960s
  rather than traditional Inca style of dark hair
  long in the back with a fringe of bangs across
  the forehead.
• Simple wardrobe consisting of a white robe
  occasionally complemented with splashes of red.
• White symbolizes re-birth within the Catholic
  Church convincing viewers of Atahualpas need for
  salvation through baptism.
• The Splashes of red symbolize Atahualpas
  sacrifice of his own blood for the good of his
  people. In Catholicism Red represents both the
  presence of God and commemorates martyrs.

• The Final Salvation
• During the final scenes of the movie, Jaguar Paw
  continues to be chased by the warriors wanting to
  kill him, but as they approach a beach they are
  faced with a foreign sightthe arrival of the
  Spaniards. Thereby the death of Jaguar Paw is
  prevented implying the beginning of redemption
  for the Maya through the Spanish conquest.
• Apocalypto doesnt mention any of the
  achievements in science and art, the
  spirituality, or the agricultural and engineering
  feats of the Maya. The movie only seeks to
  justify the subjugation and torture of the Maya.

Thesis Due to the misrepresentation of
indigenous peoples in Apocalypto and Royal Hunt
of the Sun, Hollywood leads viewers of these
movies to perceive indigenous peoples as
childlike and in need of salvation by Christians.