Americans Abroad

This scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) never sat well with me.

I saw the film shortly after it came out, at the once grand Totem Theatre in Prince Rupert.

The scene received a huge laugh when it flashed across the screen, but as a young anthropology major, I knew how images like these are damaging, how they contribute to disrespect, and how that disrespect comes back to us in the West in the form of staged decapitations.

Here is another scene from another film that is at least aware of how such images allow for, and perpetuate, the attitudes they pander to: