4 h, jul 2, 2013 y - NPR Does Disney's Tonto Reinforce Stereotypes Or Overcome Them?

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Johnny Depp's Take On An Old Character

Johnny Depp, who helped create Tonto's character for the new movie, says he grew up watching reruns of the TV series, which he says was pure entertainment.

"But even at the ripe old age of 5 or 6 or 7, watching that on TV, I had the very distinct feeling that there was something very wrong," he says from a hotel room in Lawton, Okla., before a special screening of the new movie. "Tonto never deserved to be called a sidekick."

Depp wanted to play Tonto as the Lone Ranger's equal partner. "In my own small way, it was my attempt to right the wrongs of what had been done with regards to the representation of Native Americans in cinema."

Tonto is first seen in Disney's new The Lone Ranger on display at a sideshow diorama labeled "noble savage." Depp says the character is meant to be humorous — the Lone Ranger even kids him about the word Tonto meaning "dummy" in Spanish. Depp's Tonto is a deadpan spirit warrior from the Comanche tribe.

The 1950's Jay Silverheels' Tonto was calm and stoic, wore his hair in a braid and donned a headband and a buckskin vest. But Depp's new Tonto is tattooed and shirtless. His face is painted white with black stripes. And on top of his head sits a dead black crow.

"Going against the grain of what had been done before, I knew it would require a very, very important iconic look," says Depp, who says he took it from a painting by artist Kirby Sattler, which he saw on the Internet. "It was a warrior, and at first glance I saw a face split into quarters. I thought, 'Wow! That's a very interesting concept.' Then there was also a bird flying behind the guy's head, the warrior's head, and I thought, 'Wow, that's [an] amazing bird.' Well, he's not on his head, he should be on his head, as an extension of himself, a warrior, his spirit guide."

Asked if he's Native American, Depp says he grew up in Kentucky, where his great-grandmother and great-grandfather told him he had Cherokee blood. "But over there, could have been Cherokee, could have been Creek, could have been Choctaw," he says. "It was always something that I always felt very proud to have."

SOURCE:
US VA Amber Heard Exhibit 8 - Article -
"Does Disney's Tonto Reinforce Stereotypes
Or Overcome Them? " 7/2/13

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