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representation

Even though Indians do get their fair share of screen time, ultimately their representation follows the binary opposition of the noble and the ignoble savage: Magua is evil, Uncas is good, and both categories get approximately the same screen time (Fig. 12). Both, too, remain rather flat characters, we learn little about their motivations. Other Indians have too little screen time to be anything but flat characters, which is visible already in the fact that about forty percent of the screen time goes to the category 'other'. Indians are portrayed as a vanishing race doomed to extinction. Consensual miscegenation is avoided by the death of both Cora and Uncas. On the other hand, Cora's desire for Uncas is very obvious and not condemned (Barker and Sabin 1995, 74-5). Magua and the drunken massacre are very much in line with the bloodthirsty image of the savage (Hilger 1995, 29).

 

The Last of the Mohicans (1920)

The Last of the Mohicans is one of several silent film adaptions of James Fenimore Cooper's story of the same name. The 1920 version was directed by Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown for Associated Produces is noted for its marginalization of Hawkeye and Chingachgook in favor of Uncas whose attraction to Cora Munro is returned, making him one of the few Indian warriors desired by a white woman (Barker and Sabin 1995, 72-5).

summary

In 1757, Alice and Cora Munro are visiting Fort Edwards when Uncas, son of the Mohican chief Great Serpent, delivers a message that the Huron are at war. The sister consequently try to make their way back to Fort William Henry which is under their father's command and currently threatened by the French army. Their original guide Magua betrays them and in a storm they meet the Uncas again, who is with his father and Hawkeye, and they ultimately replace Magua as the guide. Cora and Uncas are very impressed by each other. After admitting to the French commander Montcalm that the canons on one side of the fort do not work, Colonel Munro agrees to surrender to the French if the men and women go unharmed. But some white men sell alcohol to the Hurons present around the fort and a bloody massacre ensues the next morning, during which Magua captures Alice and Cora. He seeks the hospitality of the Delaware. Hawkeye and the Mohicans challenge his claim to the girls. The Delaware rule that Magua is entitled to keep his captive Alice Munro. Cora, much to Uncas' dislike, offers herself up instead of her sister and eventually falls to her death when Magua wants to touch her. Uncas, who has followed to rescue her, fights Magua and Magua kills him, then Hawkeye kills Magua. Now Uncas' father is the last of the Mohicans.

 

tone

The film uses Indians more as a setting than its main characters and for the most part shows the girls and the military officers dealing with the situations. It pits the blood-thirsty savage, Magua, against the noble savage (Uncas, his father). The portrayal of Uncas is very sympathetic and his love for Cora is portrayed as noble and pure – nothing improper happens, it is rather shown in the cavalier-fashion of wanting to protect her until death. Even though her white suitor is unhappy with her attraction to Uncas, their mutual attraction is not presented as unnatural, leery, dangerous, etc. in contrast to Magua's obsession with Alice, which is clearly dangerous, sexual, and threatening. It is suggested that Uncas would have been a good match for Cora and her preferred choice even though, obviously, she dies before the issue of miscegenation becomes to problematic.

 

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