20th Century Studios
Movies
Opinion, Aug. 24: “True Story Preferred”
No discrepancies exist
“If they don’t see, then we show them.”—Naru (cinematic Comanche), 1719/2022.
The Santa Fe Reporter published Bob White’s Letter to the Editor titled “True Story Preferred,” a film review of the 2022 summer blockbuster “Prey.” As an NDN anthropolocote now teaching critical NDN studies at NMSU, White’s letter warrants my editorial response.
Keeping perspective: Bob White’s main issue with this science fiction action horror film is its lacking historical truth. Yet, during the same time Comanches met with Spanish colonial officials in New Mexico, Comanches elsewhere were in regular contact with French-speaking settlers on the Plains, French-speaking gun smugglers along the Mississippi delta, and even French-speaking fur trappers in Northern New Mexico’s once-forested mountain ranges. Therefore, no historical discrepancies exist for Comanche & Blackfeet producer Jhane Myers and her team guiding Prey filmmakers in depicting 18th-century cinematic Comanche interactions with agents of Euroamerican settler-colonial enterprise speaking French or Spanish alike.
Rather than emboldening White’s deficit-oriented mindset, I purpose my remaining words to celebrate what Myers has accomplished by amplifying Comanche voices and visions to express such vibrant forms of Comanche peoplehood across cinematic spacetime and beyond.
Gregorio Gonzales, PHD (Comanche and Genízaro) Las Cruces
News, Aug. 18: “Perpetual Pedaling”
Bike theft is real
Thank you for finally writing about this issue. Bicycle thefts have increased over the past three years. The mayor of Santa Fe insists that crime is down and it is a mere “perception” issue. He obviously has not seen your statistics.
Daniel Street, via Facebook
