wigwam

[nostalgicponytimes 10]

wigwam is a g1 big brother pony. what is everyone's opinions on him? although he is offensive, is it okay to draw him or should i stay away from him completely? i have been wondering this for a while now, but have yet to find much information about it

[Splashee 28,537]

I can't say if he is offensive. I do have him in my collection but not the accessories so I have never thought about that.

[North Star 4,540]

never been a collector. animated content and toys that rely on cultural tropes may need to trot carefully. Just so long as the character shines through the trope (like the buffalo tribe in FiM) it should be ok. Personally, that stuff only offends me when the stereotyping is done to demean (which is ofc not the case with Wigwam)

 

edit also yay first post outside intro forum! welcome to the chattering herds new pony  

[Jesse Terrence 2,963]

How is he offensive again?

[FlitterFlutter 1,568]

7 hours ago, Jesse Terrence said:

How is he offensive again?

Im not saying its offensive, but something tells me "Wigwam" is not a native name, and the pony is just a Native American stenotype with the headdress and all. 

[Jesse Terrence 2,963]

On 2022-12-27 at 2:51 AM, nostalgicponytimes said:

although he is offensive, is it okay to draw him or should i stay away from him completely?

How about not caring and just drawing the pony if you like the pony instead?
There will always be someone who will take offense on whatever you do or stop doing. Take for instance the Mario with sombrero on super mario odyssey. We mexicans took him as a nice detail despite the obvious stereotypical portrayal of mexicans that is way far from how we actually dress like (protip: we don't wear that kind of sombrero nor zarape at all unless for some folkloric dances). Still, we (the ones who actually were born in mexico, grew up in mexico and live in mexico) were happy about that costume. Meanwhile a vocal group from USA (a bunch of those guys who say stuff like latinx which actual latinos dislike due the deformation of the word) were all angry at it.
Who knows, maybe actual native americans won't mind, maybe some will like it, maybe some won't care at all because there's an ocean of stuff way more important, maybe some blonde guy with a polish last name with a 16th part of ascendence will be super angry at it.

Either way, if you like it and want to draw it and you have no ill intention, go ahead and do it. If you really feel the need to clarify you consider it offensive (which I really don't see much of that because I don't see a negative portrayal of native americans on that pony) then add a disclaimer and call it a day.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Jesse Terrence

[Props Valroa 26,048]

Do what you want and draw what you wish. You are the artist. Nobody can limit you.

[nostalgicponytimes 10]

(this quote was taken from Tumblr user Yodawgiheardyoulikeponies-racism, which can be read in full here

"As you can see the pony has a Plains war bonnet used as decoration despite being named after a type of lodging Wigwam by Northern-Eastern tribes. This demonstrates a lack of care or understanding by the creators about native cultures and as a result makes it a racist caricature of native people."

I feel like this quote explains it better than I ever could

[Fhaolan 4,468]

Wigwam is derived from an Algonquin word, and members of the Algonquin tribal group did adopt the feather headdress of the neighboring Sioux people in the 19th century. Which is, admittedly, rather modern for a lot of people, but it was still a hundred years or so before that toy was made. So no offense to the quoted person, but they are not as knowledgeable about the customs of those native people as they believe themselves to be.

[Jesse Terrence 2,963]

On 2022-12-29 at 12:39 PM, nostalgicponytimes said:

(this quote was taken from Tumblr user Yodawgiheardyoulikeponies-racism, which can be read in full here

Ah, you just told me all I needed to know about your concerns.

Tumblr and tweeter people are the biggest crybabies who actually do LOTS of culture appropiation before the actual people they supposedly care about even know someone is missusing something about their culture.

As a mexican, I feel highly offended when they (the afore mentioned tweeter and tumblr users) go on their latinx bull and even more when they wish me a "feliz 5 de mayo". If these bird brains knew just a pinch about mexican culture and history, they'd know mexicans don't give a hayseed about 5 de mayo. It was just a battle we won against the french when they tried to invade us. It's as important as september 13th, the memorial day of the cadets of Chapultepec castle (known as "los niños héroes" which translates as the heroic children because they were literal preteens) that were massacred by the US army when USA invaded Mexico. We have a holiday with a little reminder and maybe a militar salute on tv, but it's not parade worthy.

My point is, if someone from tumblr or tweeter wants you to feel bad for cultural appropiation or because you're being racist, just ignore them. They are quite ignorant and use "social justice" as an excuse to pick fights and look cool.

[nostalgicponytimes 10]

1 hour ago, Fhaolan said:

Wigwam is derived from an Algonquin word, and members of the Algonquin tribal group did adopt the feather headdress of the neighboring Sioux people in the 19th century. Which is, admittedly, rather modern for a lot of people, but it was still a hundred years or so before that toy was made. So no offense to the quoted person, but they are not as knowledgeable about the customs of those native people as they believe themselves to be.

thank you so much for letting me know! im obviously not very knowledgeable on the topic. i appreciate you for being kind and helping me out, your knowledge means a lot to me. thank you!!

[nostalgicponytimes 10]

1 hour ago, Jesse Terrence said:

Ah, you just told me all I needed to know about your concerns.

Tumblr and tweeter people are the biggest crybabies who actually do LOTS of culture appropiation before the actual people they supposedly care about even know someone is missusing something about their culture.

As a mexican, I feel highly offended when they (the afore mentioned tweeter and tumblr users) go on their latinx bull and even more when they wish me a "feliz 5 de mayo". If these bird brains knew just a pinch about mexican culture and history, they'd know mexicans don't give a hayseed about 5 de mayo. It was just a battle we won against the french when they tried to invade us. It's as important as september 13th, the memorial day of the cadets of Chapultepec castle (known as "los niños héroes" which translates as the heroic children because they were literal preteens) that were massacred by the US army when USA invaded Mexico. We have a holiday with a little reminder and maybe a militar salute on tv, but it's not parade worthy.

My point is, if someone from tumblr or tweeter wants you to feel bad for cultural appropiation or because you're being racist, just ignore them. They are quite ignorant and use "social justice" as an excuse to pick fights and look cool.

thank you for your in depth responses! i dont necessarily like to group entire groups of people in with each other (including everyone who uses a social media) because it doesn't say much about the person. however, going through their account, there is not much on them. it is an anonymous blog solely dedicated to calling out that one person

and dont worry, they dont want me to feel bad haha. i actually stumbled across the blog when looking for people's opinions on the pony. although, Fhaloan said that this user  is wrong, and with their opinions, i definitely will take the tumblr user's words with a grain of salt haha 

[Gaines 1,111]

I feel like something is only offensive if whom it's trying to represent is offensive, like if you said something about pegasi it's up to the pegasus to decide if it's offensive or not 
Since I personally haven't seen or heard anything about Wigwam from someone of Native American descent, it should be okay to draw him. However, if you're questioning yourself and asking if it's bad... best to not go through with your plans 
This is all in my own opinion tho