Old West sheared by new

Spielberg Series Sued for Haircut

BBCNews: A family from the Mescalero Apache tribe is suing the producers of a Steven Spielberg TV series for cutting their daughter's hair for the show.

The family said the hair of Christina Ponce, aged eight, was cut without regard for their tribal customs.

"It's part of our culture not to cut a girl's hair until her Coming of Age ceremony," her father Danny Ponce said.

"The only ones allowed to do that are the parents." His daughter had been acting in mini-series Into the West.

Mr Ponce added that "nobody asked for permission" before a stylist cut Christina's hair. He said he had filed his claim in the US District Court in Albuquerque. ...

Her hair was cut by a stylist to "make her look more 'Indian' and like a male Indian child because the movie casting call failed to produce sufficient young male extras of Indian heritage", the papers state. ...

"Just because you're wealthy, you don't do something without checking first," he said.

There's something about this story that rankles, isn't there. Taps into the whole Hollywood sense of entitlement, of how they see the rest of the world as material to be shaped to fit their view of reality.

What's authentic for Hollywood generally seems to be warped by ignorance, dumbness, laziness and lack of interest in anything but money and sex. Actors and directors could be so much more than they are--they have carte blanche to explore any subject, illuminate any issue. It's pathetic with the world as their canvas all they explore are car chases.

You'd if you're going to be working on a television series about the West, the least you could do is learn a little about the people you'll be working with. It's an attitude that starts from the top down; as I've said before, I think Spielberg is not a bad guy, but I don't have the respect for him I have for others.

I feel bad for the stylist--I'm pretty sure it's not like she felt like the Native American tradition is silly and meaningless and violated it knowingly. It's an interesting ritual, I know for Hindus for example a baby's first hair cut is significant; makes me think of the Sampson/Delilah story as well. I wonder how hair came to be imbued by such importance; I guess for ancient man power was in your body, so losing any part of it was cause for concern.

Sortof like how Hollywood feels about counterfit DVDs.

Photo of Christina Ponce and her father by the AP via BBCNews.com.