Since the age of four, I have spent every summer break in Northern Minnesota on my family's reservation. I swam in Lake Superior, camped in the woods, and saw first hand the poverty and hardship my family faced. Being Native American, kids at school would always ask “Do you get to wear headdresses to Christmas?” or “Do you smoke peace pipes at pow-wows?”. I'd laugh it off, they were just kids after all, they didn't realize the things they were saying. I was shocked, as you can imagine, the first time I saw middle-class, white, men and women wearing traditional American Indian headdresses at concerts to make a “statement”. Shouldn't they know better than those kids in my elementary school?
The headdress for some American Indian tribes is a sign of respect, strength and accomplishment. They are not worn by women and are only adorned during special ceremonies. A full discription can be found here . The new hipster culture has drastically changed the symbolic meaning of these headdresses. For hipsters the war bonnets have come to be a sign freedom, independence, and strength. MGMT's in their song “Time to Pretend” create a new social construction of American Indian headdresses.
The music video begins it's argument by showing a group of teenagers dancing around a fire. They are wearing traditional war bonnets and war paint. The lyrics support the claim that they are shedding cultural norms and rebelling against everyday life. Later in the video, we see the band members with war drums and spears. Again, fighting conformity and illustrating the power they have over traditional American culture. The music video glamorizes American Indian culture and totally ignores the painful history of Native Americans.
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