====== Blaugust 27: Heritage in King Of The Hill ====== [{{drafts:2025:08_29_6177.jpg?200 | John attempting to bond with his son Joseph. "I had this old head dress lying around and thought, well, you might like it." }}] [{{drafts:2025:08_29_6179.jpg?200 | Joseph not caring about his heritage. "Horns and a feather. Thanks."}}] King of the Hill is a satire of middle-class white US-American culture, and as such has a few token "minority" side-characters to reflect the main chararacters' stereotyped views. The Souphanousinphones are the Asian characters that appear the most, and John Redcorn is the Native American character who appears the most. Indeed, he's the only Native American character that acknowledges his heritage because the other ones (Joseph and Kate) are both John's kids and don't even know that they're John's kids! Which is actually quite sadly true to real life, because many kids don't know their family's heritage as they're subsumed into middle-class white US-American culture. The Souphanousinphones are explicitly stated to be Laotian, with Kahn and Minh having a good bit of real life history informing them((This video is a good recap of specifics - Dekahnstruction by Squirrel Tactics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q5pJS-m3lk)). This is interesting because Laos is a bit of a lesser-known Asian country, and that's lampshaded by Hank's asking ignorantly "So are ya Chinese, or Japanese"? Connie was born in the USA, but is still connected to Laotian culture compared to John's kids, due to her parent's stereotypical fanaticism for good grades and immigrating for a better life/"the American Dream". I was fascinated by this tidbit as a kid growing up, because it was so rare to see Asian characters in cartoons let alone Laotian characters. I was also fascinated by the inclusion of John Redcorn as a character, because as an Asian kid growing up I thought it was cool when characters were not only explicitly not white, BUT ALSO had long black hair CUZ I had (have?) long black hair! John is mostly referred to as Native or Indian, with not much more provided about tribes or family. It's likely that the showrunners, being middle-class white US-Americans, didn't place that importance on specifics, and the character of John Redcorn isn't 100% clear on his own heritage. But today I'm here to autistically artistically connect the little crumbs of information we get about side characters with about 30 total minutes of dialogue. Because I love you. [{{blog:2025:08_29_6168.jpg| Bobby hill at the book store reading at the intersection of Ethnic Studies and American History with a cup of milk is EXACTLY what I look like right now. But I have black hair cuz I'm Asian.}}] ===== John's roots ===== ==== Pueblo ==== S5E4 [[https://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?t=87612|"Spin The Choice"]] > My people once owned what is now central and southern Texas. Our land was taken from us by the white man. \\ > - John Redcorn > According to many expensive books I studied at the bookstore the Anasazi tribe from this region celebrated their most festive occasions by eating the body of their enemies.\\ > - Bobby Hill > Any cultural anthropologist will tell you that the Anasazi tribe last practiced cannibalism over 700 years ago!\\ > - John Redcorn "Anasazi" is an outdated/offensive term for what is known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_peoples|Pueblo people]]. It is likely that he is part of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ysleta_del_Sur_Pueblo|Tiguas]], "the only Pueblo in the State of Texas". The Tigua also have fought their own battle with Texas to operate the [[https://www.500nations.com/casinos/txSpeakingrockCasino.asp|Speaking Rock Casino in El Paso]], which viewers can see reflected in the episode [[https://kingofthehill.fandom.com/wiki/Redcorn_Gambles_With_His_Future|Redcorn Gambles With His Future]] where John gets his //Speaking Wind Casino// shut down by Texas. John is also described as "dripping in turquoise jewelry" by Dale Gribble in the casino episode. [[https://libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-online/exhibits/show/native-americans-then-and-now/pueblo-art/maria-martinez/pueblo-jewelry|Turquoise is historically important to the Pueblo people]], and can be found in large quantities in the Southwest United States. Hey, if Texas ain't Deep South it's gotta be Southwest... [{{ drafts:2025:08_21_6040.png?200 | John giving a shy peace sign as Dale rizzes his sex appeal and turquoise jewelry.}}] ==== Osage and Caddo ==== [{{blog:2025:images:20250821-200310.png?200 | John's dream of riding horses in the desert with Joseph}}] [{{drafts:2025:bison_original_range_map.png?200 | Original range of Buffalo/Bison in North America}}] [{{drafts:2025:images:20250830-013844.png?200 |North American interior plains}}] In this "Spin the Choice" episode, John attempts to gift a war bonnet to his son Joseph. It is a bison horned bonnet, and bison did indeed used to roam Texas before they were intentionally hunted to near-extinction by colonizers. War bonnets are associated with Plains tribes, and combined with John dreaming of riding horses with Joseph in Season 14, may point to John having Osage heritage. Though the Osage are more from the Oklahoma area, there is a connection with Pueblo culture as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_Indians#Horses|horses were believed to have been captured from the Spanish by Pueblo people, and then traded to tribes farther north]]. > You know, this land once belonged to the Caddo tribe?\\ - [[https://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?t=87837| Season 8, Episode 12 "Vision Quest"]] According to the above referenced episode, John may also have Caddo heritage, which the show writers may have gotten from the most google-able Redcorn being a Caddo artist named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeri_Redcorn|Jeri Redcorn]]. There is another connection with Osage culture there, as Jeri Redcorn married an Osage author named Charles Redcorn. ===== What's in a name? ===== Some redditors believe that could actually have a surname that isn't Redcorn! And Redcorn may actually be his middle name or double name, much like how the character Joe Jack is referred to as "Joe Jack" and not just Joe. I find this interesting because my initial thought of why they call him fully "John Redcorn" and not just Johnny((John refers to himself as Johnny when talking about himself in multiple episodes, including the Thanksgiving episode and the casino episode)) was that it mirrors the way Kahn and Minh call Hank Hill and Peggy Hill by their full names. Calling someone by their full name was common when I was a kid when you had several guys with the same name((it was historically common among Asian immigrants to choose the most generic English name for your kid so they wouldn't stand out too much on government forms or amongst peers, and cuz it's easier to pronounce for the parents than something like Guinnevere, and so it's easier for English-language mains to pronounce too.)): think about talking about Jimmy Ngo and then trying to talk about Jimmy Yang. There's a connection between Asian and Native American culture with Anglicized names, because historically white Americans tried to christianize Native Americans and give them [[https://www.reddit.com/r/asklinguistics/comments/1lb5h2m/comment/mxq3kvw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button|Christian Names]] to integrate them in to white culture. Hell it was even government policy to force English names on Native American people as part of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detribalization#United_States|"detribalization"]], and as part of forced assimilation in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20050829051045/http://sacbee.com/static/archive/news/projects/native/day2_main.html|Christian missionary reservation schools.]] You'll see these names [[https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dawes-act|documented in the Dawes Act]]. That's why some of the more common first names you'll see Native Americans people with are biblical names like [[https://web.archive.org/web/20131012054906/http://www.windriverhistory.org/exhibits/chiefjoseph/chiefjoseph01.htm|Joseph]], or indeed, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smith_(Chippewa_Indian)|John]]. It's could be that that John has a unknown surname, and he simply does not tell anyone because it's too hard for white people to pronounce, or they don't care to learn his last name. Or his surname just something completely mundane like Smith, but the white characters prefer to call him "Redcorn" as it cements his position as the one Indian dude of the town. Or maybe his last name is just Redcorn. It's been pretty fun to read through internet threads of people asking "why do Indians have funny long names" and then watching people clap back with "they're translated you pee pee head, like how your totally "normal" white English name probably translates to Fears God and Jesus, Son of Smith The Third if we were to write about you as an exotic foreigner". ==== Cumclusion ==== The main inconsistency is that the land that John is trying to reclaim (Dale got 12 acres of land back for him!) is not where the Pueblo people historically occupied. Any cultural/historical inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the show can be explained by John not knowing all the facts about his ancestry, as many non-white people in the USA may find it difficult to trace their family, especially with 90's technological limitations. John Redcorn may be of mixed ancestry, and only chose to tell Bobby about the Pueblo part of his heritage. And the show was mostly written by non Native American people, and created by a white guy, and those dudes probably aren't the most knowledgeable about Native American culture. Many of these cultural clues for John's heritage are going to be a little mixed up. White American writers often confuse different Native American tribes for each other, and put them under just a big "Native American" name. It's pretty similar to how American writers mix up different aspects of Asian culture, like (example) thinking Japanese people celebrate Chinese New Year and do Tae Kwon Do (that's Korean!). A lot of King of the Hill's humor is based on stereotypes for all the characters, whether they're white lawn-mowing rednecks or over-achieving Asians escaping their home country's genocide. There's also the aspect of US American culture for non-white people in real life actually BEING mixed up together as part of the "melting pot". Asian Americans kids often hang out with each other, regardless if they're Indian (from India!!!) or Vietnamese or Chinese, because they're already being thrown under the Asian umbrella by their non-Asian peers, and there is a little bit of shared culture from immigration and food and parenting and stuff. Hell as I've said before, when I was growing up I tended to latch onto ANY of the rare characters or cool people that was not just some white dude (lemme tell you about how Asian kids LOVED Rey Mysterio...) because... being non-white is its own sort of upbringing in the majority-white United States!! Some may find umbrella terms useful for solidarity, and to find connections through shared experiences and common goals. While others may prefer to identify as their more specific identity - see how Ted Wassanasong expresses disappointment in Kahn for equating his Laotianness (and vengeance against white dudes lol) with Chinese railroad slaves. But anyways. That's enough for today. I feel like I can talk about racial stereotypes in cartoons all day long let alone the way they're handled (for better or worse or surprisingly woke for the 90's in the era of South Park and shock jock radio) in King of the Hill LMAO don't you hold your breath for my blog post about Kahn and Connie! But yeah this is still part of my "ode to a dude" blog series so I have to also analyze the Native American heritage of cartoon characters Nathan Explosion, Brock Samson, and Wolverine. Soon... this might go past Blaugust. ===== Da End ===== [[:blog|{{:wiki:back-to-blog.png?250 | Back to Blog}}]] [[https://wiki.scumsuck.com/feed.php?ns=blog&num=10|{{ :wiki:rss.png?250| Follow the RSS feed for my blog}}]] [[https://wiki.scumsuck.com/wiki:documentation#discussion|{{ :wiki:comments-sm.png | Comments? }}]] {{tag>king_of_the_hill john_redcorn history race anime asian native_american}} ~~DISCUSSION|Comment Below~~