In the wake of the 1992 debates about Columbus, the discovery of the Americas, and whether terms such as 'holocaust', 'genocide', and 'racism' should be applied to what happened to Native Americans, Michael Mann's film remake of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans continues a process of historical erasure or forgetting that Cooper and his contemporaries began. The sentimental racism expressed in Cooper's novel involv

The movie and novel of The Last of the Mohicans are both great representations of the French and Indian War as they are attempts to resurrect and redefine the American hero. There was an emphasis on the concept that no man has dominion over another. The novel and film both have strong and weak parts that help us understand and to learn the styles and ways of this time period. They are both great tools for learning about modern world history in their own ways about war and tragedy. The Last of the Mohicans is a bold and stirring story that will always be very memorable adventure years to come.

es the ideas of the auto-genocide of 'savagery' and the inevitable extinction of all Native Americans. Though Mann purported to take great pains in his film to be historically accurate, the film is only accurate in relation to trivial details. It thoroughly scrambles major aspects of Cooper's text, including converting the aging Natty Bumppo into a young sex symbol (Daniel Day-Lewis). More importantly, the film completely erases Cooper's sentimental racism by, for instance, turning Chingachgook rather than his son, Uncas, into the 'last' of his tribe, and thereby overlooking the motif of the futureless child central to that racism. But in eliminating Cooper's racism, the film in a sense perfects the novel, because the sentimentalism that softened the racism was already a form of erasure or forgetting.

The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper, revolves around the theme of captivity and the drama of the clash between Indian and European cultures. It involves white victims of captivity by Indians. Their record keeping of the tragedy provided the Puritan audience with a personal story of raids and forced marches, the wilderness and its native inhabitants, and of the chilling efforts of Indians and Frenchmen to assimilate their captives into an alien culture. Cooper follows all of that, plus gives the reader the opportunity to see the white man from an Indians point of view. He does this by providing emotion for the Indians, specifically, Magua and the noble Huron warrior.

The Last of the Mohicans attempts to read as a work of historical fiction in its portrayal of the relations between the natives and the "pale-faces." However, its unbelievable events make it almost laughable. Cooper just loses all credibility when he tries to make the reader believe that Chingachgook was able to successfully disguise himself as a beaver. These actions make it difficult to approach the novel with any degree of seriousness or respect.

Though the film is not heavy on story, The Last of the Mohicans is an immensely satisfying adventure that makes la

Some common words found in the essay are:
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