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(Multi-)Mediatized Indians in Socialist Hungary: Winnetou, Tokei-ihto, and Other Popular Heroes
the opposition of “good Indians—bad Anglos”, and refreshed the latter in this way
with a dose of socialist internationalism (Commies and Indians ... 2013). Two of
their most popular heroes are to be seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Figure 2 shows
the famous French actor, Pierre Brice (1929-2015) in the role of Winnetou, the
Apache chief of the German novelist Karl May (1842-1912); the image is from
one of his films made together with the American actor Lex Barker (1919-1973)
in the role of Old Shatterhand. Figure 1 shows the equally famous Serbian—East
German actor, Gojko Miti¢ (1940—) after whom the East German Indian films
were called rather ironically Miticfilmek (“Miti¢ Films’) in Hungary in the 1980s.”
I will return to the impact of movie culture, but let us continue surveying the
channels and sources of indidnosdi. There were also specific filmstrips produced for
children and the young audience with a Hungarian text by the Magyar Diafilm¬
gyarté Vélallat (“Hungarian Enterprise for Filmstrip Production’)—for example,
James Fenimore Cooper, Vadölö (“Ihe Deerslayer’, 1963), Börharisnya (Leather¬
stock’, 1961), Az utolsó mobikán (“Ihe Last of the Mohicans’, 1957, 1963) and
Liselotte Welskopf Henrich, A Nagy Medve fiai (“The Sons of the Great Bear’, n.d.),
and Winnetou (1962, 1974).° But there were innumerable postcards and picture al¬
manacs and toys (like the peculiar Indian outfit consisting of a feathered headdress
or war bonnet and bows and arrows),* and there were social games (like playing
Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the bushes).’ There were even certain patterns
of behaviour and gestures, and also ways of speaking (e.g. gazing with a rigid face
and saying “Uff in order to stop conversation or crawling on the ground in a spe¬
cific, Indian way, touching the ground with one’s fingers and toes only’—all this
constituted important and popular microelements of indidnosdi. A great number
of men and women from my generation (born in the 1960s) have played—and
enjoyed—such games and practices, not much knowing nor really caring about the
exact sources of all that and even less about the historical-political context in which
it was embedded.
In order to open up the highly complex web of multimediality, one should find
out first if and how certain ingredients of indidnosdi exerted influence upon the
others. Let us start with the possible impact of the movies.
2 My own memories, shared by those participating in this research.
> Thad a copy of the above mentioned filmstrips in my own collection as a child. They are widely known
by my generation and the next one.
* T personally did not own any, but a lot of my friends and acquaintances did, regardless of their gender.
> Both little boys and little girls could play such games. Belonging to a “tribe” and sometimes also having
chosen Indian names for individuals was the essence of the game.
® Such an Indian crawling has been copied directly from the descriptions to be found in the novels of
Karl May.
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