The Last of the Mohicans

The recent film version of The Last of the Mohicans (1992) takes certain liberties with the original story in an attempt to create a saga far more romantic than James Fenimore Cooper would ever have imagined. The novel was part of a series of novels known collectively as "The Leatherstocking Tales," of which there are five, all produced between 1823 and 1841. The Last of the Mohicans was the second in the series in the order written, though the chronological order of the novels would be different, with the first story chronologically being the last of the five novels produced. Cooper was the first major American novelist, and his books are infused with an understanding of the colonial period, though Cooper himself was born not only after that era but after the founding of the country in 1776. Cooper was born in 1789 and died in 1851. His most popular novel was probably The Last of the Mohicans, and it has attracted the attention of filmmakers before, with a number of minor versions and an important rendition in 1936, cited in the credits to the current film. The characters of Hawkeye and Chingachcook also appeared in a television series in the late 1950s under the title Hawkeye, and there is currently another such series in syndication. Clearly, the era and the character have been had considerable appeal to readers and viewers alike. The new version also achieved a certain popularity, probably for its highly romantic pairing of Daniel Day Lewis and Madeleine Stoke, an

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rs and the Mohawk meeting and having dinner together, with Hawkeye as a representative of both camps. When the Huron join with the French, though, the settlers become targets, especially for the wrath of the vengeful Magwah. The settlers have little rapport with what is purportedly their own government, however, and they do not join the British in fighting off the French with any eagerness. They would prefer to defend their own homes and not do so under the British flag, fighting for British interests. When they do become a British militia unit, it is because they have been duped into doing so by specious British promises about their ability to leave when necessary to defend their homes. The British are seen as rapacious, as a people whose greed is evident and who are arrogant in the face of both the Indians and the settlers. The British see their own interests--and specifically their interests as dictated by the Crown in England--as the only important issue. The General denies the settlers the right to defend their homes because he places British interests above theirs, though he does not tell them this. Instead, he uses as an excuse the fact that he has no direct proof that the Huron are committing atrocities, and inde

Category: Film - T