Steven Spielberg sued over a haircut

[muchlove]

A Mescalero Apache family in southern New Mexico has sued the producers of Steven Spielberg's television miniseries, "Into the West," claiming a set stylist cut an 8-year-old girl's hair without regard for tribal customs.

"It's part of our culture not to cut a girl's hair until her Coming of Age ceremony," the girl's father, Danny Ponce, said Friday in a telephone interview. "The only ones allowed to do that are the parents. Nobody asked for permission."

Ponce filed suit in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on March 6, naming Turner Films Inc. and the unknown stylist as defendants. The lawsuit seeks $250,000 for emotional distress and $75,000 in damages.

A Turner Films spokeswoman said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit says Ponce's daughter, Christina, responded through her parents last March to an open casting call for work on the TNT network miniseries, "Into the West," for a three-day shoot near Carrizozo, N.M.

The stylist cut the girl's hair, the lawsuit claims, "to make her look more 'Indian' and like a male Indian child because the movie casting call failed to produce sufficient young male extras of Indian heritage."

The Mescalero tradition forbids cutting a girl's hair as she approaches puberty. To prepare for womanhood, Mescalero girls participate in a sacred Coming of Age ceremony that requires their hair to reach the waist.

Before it was cut, Ponce said his daughter's hair fell midway down her back. It has since grown to her collar.

"This has to do with the culture of a tribal member," he said. "It was cut very short above her ears. She looked like a boy."

Gov. Bill Richardson in recent years has increased state efforts to attract the film industry to New Mexico. While Ponce welcomes those initiatives, he suggested filmmakers from outside the state should try to be more culturally sensitive.

"Just because you're wealthy, you don't do something without checking first," Ponce said.

AP

[Icepik]

His daughter didnt know about this tradition?? I'm sure she did - she could have said something to the stylist. Oh yeah, but if she did, she might not get a cash bonus of $325,000 -

[pacific breeze]

Sounds like a cash grab to me. Maybe you shouldn't assume that everyone knows about your arcane traditions and open your mouth and tell them.

[WickedHo]

I wonder what the sequence of events were. The little 8 yr old can't be expected to stick up for herself if 1) she has yet to appreciate/understand the significance of the ceremony and 2) she was raised to obey adults. So it ain't her fault. It's the dad's fault, and the stylist's. Because it's odd to me that the father or some other family member/guardian wasn't there when she got her haircut. You can be damn sure that anywhere my child goes on set, I go too! (well, ok, if I had kids...)

[muchlove]

Yeah, I was wondering why she was alone on the set... where were he parents when they haircut was taking place?

[Elvira]

I don’t blame the 8 year old girl at all. Don’t children under a certain age have to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian? Why didn’t they speak up at the time?
Also, the stylist should have mentioned this to the parents. I mean who would cut a child’s hair from midway down her back to above her collar without making sure the parent knows about it?

[WickedHo]

Exactly!

[saimamom]

It's not the kid's fault. If I was the parent I'd be pissed too. But they should have made people aware of this hair ceremony first. so it is kinda the parents fault for not being there.

[ourmaninBusan]

Next year they'll just put a kid in brownface and pretend he's an Indian.