Abstract
It is well known that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice. The offering of hearts and blood were a fundamental aspect of their religious rituals, rituals that the Spanish conquistadors did not comprehend. The chronicles which they wrote were brimming with the economic and religious agendas of the Spanish. Today, we see several depictions of Aztec sacrifice in popular culture and they are almost always filled with inaccuracies. Through content analysis of examples of media (Doctor Who (Crockett 1964), The Road to El Dorado (Bergeron & Paul 2000), You Wouldn't Want to Be an Aztec Sacrifice (Macdonald 2001), and Apocalypto (Gibson 2006)), I show that these misrepresentations are a result of the biases expressed in Spanish chronicles.
Advisor
Navarro-Farr, Olivia
Department
Archaeology; Sociology and Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Astrom, Courtney F., "Do You Have the Heart For It?: An Anthropological Examination of Portrayals of Aztec Human Sacrifice in Popular Culture" (2015). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 6615.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/6615
Disciplines
Archaeological Anthropology | Social and Cultural Anthropology
Keywords
Aztec, Human Sacrifice
Publication Date
2015
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2015 Courtney F. Astrom