Native Americans in Film

            Ever since the beginning of film production, there have always been certain stereotypes for certain groups of people. One main group of people that have dealt with these stereotypes is the Native Americans. Over the years, there have been three distinct stages to portraying Native Americans in film and they continue to be improved upon. There has been significant improvement in these portrayals, but there are still many things that need to be improved upon.

            When Native Americans first appeared in movies and television, they were many stereotypes that seemed to come up a lot. The main stereotype of these Indians was that they were all savages. They were portrayed as bloodthirsty warriors who would kill the white men for no reason. In many films, also, they were shown as stoic, unemotional Indians who speak little to no words. Because of this, the nation perceived these Indians as one-dimensional creatures who lack the emotions of a normal white man. Many of these portrayals of stoic Indians can be traced back to the work of Edward Curtis, whose main theme in his work was stoicism. In the words of Bataille and Hicks, “Anonymity is a feature of the Indian portrayed in film…many do not have names or speaking parts.” Even if these Native Americans did receive speaking parts, they spoke in a broken, uneducated dialect and were not able to complete thoughts or fully express emotions. They often appeared to be characters or lesser value compared to the white characters. Many of these stereotypes, though, only pertained to Native American men. Indian women were seen as almost the opposite of their men. They were portrayed as beautiful maidens who were sexually available to the white men. This stereotype can be seen even in Disney movies like Pocahontas.

            During the late 1980s, there was some major improvement over this first stage of Indian portrayal. In these films, there were more accurate portrayals of Native Americans and their culture. These movies also acknowledged the harmony and humanity these people possessed. Many movies, such as Dances with Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans gave insight into the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. Dances with Wolves, in fact, was the first film to offer a sensitive representation of Indian Culture and won seven Oscars. Not far behind was The Last of the Mohicans, which gave a greater understanding of the native customs. With the exception of Dances with Wolves, many of these movies were not very successful. As these movies became more about reality and less about entertainment, the market for Native American movies greatly declined. Many films went unnoticed, not because they were not historically accurate, but because they were not as entertaining as the movies about peaceful groups of white people being attacked by ferocious Indians.

            Recently, there has been a great increase in the number of Native American producers and scriptwriters who want to give people a new perspective on Native American culture. Chris Eyre, the producer of Smoke Signals, only hired Native Americans to work on his film. Everyone from the actors and actresses, to the directors and writers were of Native American descent. These movies finally show the sense of pride the Natives have for their heritage, but it also shows the pain and shame they feel because of all the stereotypes. They also want to show the challenges these people face because of the stereotypes. Many Native Americans struggle, not only to survive, but to maintain their cultural traditions in a very modern world. Not only do they face struggles with their culture, many Native American actors struggle to find work because of their Indian heritage. Tokala Clifford, a successful actor, weighs in on the limitations he is facing in Hollywood, “It is difficult to be an actor regardless of who you are. But as far as facing adversity based on racial bias, I don’t think there is any doubt that actors of Native American ethnicity have faced an uphill struggle.” Because of the stereotypes created by early film, Native Americans are constantly judged and questioned. Casey Camp Horinek, a Native American actress, states “to be strong and proud of who we were was a joke.”

            Many people do not realize what an impact these stereotypes have made in the real world. During my research, I have found that these harsh, untruthful stereotypes have clouded the minds of the viewer and made a great impact on our cultural lives. When these films first began, the stereotype of Native American women being sexually available to white men had a real world consequence. Studies show higher rates of Native American women being sexually assaulted by non-Native men after these movies were produced. Moving forward, the portrayals did become more realistic, however, the producers still had to entertain an audience. Dr. Peter C. Rollins from OK State University states,” Motion pictures in the US have been made for white audiences, to make money… and to portray history.” Dr. Rollins shows his belief that portraying history was more of a side note than anything else. Dr. Kilpatrick from CA State University agrees with Dr. Rollins and says that they were never looking for an accurate portrayal, nor were they trying to tell the story of the Native Americans. They were more interested in the Euro-American story. After researching this topic, I could not agree more with these two professionals. Even though there has been significant improvement in the depictions of the Natives in film, the main goal of the producer is to make money. This is understandable, however, when the stereotypes are causing real world consequences, the way these people are portrayed needs to be reevaluated. Even as the film improved, and the number of stereotypes declined, one main thing that still needs to be fixed is the way Native Americans are not acknowledged as part of the American culture. Although the depictions are more accurate now, the Native Americans are shown as a vanished race.

            Each of these three stages of Native American portrayal is a significant improvement upon the last; however there is still a long way to go. The way the Native Americans have dealt with these stereotypes is truly admirable and they should be considered part of the American culture.