Making The White Man's Indian Sparknotes

The 1987 film documentary Ethnic Notions directed by Marlon Riggs, identifies the evolution of African American cultural depictions through ethnic stereotypes and caricatures in American culture. I feel Ethnic Notions exposes the roots of false generalization from the beginning and presents a series of classifications for racial depictions that still are noticeable in today's society. These racial depictions identified with in this film begin in the mid 1800's and continue thought to the 1960's. I now after viewing Ethnic notions agree that there are generalizations and depictions that are exaggerated in American popular culture and entertainment.

Stagecoach – a movie that is widely accepted as the most damaging movie for the Native identity – helped to illustrate this image to viewers at the time. As a result, many Americans believed Natives were all uncivilized and violent, leading to nationwide stereotyping and prejudice. The Indian was the enemy of America as a result. Stagecoach also shows Natives being hunted like animals, which sends the image of them being non-human and thus they should be treated as such. Stagecoach and movies like it mispresented Natives for decades and caused a loss-of-identity amongst the Native community because Natives were dressed the same throughout various films. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s where Natives were properly represented on

Native Americans were seen as less during the mid 1900’s in Montana. Frank and Wesley’s father believes that Frank should not have been arrested because it was Indian women he was raping. When Frank is explaining his side of the story his dad interrupts and says, “Something about assaulting a goddamn Indian. Since when do you get arrested in this part of the country for taking a poke at a man, red or white, that’s what I--,” (Watson, 110). Indians lived on reservation in Montana during this time so Frank’s fathers views on Indians was influenced due to his setting and Indians being seen as less in Montana. Paul’s girlfriend in “A River Runs Through It” was also an Indian. Indians were continuously seen as less during the mid 1900’s. When Paul and Norman came to a bar with their girlfriends they were asked what they wanted to drink except Paul’s girlfriend the Indian. The waiters setting influenced her views on Indians making her not want to serve them at the bar. Her views were also dependent on the fact that the server was coming from Montana where Indians were also kept on reservations and her view stayed as the Indians being less based on the

Confrontations and conflicts between White American and Native American during the late eighteen hundreds become increasingly one sided. From ritual practices and beliefs to land ownership and government policy; Native Americans and there white contour parts differed greatly. Between 1865 to 1900 the "White man" and Native American relationships in western United States could be characterized as a horrible and miss leading rampage of white man destroying foreign customs and peoples. In 1862 Congress had granted western settlers their two greatest wishes, the Home Stead Act, promising ownership of 160 acre tract of public land to a citizen or head of a family who had resided on/ or

In addition, that trait shares Hall’s ‘racialized regime of representation,’ of how people of color are in a constant historic struggle around the stereotypes fixed upon them by the dominate culture. Richard Dyer, a Professor in Film Studies, clarified that “in stereotyping the dominant groups apply their norms to subordinated groups, find the latter wanting, hence inadequate, inferior, sick or grotesque and hence reinforcing the dominant groups’ own sense of the legitimacy of their domination” (pp.356). The European colonies were the dominate culture that established the normalcy of US society. These perceptions can lead the subordinate group, or race to be internalized the dominate culture and racially stigmatizes others and themselves. Neil Diamond, one of the directors of the documentary Reel Injun (2009), conveyed a reasonable example of the indoctrination of negative stereotypes; while he was growing up in a remote community as a child. Diamond mentions that although the children were actual “Indians,” they all wanted to play the ‘good guys’ a.k.a. the cowboys in their children’s’ game. Young Native Americans are continuously exposed to mainstream misrepresentation that can cause them to develop insecurities, to devalue and dehumanize themselves and their own culture.

After reading Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools by Ward Churchill, I have come to realization of some matters. First of all, while your goal might had been to civilize the Indians by teaching them English, manners, and change their whole appearance, the outcome was totally different. Your goal might have been successful to you, in the end you got what you wanted: to kill the Indian and Save the Man. But also, you stole those kid’s identities by taking them away from their families. You traumatized them, and making them go through so many forms of abuse. “Kill the Indian, save the men” or like U.S. Indian Commissioner William A. Jones said in 1903, the goal was to “exterminate the

Main Point: Junior needed to leave the reservation because the despondent ideology was suffocating his potential.

However, Native American filmmakers have been faced with several challenges in their attempts to compete for limited resources while struggling to overcome common stereotypes, that present Indian Americans as unintelligent people who belong in the past and not in the present or future (Singer). It is the special attention that has recently been given to Native American’s own film making that is intended to reverse the devastating effects of previous discrimination and colonization of the Indians. This kind of filmmaking has been popularly referred to as indigenous media production (Singer). It has been considered to be a way for tribal people to think about and reflect on the white man’s most seductive and reductive development for conception and fair representation, which is available

These harmful images of how the Indian Americans were depicted, were subliminally created by him in many of his previous films where they were repeatedly stereotyped under the maligned appearance of bloodthirsty savages and hardly ever illustrated by their alter ego the noble savages. These descriptions and especially the denigrated bloodthirsty savage illustrations of the Indians remain seen as purely animals into the eyes of non-native populations, which caused racial discrimination against them at that epoch. Therefore, John Ford tried to redeem himself by making the film The Searchers, where he tried to expose the nefarious causes of resentment and racism that at that time the general population had for the Indians. This way of apology is likely to be strong supported by the image of the film’s hero. The depiction of the hero stresses the despicable habits of the westerners such as the tendency of the prejudices towards others. As shown by the arrival of the John Wayne character to his brother’s house and how he looked at Martin who is half-blood Indian. Similarly, Dances with Wolves represented an explicit apology to the indigenous people. However, although it was made by a white person point of view, it emphasizes Indians’ points of view. This is implicitly represented as the hero who is a white soldier from the American Civil War transformed himself into a real Indian of the Lakota Sioux tribe. Although both films symbolize intentions of apology to the

This quote explains the difference between the bank of white people and how the indians administrate their money. White people have a bank where they leave the money and in a period of time they receive back more because of the interest. Instead the Indians doesn’t have a bank. When they have sufficient money they give the rest to other people and with the time they returned. Indians do that because they feel good doing it and their heart feel

Sherman Alexie is an award-winning author who wrote the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The book is a semi-autobiography of Alexie’s life and his experience growing up on an Indian Reservation, as well as a more economically well-off school, where he was the only Native American student. The book gives readers the opportunity to get an idea of what life is like living on an impoverished reservation. It depicts the struggles of young Arnold Spirit Jr., or Junior, as he is known on the reservation, as he grows up living a double-life, or as he says “as a part-time Indian”. His struggles include dealing with poverty, alcoholism, and racism, all while trying to make something of his life. The book, which has multiple themes discussed throughout our online course, is a great way for people who have no experience with reservations to understand what life on one is like.

The western genre loved having the caucasian heroes teaming up with friendly Indians like the Sioux and fighting evil Indians like the Apache or Pawnee. This concept is used in many movies like Dances with Wolves, The Lone Ranger, and many more. It is so easy to label something good or evil because the concept is based on a person’s own ideas of what is good and what is bad, morals and such. Movies just love demonizing certain people. Horror movies do this all the time, cannibal tribes in amazon or forest keeps people thinking that indigenous people are savages. Plays into their fear that those who live a more simple life are different in morals and thought process’, a false image that has tainted a normal person’s mind this is why the photo image of a Indian is imaginary, it’s because it is all a fabricated

Written in 1826 and directed in 1915 respectively, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper and The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith were foundational in influencing both the American novel and film industry. Consequently, they are also two of the most controversial texts in American history as they epitomize racism and the desire for an all white society. Cooper’s vision of an emerging American national character/identity is similar to Griffith’s obvious wish for a white-supremacist paradise in the sense that both men created world’s in which whiteness is regarded as ideal and superlative, while other races are perceived as savage and inferior. Furthermore, Natty Bumppo’s race is as key to his heroism for

Today, the inclusion of D.W. Griffith in class is important as we can see how stereotypes of minority cultures were being portrayed through his film The Birth of a Nation. For example, Dr. Frick’s lecture (09/28/2017) noted how Griffith’s films depicted a variety

Despite many of the Whites not even seeing or interacting with Indians, they still thought all Indians were nothing more than drunks or killers.  It was a common view of the American public, at the time, to think that the  Native Americans were uncivilized savages who were merely blocking the way to improve and expand the growing nation. Because the Natives lived off the land, they didn’t have any paper money, and were seen as beggars. Since most, if not all, of the American public had been Christian at the time they would see the Natives’ as heathens, and think that they just needed to change and “become civilized.” The movie Dances With Wolves forever changed the way the American public viewed Native Americans because it showed that not all Indians were thieves or killers, in addition also showed that Indians were not a “poor” people, and it also showed that the Natives were both civilized and respectful.