Lone Ranger Stereotypes

No, “Diary of a Stereotypical Black Woman” is not the name of an actual film by Tyler Perry. Considering the work succeeding his directorial film debut of Diary of a Mad Black Woman in 2005, it would be presumably safe to assume “Diary of a Stereotypical Black Woman” would possibly be a title within his archive of films. Though entertaining at best, this faux title represents an overall message that Perry has been presenting to his audiences since 1998. In both his line of plays and films, Tyler Perry portrays a repetitive historical perception of black women that is destructive to the image of actual black women. From the mammy stereotype to the weak and defenseless damsel in need of a man, Perry’s success through the perceived notions of

The most serious Native American stereotypes are clearly visible in films of the early twentieth century in Hollywood westerns. The big screen stories about western cowboys defeating Native tribes proved to be extremely popular and lucrative. Hollywood then started producing western tales in incredible quantities . In most Westerns, white cowboys represent courageous, brave, and quick witted men while the Indians are the dimming past. Cowboys are logical. “Indians” are irrational. Together, cowboys and Indians are the ego and the heart of the Anglo-Saxon identity. Native American characters in twentieth century films have ranged from stereotypes including the bloodthirsty, raging beast to the noble savage. Still other Indian characters, whether they are heroes, bad guys, or neutral, were the characters with little to no character development or range in their personalities. These stereotypes have their origins in popular American literature dating as far back as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Jacquelyn Kilpatrick, author of Celluloid Indians, notes that popular stories “centered on Native American savagery served as outlets for violence and pent up aggression in an early American society that prided manners and respectability.” (Kilpatrick 2) In these stories, the Native American population was seen as bad, though individual members could be represented as good. These stereotypes continued for years. One author, James Fenimore Cooper, began publishing a series of stories titled The Leatherstocking Tales in 1841. Kilpatrick emphasizes that Cooper

Although these interpretations are wrong, a face painted Indian that hunts for food with a bow and arrow is more accepted than an Indian wearing pants and a shirt. This simple generalization could be a possible reason as to why Joffe and Bolt used Stereotyping within the film. A stereotypical Indian is a way of adapting to society’s image in order to make the film more understandable to the public.

Throughout “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” the theme of resilience is deliberately presented. Native Americans past and present continue to face stifling issues such as racism, alcoholism, isolation and suicide. Sherman Alexie makes it his obligation in his stories and poems to show Native American resiliency through humor. By using his characters to show resiliency through humor Alexie presents humor as an integral part of Native American survival.

Misrepresentation of Natives on screen throughout the 20th century has had an adverse effect on them. Whether it was positive or negative stereotypes, Natives felt the effect of Hollywood and began to lose their self-identity, their honour, and their pride. Reel Injun takes a look at how movies have defined an entire race and also documents the rebirth of the Native identity after decades of destructive Hollywood movies by interviewing notable Native actors, actresses, and activists. By doing so, director Neil Diamond hopes to silence Hollywood stereotypes and get Hollywood to properly represent the Native people.

In the story "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie, points out the hardships of being a Native American back in the 20th century. These hardships were racism, alcoholism, poverty and isolation. The story takes place in the reservation and it is about a young Native American whom struggles in society because of his skin color, family's addictions and fights. The narrator moves to Seattle with his white girlfriend who he seems to have an odd relationship because they are constantly fighting. He becomes an alcoholic and moves back to the reservation after a break up with his girlfriend.

     Traditionally, Native American Literature has been an oral genre. Although Native American Literature was the first American literature created, it has been the last to be recognized -and, to some extent, is still waiting for full recognition (www.usc.edu). With the Indian being forced to assimilate, their literature was forced to take on a written form. Although the traditional way of storytelling has changed, Native American Literature has survived. In it's written form, it is being shared with a larger population. Black Elk Speaks (Neihardt 1932) and The Lone Ranger and Tonto FistFight in Heaven (Alexie 1993) are two Native American works of

Another, a director pf the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma claimed that he takes a neutral stance on the issue. He reasoned, “’ I don’t see anything wrong with Indian nicknames as long as they’re not meant to be derogatory’” (Price 63). Majority when asked about this issue mentioned similar statements. Can we avoid the historical context of words? Michael Yellow Bird, an associate professor of social work at Arizona State mentioned just that. He challenged, “’If people think this is how to honor us, then colonization has really taken hold’” (Price 64). He as well as others brought up the history of Native Americans and their partial extermination, being forgotten, cheated of their own land. Bird like others questions how these mascots and names honor the Natives. And how can Natives themselves be indifferent about this subject. S. L. Price offers a wide range of evidence from people that are on both ends of the spectrum about this issue.

One of my most memorable Texas stereotypes I have heard, is that all Texas women have big hair and wear flip flops all year. In the late 70’s through the early 90’s, big hair was fashionable in Texas. The TV series Dallas, painted this glamorous picture of Texas women with big hair. Ever since this TV series aired, Americans believe Texas is still trapped in this time zone. These days, I have seen soft wavy curls and glossy straight hair. I have also seen many sleek ponytails and classy bobs. Texas hair always tends to follow the latest trends of the celebrity-inspired looks of Hollywood. Even though Texas women are obsessed with their hair, big hair is not the Texas fashion today. In addition, flip flops are popular in Texas during our very

Everyone has a preconceived opinion of how a certain ethnic group is in terms of the way they live, the morals they hold, the way they deal with people different from them, and how they deal with one another. We come to these conclusions by what we have seen in the media, heard from other people, or actually experienced ourselves. Most people would consider these opinions to be stereotypes. Dances with Wolves is a motion picture that deals with and touches on all sides of personal stereotypes we as American and American Indians have about each other. John Dunbar takes us through and allows us to see how it is to come into a situation he was not familiar with and then eventually the

Over the years, films have been using stereotypes to portray humor through its characters and environment (3). Stereotypes are associated with almost everything and everyone no matter how people classify themselves. For further clarification, stereotypes are associated with people, groups, races, ethnicities, objects and locations. The Longest Yard (2005) by Peter Segal, perpetuates the use of stereotypes to portray its characters and environment through racial, gender, and prison stereotypes. These specific stereotypes are shown throughout the movie and are examples of stereotypes that have been passed down for generations. Films use stereotypes so that they are able to appeal to a larger target audience (3). The purpose of this paper is to analyze common stereotypes of racial, gender, prison, and athlete stereotypes in the film The Longest Yard.

In Sherman Alexie’s novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven shows the struggles of daily Native American life, which is shown through the point of view of male character. All though out the book the following three questions appear: ‘What does it mean to live as an Indian in this time? What does it mean to be an Indian man? and What does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?’ Alexie uses literary devices such as point of view, imagery, characterization to make his point that the conflict of being an Indian in the U.S. in these short stories using the following short stories “An Indian Education” and “Amusement”. “An Indian Education” uses both imagery and characterization to show us what the narrator is

Perpetuation of Native American Stereotypes in Children's Literature Caution should be used when selecting books including Native Americans, due to the lasting images that books and pictures provide to children. This paper will examine the portrayal of Native Americans in children's literature. I will discuss specific stereotypes that are present and should be avoided, as well as positive examples. I will also highlight evaluative criteria that will be useful in selecting appropriate materials for children and provide examples of good and bad books. Children will read many books as they grow up.

Sherman Alexie’s “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is a short story about the modern day Native American. The speaker of the story welcomes the reader to the setting of the story, a 7-11. In this 7-11 the graveyard manager is skeptical about the speaker thinking that he is an armed robber and what not because of his tan skin and long ponytail. The speaker understands why the cashier may feel threatened because he himself was one a 7-11 graveyard shift employee. The speaker has a white girlfriend who he fights with quite often and she accuses him of being an alcoholic, eventually leaves his life with her in Seattle, Washington to go back to his reservation where his family is. He often has vivid dreams of Native Americans and white fighting on a battlefield until it takes a sick twist and the white are playing polo with an Indian woman’s head. The speaker is often stopped by the police for wandering in neighborhoods that the majority of the population is white. Him being different makes white people nervous and on edge. The speaker talks about how he was supposed to be different and that he had potential compared to your average Native American” (Alexie 386). The speaker was in college from a couple years and eventually dropped out and ends up a couch potato flipping through the television stations like the way society

Leather wearing gun slinging hoodlums are misjudged and called Harley bikers. Nowadays people are quick to judge a book by its cover. There are so many groups in our society and more yet to come. The only problem with having many different groups is that most of them have common characteristics and can be easily misjudged. With the growing population comes more chances of groups getting mixed up and misjudged. All groups carry around stereotypes and misconceptions. Stereotypes are a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing and a misconception is a mistaken thought, idea, or notion. Bikers have been given a bad reputation due to their pasts and certain ways media has portrayed them, but the bikers today have nothing to do with the ones in the past.6