The Depiction Of American Indians

I’m not the Indian you had in mind; a video that was written and directed by Thomas King challenges the stereotypical image that America has towards Native Americans. King is also the author of a short novel “A seat in the Garden”. This short story also challenges the established perspective that American society has towards the Native Americans. There are various stereotypes and perspectives that a majority of the public has toward a particular group. For example some of the common stereo types that are seen throughout the media are that all Asians are good at math, women are primarily sex objects, All Africans like fried chicken, and all Mexicans are gangsters. These stereo types are not completely true for an entire group, yet they

In addition, in U.S. history Native American has been constantly portrayed differently as time pas by ever since early years of film. The portrayal of Native Americans all started in the silent era where Native Americans not only became a hero, but a Hollywood star.

Racism towards Native American tribes and individuals have been found throughout mainstream media. From nationally broadcasted sports games to popular Hollywood movies, Native Americans people have been stereotyped and/or culturally appropriated. Many examples of these stereotypes are blatant and have been portrayed for in the media for decades.

Smoke Signals is one of the few films that accurately depicts Native American life by genuine Native American actors. This can be attributed to the fact that it is produced by Native Americans. The 1990s were a time of attempted political reform between the United States government and the reservation inhabitants. A very relevant act passed by congress is The Native American Child

Stereotypes have been around since the start of humankind. They have crossed all people and all time frames, but appear to target and negatively impact the minority. In the history of America, Native Americans have been stereotyped into a few images. These images to the majority of the public, give a glimpse of what a Native American is. The reality is; however, that those images do not represent all tribes and all aspects of the Native American culture. Instead, society has mashed together what they believe Native Americans should be and who they are. This problem of stereotyping has not gone away, and will not go away until people choose to be educated on the matter. The fact is that there are many individuals who believe these stereotypes and do not know any differently. There has been many common stereotypes over the years. Hollywood has a played a major role in influencing these thoughts about Natives. There are stereotypes that have withstood time and are still found in today’s world. Lastly, Natives are still dealing with effects of being seen as something they are not. Throughout history, Native Americans have been negatively impacted by stereotyping and prejudice, and are still impacted by this today.

Another de-humanizing example of Native Americans is the way they are depicted in movies and films, especially old Westerns. The way they are portrayed in these movies is the same way many people unaware of Native culture still view them. Their dress is one inaccurate portrayal of Native Americans. Every Native American in a movie is either wearing a full tribal headdress, or some other sort of feather attire. Basically it all amounts to all tribes being considered to dress the same, when they actually had different attire and forms of dress including forms of presentation, and different types of jewelry. Another stereotype used in these movies is the assumption that all Native Americans live in teepees. This again points to the fact that all Native cultures were grouped together and viewed as the same. Yet another example of

For most of my life, the word “Native American” had immediately made me think of feathers, powwows, and a society uncorrupted by civilization. However, in watching the movie Smoke Signals, a movie that depicts the modern Native American culture, I learned many other things. For one, I learned that many of the customs that modern Native Americans have are very similar to my own. I also saw that the family life of the Native Americans in the film had many of the same problems that my family had undergone in the past years. This film was unlike any that I have ever seen; therefore, it reached me on a very personal level.

Native Americans may have been displaced or band from their lands, but because of their suffering they managed to keep their culture alive. Throughout the years Native Americans have been ignored and not taken into consideration in the media. When they are included in media depictions, they generally are portrayed as individuals from the nineteenth centuries or when shown as modern people they are represented as people with addiction, poverty and lack of education. This representation does not reflect among the wide diversity of hundreds of tribal cultures that exist within the borders of the United States. History is a story most often related through the subjective experience if the teller. With the inclusion of more and varied voices, histories

The stereotyping and portrayals of Native Americans have carried over into the current age of American society. With the mascotting of Native Americans and their representation or underrepresentation in today’s television and news outlets, current reservation conditions are ignored or denied. This is best seen within the case of Pine Ridge Reservation, as they are the second largest reservation within the United States and the poorest of them all. The video, which currently has under 400 views, Oglala Sioux of Pine Ridge Reservation, outlines the tragic conditions these Natives face as they continue to live on the reservation. They state that in order to arouse the

After several chapters in Dunbar Ortiz and observing the movie “Reel Injun”, it continue to expand my knowledge and give me a better understanding of Native Americans during early colonization of America as well as the impact they played in early Hollywood. It also talks about how different stereotypes began to rise, although not all were true or actually came from Native Americans majority of the stereotypes stuck on to the Native people. As well as the challenges the Cherokee people faced for siding with Great Britain during the Revolutionary War, as they were considered traitors to America because they wanted protection from scalping bonds that were out on Native American men, women, and children. But once America took over independence this

The relationship between Native Americans and Whites has always been a complicated story. Depending on the source it's easy to say one side was worse than the other. Our opinion on their relationship is often shaped by popular culture. The complex relationship between the Native Americans has been told time and time again in film just in different ways. Although the delivery is different the message typically stays the same.

Until fairly recently the popular culture of American literature and film did not attempt to study the true representations of Indians in North America. Instead they chose to concentrate on the romanticized/savage version of Native people: which is an idealistic view of a Native with long, beautiful flowing hair riding on a horse obsessed with chanting and praying to the savageness of a rowdy, wild Native causing unnecessary mayhem to the white people. This portrayal of Native people in mass media had led to the stereotyping of Natives, which in turn had ricocheted into real life. Not only do non-natives succumb to these ideals, but Natives do as well.

The portrayal of Rowlandson's captors develops just as she develops through her imprisonment. Rowlandson's verbiage to describe those capturing her were strong for a woman from a Puritanism faith. She used phrases such as "merciless heathens"(258), "barbarous creatures"(259), and "merciless enemies"(259). It seemed that as her emotions ran high with her circumstances that her words became more harsh. When she felt like there was no other believers near to her, her terminology for the Indians was as bleak as her view of her circumstances. "having no Christian friend near me, either to comfort or help me. Oh, I may see the wonderful power of God, that my Spirit did not utterly sink under my affliction"(Rowlandson

I did not know the extent to how disrespectful and entirely inaccurate the images of Indigenous Americans that are portrayed in the media are. For instance, I found it interesting that the Native costume model was placed right next to the pilgrim costume model when they would never be so friendly and close to each other, as they were on opposing sides in the past. Plus, the Victoria’s Secret outfit on the runway is entirely disrespectful, as Native Americans would never wear such revealing clothing, and the headdress should not have been worn, as it is to be worn for the purposes of war; the model was clearly not getting ready to head out to war. Furthermore, Native Americans uphold the belief that all nature is alive and filled with spirits.

[1] Native Americans were part of this country long before our founding forefathers. They were the people that Christopher Columbus found inhabiting this land. There is even evidence to show that they have been on the American continents for thousands and even tens of thousands of years. Yet, somehow the European powers dominated these people, forcing them from their land to make it “ours.” In the early part of the twentieth century, a new industry began to develop; we call it the film industry. Along with the industry came movies that were made and are still made for the amusement of a mass audience. Some flaws did come with this industry, and among them was the