Hollywood films often fail to interpret the historical context of the conflict between Indian Americans and Euro-Americans. In fact, Native Americans considered their land part of their family. At the same time, Euro-Americans never admitted the area without the towns to belong to anyone, thus, viewing natives as the only obstacle. Historians, such as Frank Manchel, should critique misrepresentations in the film shot in 1949, Broken Arrow, which is full of Hollywood stereotypes. Contradicting the untrue nature of America’s demand for diversity, assimilation, and romanticizing Chiricahua Apache culture is the most appropriate decision for historians.
Several mistakes throughout the film depict Native Americans of Arizona as they never were. When the film introduces the main character, Cochise, as the leader of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, it fails to recognize the tribal authority, which never operates as the American government (Manchel 61). His figure is highly romanticized as he is only a warrior. For Euro-Americans, the director overlooks some historical facts. The film director, Daves, misses the 1849 frontier strikes and 1867’s treaty, putting Apache under the protection of the US government (Manchel 61). Moreover, the film intentionally omits that the war has been 30 years long, thus, confusing the audience with the conflict scales. The major mistake is that Daves does not establish the true motives of the two sides. While Euro-Americans worry about gold and treasure, Native Americans are concerned with their survival (Manchel 62). It is not represented because the director fails to include short-term treaties and the US’s deceptive policy. The importance of criticizing such a historical distortion is that this film affects the national memory transmitted to generations, creating the deluded people who fail to recognize the underlying causes of 400 years long national conflict. Therefore, they will never understand the sides’ motives for peace and the tragic consequences of the war.
Work Cited
Manchel, Frank. “Cultural confusion: Looking back at Delmar Daves’ Broken Arrow.” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies, vol. 23, no. 1-4, 1993, pp. 57-69. Web.