Stereotypes of Native Americans in Film Research Paper

Introduction

Native Americans are the people who lived in the supercontinent of America before the Europeans went to settle there. They are the indigenous people of the continent of America. Some people also call them the American Indians. These people did not welcome the Europeans movement to their continent.

Like any other society in the pre-colonial times, the Native Americans faced the Europeans with hostility in their attempt to prevent the whites from settling in their native land. Their actions and nature made the Europeans develop a negative attitude towards them since they did not give them a chance to control the society.

This became the platform for moviemakers in the film industry not only during those times, but also in the present time. It created the atmosphere of stereotypes in films especially those from the West. According to Lippmann, stereotypes are standardized mental pictures that members of a group hold in common and present a simplified opinion, prejudiced attitude and judgements that are not critical (24).

Native Americans were simple people who based their culture more on mystery than science. North America had approximately six hundred different indigenous American societies speaking two hundred different languages. The whites treated all these societies as one entity in stereotyping the Native Americans (Barnett 72).

The film industry has played an important role in bringing out the perceptions of the Europeans towards the Native Americans. According to Battaille and Silet, Native Americans have appeared in movies/films since the beginning of the industry in 1894 (14). It is important to note that the stereotypes held towards the Native Americans are negative and damaging and this underscores racism and segregation that this minor group has experienced throughout the history.

Stereotyping of the Native Americans was not only by films, but also by other forms of art. The western community also used fiction and literature. However, films/movies earned masses of audience due to its ability to show moving images. The images in the films helped the audience to get a more precise image of the stereotypes than the other forms of art. However, the stereotypes of the Native Americans in films have exhibited a gradual change over the centuries.

Films and perpetuation of Native Americans stereotypes

There are several reasons why the media, films, stereotyped the Native Americans. The Western Community wanted to confirm their superiority. They viewed the Native Americans as people who had juvenile and unsophisticated minds (Tuska 18). They wanted the American Indians to embrace their civilized way of living-their social values, worldview, social structure as well as their beliefs.

However, the Native Americans had their own ways of living and did not find it necessary to adapt the ‘civilized’ ways of the Europeans. Stereotyping of the Native Americans was a type of entertainment. It is because the films have the ability to give an audio-visual presentation of events as well as people’s views. Films and television presentations reach masses of audience.

By presenting the stereotypical images of the American Indians in an entertaining manner, the Europeans were certain that the images would create the intended picture to the audiences’ minds. The impact of such films remained strong in most Americans’ minds to the extent of stigmatizing the indigenous Americans.

The other major reason for stereotyping the Native Americans is that it was an approach for the white society to justify their stealing of land from the indigenous Americans. They also used stereotyping as a means of perpetuating the myths on how the western society built America.

The Western Community used film images to present the Native Americans as savage, drunken, lazy, and heathen as well as people with who lacked family relationships. They portrayed the Native American man as an individual who was very primitive just like an animal (Delloria 3). An example of such a film is the “Wild West”.

It depicts the Native Americans as haters who lack the least sense of morality. In this film, whenever a Native American character appears, he is involved in evil activities such as raping young girls or women, robbing and even killing people maliciously. Most of these films focused on the negative attributes of the Native Americans and the good traits of the western society.

For instance, in the film ‘Wild West’, the western cowboys act as the good people who make relentless efforts to rescue the victims of the Native Americans’ acts. From the beginning of the Film industry to the end of the Second World War, all the scenes in films revolved around the negative perceptions that the Europeans had on the Native Americans.

In some productions, the Europeans expressed their hatred of the Native Americans. This was evident on the movie, ‘The Searchers’ which centres on a young girl who was taken after the murder of her parents. During the search, one of the western men found one of the natives dead and shot him on both eyes. The shooting of the dead man is an expression of the western’s society hatred on the Native Americans.

Other films that perpetuated Native American stereotypes are ‘Duel in Diablo’, ‘Redman and the Child’, ‘Ramona’ and ‘The Battle of Elderberny Gulch’. In all these films, the directors/producers did not use Native Americans as characters. The stars of horror movies such as Bela Lagos and Lon Chuney represented the ‘savages’.

However, there are some few cases where Native Americans appeared in the films to enhance the creation of an appropriate atmosphere. Native Americans who appeared in such movies include Will Rogers, Chief Dan George, Graham Green and Willie Sampson. By 1890, the Western Society had killed most of the Native Americans. Prior to these years most of the film producers had taken their plots.

Since the settlement of the whites in America, producers created many films depicting the bad character of the Native Americans. Between 1951 and 1970, for example, western film producers produced approximately eighty-six movies based on stereotype themes (Delloria 4). The aspect that made these films to find an extensive market was the violence that they portrayed.

The emotional aspect that the war films bring plays a major role in engaging the audience thus attracting masses to these films. The stereotypes fall under three categories. Based on time, the Europeans treated the Native Americans as creatures of a particular time-the time when they were devoted to fight for their land. During this time, the whites experienced the savage warrior in the Native Americans’ land.

The second category of the stereotyping is that of the negative interpretation of the American culture by the Europeans. The Americans and the western society had very different cultural values. The Europeans attempted to interpret the Native American culture using their own cultural values through these films. It led to the creation of more stereotypes.

The European view of the different American society as one identity is the final category of stereotypes. Different individuals as well as societies have different ways of doing things. The Europeans did not put this into consideration leading into the misconception of the American Indians.

Modern day stereotyping of the Native Americans

The increased use of films in stereotyping the Native Americans widened the gap between the Native Americans and the Europeans. As a result, the film producers decided to change the theme of most of their movies. The first film that they produced to make the audience sympathise with the Native Americans was the ‘Lone Ranger’ though Tonto, the main character representing the Native Americans was less intelligent.

It opened a way of improving the image of the Native Americans in films. Another film by Delmer Daves, the ‘Broken Arrow’ treated the Native Americans in a sympathetic way. Tuska said that, “…It is the only movie that asked audiences to take the side of the Indians” (26). It is the first film to win the Association of American Indian Affairs Award.

The other films that played an important role in breaking the stereotypes were, ‘Tell them Willie Boy is here’, ‘Dancers with Wolves’, ‘Little Bigman’ and the ‘Soldier Blue’. The Americans produced these movies between 1949 and 1991. The image of the Native Americans portrayed in films changed gradually. Producers of such movies chose to major in uplifting the status of the Native Americans.

The films no longer depicted the Native Americans as savages, primitive and lazy people. On the contrary, they were smart people who saved their country from the exploitation by the Europeans. A most recent film that has helped to paint a good picture of the Native Americans is ‘Dr. Quin Medicine Woman’. It is an example that brings out most of the good traits of the Native Americans.

For instance, it portrays them as very helpful: Dr. Quin goes to look for a medicine to cure an illness of the whites. When the town people did not have food to hold a thanksgiving feast, the Native Americans gave them food for the occasion. The Native Americans, in this film, are very friendly as compared to previous films that portrayed them as beasts.

They are also more intelligent than the white people are. It is evident that with time the Europeans have respectfully perceived the Native Americans. Education is a factor that has played a major role in eliminating the Native American stereotypes. It made many people understand that the relationship between the Native Americans and the whites was solely human.

Education made people to understand the history of the American Indians leaving them with no excuse to condemn their culture. It further explains that any other group of people would have acted just as the Native Americans. Most people now understand that stereotyping was an approach that the Europeans employed to justify the stealing of the Native Americans’ land and exploitation of their resources.

With this understanding, the film industry has ceased from using misleading stereotypic films of the Native Americans. As a result, there has been a decline of such movies. In their efforts to restore their dignity and improve their image, the Native Americans have also found their way to the film industry. Unlike in the past, the film producers incorporate Native Americans as stereotypes of the good traits. This has been a major improvement in the industry.

Conclusion

Stereotypes of Native Americans in films initially portrayed the Americans as the worst people that have ever existed in the entire American history. The stereotypes portrayed the American Indians as hostile, vengeful, immoral and savage. These films received great audience within the American territories. However, they exhibited a declining trend at the end of the Second World War.

In this period, producers got a new plot for their movies. The first film that portrayed a good image of the Native Americans won the Association of the American Indian Affairs Award. The award played a major role of motivating the film industry producers to work on improving the image of the native Americans though their productions. Consequently, the industry produced more films that boosted the status of the Native Americans.

The films changed the image of the American Indians, from the bad I to good. The good Indian was brave, simple, close to nature and friendly to the whites. Modern films and television presentations have embraced productions that portray the Native Americans as good people in their own perspective.

The other aspect that has contributed to this achievement is education. It has made large populations understand the history of the Native Americans. Many people know that the Europeans treated the Native Americans with great hostility; therefore justifying the Americans’ reaction. Owing to this, we expect that in future the film industry will continue to present good image of the American Indians..

Works Cited

Barnett, Louise.The Ignoble Savage: American Literary Racism. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1975.

Battaille, Mathew, and Silet, Lester. The Entertaining Anachrosm. New Jersey: Jerome Ozer Publishers, 1980.

Delloria, Vine. Custer Died for your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. Norman, Oklahoma: Lippmann, Walter. Public Opinion. New York: Macmillan Press, 1961.

Tuska, Jon. The American West in Film: Critical Approaches to the Western. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985.