The representation of American Indians in US pop culture is troubling at best: natives are frequently depicted as violent savages and out of touch with human values. To counter this, Kevin Costner, being part Cherokee himself, chooses to portray a positive and realistic image of American Indians in his film Dances with Wolves. Although one could argue that the film does appear to validate certain stereotypes, Costner calculatedly—much like a game of chess—uses these stereotypes to connect with his viewers and ultimately forces them into checkmate without their realizing. Dances with Wolves is an entertaining film that challenges Western misconceptions and remains sensitive to American Indian concerns. On his way to Fort Sedgwick, Lieutenant Dunbar and his guide Timmons encounter a decimated wagon with some human remains and arrows lying near. This image serves two purposes: to draw the audience into the film by playing on the stereotype that Indians kill innocent travelers, as well as foreshadow what is to happen to Timmons. After dropping Dunbar off at the fort, he asks Timmons about the Indians, to which Timmons responds: “Goddamned Indians! Nothing but thieves and beggars!” Again, although his language is crude, this enables the audience to connect with the film by reinforcing indigenous stereotypes. Costner deals a heaping portion of poetic justice with the Pawnee ambush on Timmons while he is leaving the fort. Although on the surface this appears to reinforce the stereotypical image of violent Indians, the audience is able to feel that in some way Timmons’ death might be justified. In this way, Costner begins to reverse the viewers’ stereotypes. Dunbar’s first encounter with the local natives comes when the Sio... ... middle of paper ... ...soldiers from tracking down him and the tribe. As a farewell token, Dunbar offers Kicking Bird his peace pipe. Kicking Bird asks, “how does it smoke?” Here, Kicking Bird’s use of the correct form of the auxiliary verb “do”, coupled with the infinitive form of smoke, demonstrates the effort he has put forth to learn English. In this instance, Costner shows us an Indian who has learned English not to communicate with traders, but rather to solidify his friendship with Dunbar. Costner’s film offers a realistic portrayal of the complexities of frontier life during the 19th century. Costner successfully drives home a message of mutual respect and understanding by carefully offering, then shattering, misconceptions the audience may carry about native people. By the end, the audience is able to walk away with a sense of compassion toward the Native American cause.
The movie Dances with Wolves was a real good movie and I enjoyed watching it. It showed how life was back in the time of the Civil War. The movie also showed how Indians lived and how they respect everything except the white men.
One of the Natives says “We’re Indians watching Indians on tv,” which seems surreal because it is not how they live as savages. Over time these real Indians start to believe that what films show is their reality because aside from the stories they hear, seeing it shows a new perspective and changes their views on how their ancestors lived. It changes their views as in they believe they must all be these tough men who are masters of horseback riding, when they do not even own a horse. So it becomes a race to save the image or prove themselves that they have of their own culture in their own land, which is harder once civilizations grow and forget that Natives too are humans. John Trudell explains, “We're too busy trying to protect the idea of a Native American or an Indian - but we're not Indians and we're not Native Americans. We're older than both concepts. We're the people. We're the human beings.” Moreover, Native Americans believe in the great spirits of their ancestors and how nature is one with humans, but the sacred lands of where their ancestors fought for freedom and died, become forgotten by erasing the memory Americans have about the battles. The Battle of Little Bigfoot and The Battle of Wounded Knee is very much alive for the Natives in the film, there is a deep respect for their ancestors, but the memory of their ancestors only lives in them. “We'll never be able to
The depiction of Native Americans to the current day youth in the United States is a colorful fantasy used to cover up an unwarranted past. Native people are dressed from head to toe in feathers and paint while dancing around fires. They attempt to make good relations with European settlers but were then taken advantage of their “hippie” ways. However, this dramatized view is particularly portrayed through media and mainstream culture. It is also the one perspective every person remembers because they grew up being taught these views. Yet, Colin Calloway the author of First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, wishes to bring forth contradicting ideas. He doesn’t wish to disprove history; he only wishes to rewrite it.
“Dances with Wolves” is a movie that seeks to deliver a message of the need for cultural diversity. The story follows the main character Lt. John James Dunbar, played by Kevin Costner, from the battlefields of the Civil War to the barely touched western frontiers that house the Sioux people. Once Dunbar arrives at his post, Ft. Sedgewick, he sets out to find his place in his new home. However, due to two plot moving events, the suicide of the officer who dispatched Dunbar to Fort Sedgewick and the murder of the coach driver who took him there, no one else is alive that holds knowledge of Dunbar’s placement.
The film, “In the White Man’s Image” and Sally Jenkins’ narrative, “The Real All Americans” both discussed the controversial issues and historical significance of nineteenth century social policies dealing with cultural integration of Native Americans, yet while “In the White Man’s Image” covered the broad consequences of such policies, it was Jenkins’ narrow focus on the daily lives of students involved that was able to fully convey the complexities of this devastating social policy. Jenkins’ recreated the experiences of students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, bringing the reader along with her as students were stripped of culture, language, and family to be remade into a crude imitation of white society. “...Now, after having had my hair cut, a new thought came into my head. I felt I was no more Indian…” (Jenkins, pg 75). Richard Henry Pratt, the creator of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School that became the inspiration and model for many similar institutions across the nation, intended to save a people from complete destruction, yet the unforeseen consequences of his ...
Looney Tunes, a popular cartoon from the 30s to the 60s brought many children hours of entertainment, with its entertaining plot and hilarious antics, which people of all ages enjoyed. In many of its early episodes, there were many times Native Americans made appearances. Many of the characters go off of the stereotypes that had been passed down from the 18th and 19th centuries. In this paper, I focus on the images of Native Americans in the children’s classic cartoon, Looney Tunes, while also exploring the interactions and portrayals of the Native American characters. With a closer look at how the stereotypes surrounding Native Americans from the 18th and 19th centuries continued to thrive into the 20th century, this reveals how these stereotypes were embedded into a person’s mind from a very young age.
John Smith, the troubled Indian adopted by whites appears at first to be the main character, but in some respects he is what Alfred Hitchcock called a McGuffin. The story is built around him, but he is not truly the main character and he is not the heart of the story. His struggle, while pointing out one aspect of the American Indian experience, is not the central point. John Smith’s experiences as an Indian adopted by whites have left him too addled and sad, from the first moment to the last, to serve as the story’s true focus.
The movie starts by showing the Indians as “bad” when Johnson finds a note of another mountain man who has “savagely” been killed by the Indians. This view changes as the movie points out tribes instead of Indians as just one group. Some of the tribes are shown dangerous and not to be messed with while others are friendly, still each tribe treats Johnson as “outsider.” Indians are not portrayed as greater than “...
As a result, both films represent Natives Americans under the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films add in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfold partly unlike. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar say, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
The depiction of minorities, specifically women and Native Americans, in Western film has changed drastically from the early 1930's to the late 1980's. These changes represent the changing views of American society in general throughout the 20th century. In the early part of the century, women and Native Americans were depicted as a burden. Women were viewed as a form of property, helpless and needing support. These minorities were obstacles in the quest for manifest destiny by the United States. Western films during the early 20th century represent the ignorance of American culture towards minorities. As time progressed, society began to develop compassion for Native Americans and men began to see women as equals. The movie industry perpetuated the views of society throughout the last century. When Native Americans were seen as an "obstacle" in westward expansion, film directors supported these views on screen. As society began to question the treatment of Native Americans and women, the film scripts responded to these changes. By looking at western films over the last 60 years, the correlation between societal attitudes and film plots has changed the views of Native Americans and women. The two have worked together to bring the portrayal of Native Americans from savage beasts to victims, and women from property to equals.
All in all, the treatment of the American Indian during the expansion westward was cruel and harsh. Thus, A Century of Dishonor conveys the truth about the frontier more so than the frontier thesis. Additionally, the common beliefs about the old west are founded in lies and deception. The despair that comes with knowing that people will continue to believe in these false ideas is epitomized by Terrell’s statement, “Perhaps nothing will ever penetrate the haze of puerile romance with which writers unfaithful to their profession and to themselves have surrounded the westerner who made a living in the saddle” (Terrell 182).
...he environment in which they are set, while still representing the on-going struggle for physical and idealogical control. Both deal with the opposing parties presented in the films, the Na’vi and indians, as they pose as threats to the desired balance in social order. Eventually, these threats are resolved and dealt with in different ways, but nevertheless achieve the goal of restoring balance and tranquility once again to the society. Films like The Searchers and Avatar, continue to address cultural issues and the results of disparity between groups. However, by continually demonstrating that through embracing certain perspectives and principles these differences can be resolved into positive outcomes, these films project the audience’s and filmmakers’ actual desire to conform any outside threats that could endanger the established conventions of everyday life.
Neil Diamond reveals the truth behind the Native stereotypes and the effects it left on the Natives. He begins by showing how Hollywood generalizes the Natives from the clothing they wore, like feathers
Stereotypes dictate a certain group in either a good or bad way, however more than not they give others a false interpretation of a group. They focus on one factor a certain group has and emphasize it drastically to the point that any other aspect of that group becomes lost. Media is one of the largest factors to but on blame for the misinterpretation of groups in society. In Ten Little Indians, there are many stereotypes of Native Americans in the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”. The story as a whole brings about stereotypes of how a Native American in general lives and what activities they partake in. By doing so the author, Alexie Sherman, shows that although stereotypes maybe true in certain situations, that stereotype is only
Hollywood has helped create and perpetuate many different stereotypical images of the different races in the world. Those stereotypes still continue to affect the way we think about each other today and many of those stereotypes have been proven to be historically inaccurate. The movie Dances With Wolves, directed by actor Kevin Costner, does an excellent job in attempting to promote a greater acceptance, understanding, and sympathy towards Native American culture, instead of supporting the typical stereotype of Native Americans being nothing but brutal, blood thirsty savages.