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Stereotyping native americans
How hollywood portrays indigenous people
Stereotypes about native Americans
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Little Big Man (1970) and Dances with Wolves (1990) Another example of a sympathetic portrayal of the American Indian was the 1970 film Little Big Man, with the cast including Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Chief Dan George. It is considered a revisionist Western, sort of reversing the roles, with Native Americans being the “good guys” and the United States Cavalry depicted as the villains. The film tells of a white man, Jack Crabb, and his life being raised by Cheyenne Indians after his own family is killed and fighting with General Custer. It showed speaking roles for many native actors in a time when having white actors portray natives was still a common practice. By the 1990s, Native American people were starting to get more respect
In the film Dances with Wolves, the settlers view the Indians as primitive and uncivilized creatures. Dunbar, played by Kevin Costner, needs a change of pace so he decides to go to the "furthest outpost." Upon arriving at his post, he gradually realizes that the Indians are just as scared of him as he is of them. Soon Dunbar identifies with their way of life and in the end has to choose to live either as a settler or as an Indian.
On December 29, 1890, the army decided to take away all of the Sioux weapons because they weren’t sure if they could trust those indians. Some people think a deaf man did this, but one man shot his gun, while the tribe was surrendering. Studies think that he didn’t understand the Chiefs surrender. The army then opened fire at the Sioux. There was over 300 indians that died, and one of them was their chief named Bigfoot. This is an example of how we didn’t treat Native Americans fairly, because if it was a deaf man then we probably should of talked it out before we killed all those innocent
Native Americans in the 1960's were still seen as "savages" and less educated than white people: “After the 1960s civil rights movement led by African Americans, many Native Americans also pushed for more civil rights and renewed what many see as their original struggle to force the U.S. to keep its promises to native peoples" (Faville). They are treated as second-class citizens and fought for civil rights alongside african-americans in the 1960's movement. Chief recognizes that being a Native American doesn't give him any bonus points in society: "They don’t bother not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I’m nearby because they think I’m deaf and dumb. Everybody thinks so. I’m cagey enough to fool them that much. If my being half Indian ever helped me in any way in this dirty life, it helped me being cagey, helped me all these years” (Kesey 1). The one thing that his heritage does help him with is acting like a mental patient in the ward. This shows how badly society treats Native Americans: "I thought at first that he was laughing because of how funny it looked, an Indian’s face and black, oily Indians hair on somebody like me. I thought maybe he was laughing at how weak I looked” (Kesey 18). Chief is so conditioned to hate and torment from people in society that he automatically assumes that he's being made fun of when McMurphy begins to laugh
In the movie we see a native American man giving a man a woman and
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
As a result, both films represent Native Americans from 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 adds in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfolding in a different way. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar says, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
I chose to watch Gone with the Wind for my epic movie. I really enjoyed the movie. Gone with the Wind is about a girl named Scarlett O'Hara is the daughter of an Irish immigrant who in 1861 owns a plantation named Tara in Georgia. Scarlett is infatuated with Ashley Wilkes, who, although attracted to her, marries his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. At the party announcing Ashley's engagement to Melanie, Scarlett meets Rhett Butler, who has a reputation as a rascal. As the Civil War begins, Scarlett accepts a proposal of marriage to a man who she does not love and later dies in war. After the war, Scarlett inherits Tara and manages to keep the place going. When desperate measures take place and Scarlett can’t get money to pay for Tara she marries a wealthy man who later dies attacking the men that assaulted her. After that Rhett confesses his love and they get married, but when things get rough and Scarlett’s true colors appear he packs up and leaves.
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 “...
“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” In case you haven’t seen the film already, the plot to The Wizard of Oz (Oz) is profoundly complex and requires critical inquiry to unravel its intricacies. Dorothy, a forlorn Kansas farmgirl, daydreams of a fanciful fantasia where her dog, Toto, doesn’t have to suffer the nuisance of a nasty spinster witch of a neighbor. So, she plans to run away – far, far away. I know, a little weighty, but stick with me.
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.
Into the Wild, a novel written by Jon Krakauer, as well as a film directed by Sean Penn, talks about Chris McCandless, a young individual who set out on a journey throughout the Western United States, isolating himself from society, and more importantly, his family. During his travels, he meets a lot of different people, that in a way, change his ways about how he sees the world. There are many characteristics to describe McCandless, such as “naïve”, “adventurous”, and “independent”. In the book, Krakauer described McCandless as “intelligent”, using parts in his book that show McCandless being “intelligent”. While Krakauer thinks of McCandless as being “intelligent”, Penn thinks of McCandless as a more “saintly” type of person.
The reclusive film director Terrence Malick has to date, only directed a small number of films. His twenty year hiatus between directing Days of Heaven (1978) and The Thin Red Line (1998), may provide the explanation for such a sparse back catalogue. Malick’s refusal to talk with the media, has led to hearsay, as to how he occupied his time during the hiatus. Malick’s directing debut Badlands (1973) is a collection of concepts, all carefully moulded together to create one iconic piece of film. This process draws in and also alienates the audience. Malick’s style is positively noted by critics to be influenced by European philosophy. This is clearly due to Malick’s study of philosophy at Harvard and Magdalen College Oxford. There is no given explanation to the mindless violence featured within the film, mainly due to the films resistance to the straight forward approach. The familiar and the unknown are carefully merged together. The only way of gaining an understanding into the hidden meanings within Badlands is by breaking down the film, by looking at the characters, the use of sound, the visual setting and the films genre. The illusionary effect of Malick’s style means that all is not as it seems.
*Hunt for the Wilderpeople* builds on Waititi 's drama/comedy combination and further cements his auteur status. *Wilderpeople* is about an orphan boy who moves from one foster family to another, generally being a delinquent. This causes him to earn the title of "a real bad egg". The majority of the film takes place as Ricky Baker is on the run through the vast forest. While structurally different than *Boy*, both films deal with coming-of-age, parents, and loneliness. Unlike *Boy*, *Wilderpeople* is divided up into ten chapters and an epilogue. Despite this, *Boy* is the more episodic film. Since *Wilderpeople* relies more on a causal narrative, it seems more like a standard Hollywood film at first. But Waititi finds a way to make it his own.
The Wolf of Wall Street produced and directed by Martin Scorsese tells a story of Jordan Belfort, a stockbroker living a luxurious life on Wall Street. Due to greed and corruption, Jordan falls into a life of crime and abusive activities. Belfort made millions of dollars by selling customers “penny stocks” and manipulating the market through his company, Stratton Oakmont, before being convicted of any criminal activity (Solomon, 2013). Jordan reveals behaviours and impulses all humans have, however, on an extreme level. This movie illustrates “why ethics is another tool whose importance cannot be overstated” (Delaney, 2014). Without ethics and morality, individuals can never truly live an honest and happy life.
This movie starts off as Jordan Belfort, the main character in the movie, losing his job as a stockbroker in Wall Street. After losing his job, he goes and gets a job in a Long Island brokerage room. In the brokerage room, he sells penny stocks. Thanks to him being aggressive in his selling skills, he was able to make a profit. With the new income, he gives his wife a bracelet and she asked him why doesn’t he go after the people that can afford to lose money, not the middle-class people or lower income people. That is when he gets the idea to get a lot of young people and train them to become the best stock brokers.