The White Man's Indian: Stereotypes in Film and Beyond. PUB DATE Jan 97 NOTE 9P.; In: Visionquest: Journeys Toward Visual Literacy

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AUTHOR Vrasidas, Charalambos TITLE The White Man's Indian: Stereotypes in Film and Beyond. PUB DATE Jan 97 NOTE 9p.; In: VisionQuest: Journeys toward Visual Literacy. Selected Readings from the Annual Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association (28th, Cheyenne, Wyoming, October, 1996); see IR 018 353. PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative (142) Speeches/Meeting Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS American Indians; *Cultural Images; Film Production; *Films; *Labeling (of Persons); Popular Culture; Role Perception; *Social Bias; *Stereotypes IDENTIFIERS *Native Americans; Visual Representation

ABSTRACT Before the invention of film, a stereotypical perception of Native Americans was embodied in art, fiction, and entertainment. Stereotyping of Native Americans can be categorized under three major themes: (1) the history of Native Americans compressed and portrayed under a single period of time;(2) Native cultures interpreted through white values; and (3) the grouping of the more than 600 different Native American societies under one general category. Because of its ability to present moving images, film played a major role in perpetuating the stereotypes of the Native Americans as riding horses, screaming, killing, and scalping people. Film, like any other form of art, reflects the culture of the society and at the same time, contributes to that culture; it embodies the society's values, beliefs, and social structure and assists in transmitting culture to mass audiences. Myths and stereotypes about Native Americans are alive today because television and film, as media with mass appeal, perpetuated misconceptions. The representation of Native Americans in films was mostly restricted to one genre, the Western. As a type of American mythology, the Western profited on the myths which it perpetuated. A Senate subcommittee in 1969 conducted a survey which found that white society characterized Native Americans as lazy, drunken, and dirty, which was concluded to be based on a history created by the white man to justify his exploitation of the Native American. In order to restore the Native American's image, the myths and stereotypes on which America was built need to be confronted. (Contains 39 references.) (AEF)

******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** The White Man's Indian:Stereotypes In Film And Beyond by Charalambos Vrasidas Abstract The image of Native Americans had been established long before filmwas invented, and with a few exceptions, it has remained the same since then.Film, because of its visual nature and mass appeal, played a major role in perpetuating the misconceptions aboutthe Natives. Some of the most popular images were the bad Indian, the good Indian and thenoble savage. One of the methods that white society employed in an effort to isolate the NativeAmericans and make them a weak minority in their own homeland, was stereotyping.Stereotypes were created for three main reasons: (a) to confirm the superiority of Western civilization,(b) to perpetuate the myths on which the American nation was built, and (c) to offer entertainment through literature, art, and film. Stereotypes Were very entertaining, and therefore,profitable.

Coming to America Pearce (1967)putit, "Americanswere When thefirstEuropeanscameto coming to understand the Indian as one America they found a rich continent with a radically different from their proper selves; lot of resources. Here they wanted to create they knew he was bound inextricably in a a society similar to that in their countries in primitive past, a primitive society, and a Europe.The only obstacle to their plans primitive environment, to be destroyed by was the indigenous people.In the view of God, Nature, and Progress to make way for the European settlers the Native Americans the Civilized Man" (p. 4). were hinderingprogress(Pearce,1967). The Whites tried to civilize them and make Images and Stereotypes Before the them conform to the Whites' culture and Invention of Film values. Whites tried to educate the Natives, Lippmann (1961) defined stereotypes as change their religion, and steal their land. "pictures in our heads" (p. 3).Before we Efforts tocivilize the Natives were not see and experience the world, we take from successful.Therefore, the only way for society pre-defined images of the world in white society to solve its Native American theformofstereotypes. Stereotypes, problemwastodestroy theNatives according to Marger (1994), are erroneous, (Berkhofer,1978; Deloria, 1989; Pearce, overgeneralized images of groups of people 1967). It was alright for Europeans to whichserveasthebasisforseveral become savages in order to save civilization; prejudices. Inmulti-ethnic societies, a white civilization that was opposed to the stereotypingisoneofthetechniques Natives values and beliefs. employed by the dominant group in order The differencesbetween Western and to maintain its dominance over subordinate Native Americancivilizationsplayeda groups. significant roleintheevolution of the Lippmann (1961) claimed that relationship between the Whites and the stereotypes serve as the defense of our indigenous people. "Indianness" and status insociety. More specifically he civilization were, according to the Whites, postulated thatstereotypes are "the two conceptsopposedtoeachother projection upon the world of our own sense (Berkhofer,1978). NativeAmerican of our own value, our own position and our cultures were more based on simplicity and own rights .... They are the fortress of our mystery, rather than on abstract scientific tradition, and behind its defenses we can knowledge. As Deloria (1989) stated, "the continuetofeelourselvessafeinthe westernhemisphereproducedwisdom; position we occupy" (p. 96). According to westernEuropeproduced knowledge" Lippmann(1961),anyattackonthe (p. 11). According to European Americans, stereotypesislikeanattackonthe whitesuperiority,religion,andmoral foundations of our status in society, on our systems should have prevailed over the values, and on our whole belief system. Native Americans and their culture.Whites Before the invention of film, a soonrealizedthatitwas impossibleto stereotypical perception of Native civilize the "savages." As Roy Harvey Americans was embodied in art, fiction, and U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research andImprovement "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) 63 This document has been reproducedas received from the person or organization Alice D. Walker originating it. Minor changes have been madeto improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." document do not necessarily represent nffirinl fIPPI nnoilinn entertainment events (Barnett, 1975; share his belongings with the settlers, was a Berkhofer, 1978; Stedman, 1982).For a brave warrior, lived with simplicity, and longtime,whitesocietytreatedNative close to nature.Usually, good were those Americans as objects of entertainment. An Natives that gave up theirculture and exampleofsuchtreatment was the identity and became "white."The noble attachment of Sitting Bull to the Buffalo Bill savage image of the Natives appeared in the Cody Wild West Show (Churchill, Hill, & captivitynarrative becausewhite society Hill, 1978). Stereotyping and the creation realized that it was responsible for the fact of myths was an approach employed by that the Natives were gradually becoming white society for justifying the stealing of extinct (Barnett, 1975).The image of the land from the Natives. bad Indian and the noble savage were Slotkin(1973)arguedthat"printed usually in coexistence. literature has been from the first the most Churchill et al.(1978)identified three important vehicle of myth in America" major themes under which stereotyping of (p. 19). Themes of Whites fighting against Native Americans can be categorized. The the "red devils" and usually first theme was, "the Native as a creature of outperformingthemwereessentialfor a particular time," mainly between 1800 and confirming the superiorityof white 1880 (p. 47). This meant that thousands of civilization.In fiction, Native American's yearsofhistoryandcivilizationwere inferiority and savagery were constantly usually compressedtounderasingle juxtaposed to the white man's superiority. century.This period was a time during AlwaystheWhitesoverpowered the which -the Natives werefighting for their "savagery" and prevailed over the Native lives and their land.For the Whites, this Americans. period was a time of their victory over AccordingtoBarnett(1975),Cotton savagery;it was the time of victory of Mather's (1699) Decennium Luctuosum is Western over Native American civilizations. an example of early Americanfiction in The second theme was "Native cultures which Native Americans are misrepresented interpreted through white values" (Churchill and stereotyped.Mather's main focus was etal.,1978,p.47). Whiteshada thecaptivitytheme underwhich white completely different culture. Tryingto settlers were captured by the Natives. In the interpretNativeAmericancivilizations book, Native Americans were paralleled through western culture's values can only with wild animals and demons with very result in misinterpretations. These strong primitive instincts. misinterpretations inevitably resulted in the Similar themes are abundant in the pre- creation of numerous stereotypes.It was Civil War frontier romance, the dime-novels, convenient for white society to create a and nineteenthcenturyfiction. Other fictitious Native American identity closer to examples from fiction come from James the white interpretation.This new identity Fenimore Cooper's The Leather Stocking was the same for all the Nativesregardless Tales and included The Deers layer (1841), of their tribal origin. The Last of the Mohicans (1826), and The The third theme was "Seen one Indian, Prairie (1827) (Pearce, 1967). seen 'm all" (Churchill et al.,1978, p. 47). There were a number of stereotypical North America contained more than 600 characteristics depicted in works of fiction different Native American societies which which Barnett (1975)called"redgifts" were speaking over two hundreddifferent (p. 75). The body build, physical strength, languages (Barnett,1975,p.72). The height, excellent hunting and fighting skills, distinctdifferencesamongtheNative and the heavy accent were some of those American societies were never dealt with characteristics. In addition to these "gifts", seriously. Instead, the perceptions of many of Barnett(1975)andBerkhofer(1978) people at the time, the Natives, no matter identified three major kinds of stereotypes. what culture and heritage were all "ignoble These were the bad Indian,thenoble savages". savage, and the good Indian. The themes and stereotypes described so The bad Indian washostile,savage, farwere dominantinearlyAmerican vengeful, and immoral. Images of bad fiction. By the end of the nineteenth Indians were abundantinthecaptivity century, the most favorite themein popular genre in early fiction. The goodIndian was fiction was the Native American fighting in usually friendly to Whites and was willing to the Far West anddyinginorderfor

64 3 EST COPY AVAILABLE civilizationtoproceed(Barnett,1975; way. Bypresentingthestereotypical Stedman, 1982). When film was invented images of the Natives in an entertaining the situation became worse for the Natives. way, the shaping of the mass audiences' A new powerful medium was employed by minds becomes even more effective. Whitesthatcontinuedtheprocessof Film was, and stillis, a very profitable miscreation of the Natives' image. business, and like in any other business, the major driving force is money.Stereotypes The Power of the Moving Image were very entertaining, and as such, movies Inart,NativeAmericanshadbeen with stereotypical characters were well liked sculptured or painted.In fiction they had among the masses.Therefore, films with been described with words. When film was stereotypical themes were watched by big invented, Native Americans were shown on audiences, andconsequently,were very screen, riding horses, screaming, killing, profitable. Stereotypes were attached to and scalping people. Because of its ability ,several minority groups including African- to present moving images, film played a Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, major role in perpetuating the stereotypes women, and Native-Americans. of the Native Americans. Film, like any other form of art, reflects Mythology of the Western Genre the culture of the society and at the same The representation of Native Americans time,contributestothatculture. It in films was mostly restricted to one genre, embodies the society's values, beliefs, and the Western. Because of the structure of the social structure and assists in transmitting Westernitwasreasonableenough to culture to mass audiences.The complex stereotype Indians.Spears (1959) argued relationship between film and cultureis that the Western is a type of film that targets explained by Belton (1996) who stated that chiefly juvenile and unsophisticated minds. "the movies are an integral part of mass Hence,"itisnaturalthata stereotyped culture and are embedded within it.One villainshouldhavebeen themajor does not produce the other;rather, each representation of the Indian" (p. 18). interacts with the other, and they mutually When the settlers began moving West, one determine one another" (p. 1). of the major obstacles they confronted were The film industry has played a significant the indigenous people.The frontierin role in shaping the perceptions of people Westerns was usuallya place where an towards differentethnic groupsandin advancingEuropeancivilizationclashed perpetuatingthemythsonwhichthe with "savagery." It provided a setting American nation was built. Miller (1980) where the enjoyment of violent conflict argued that Hollywood films "became a would be justified without questioning the major transmitter of 'assimilationist' values moral values of society (Cawelti, 1974).As and helped toreinforce a narrow a product of nostalgia, the Western led the conception of American life to which all viewersinconstructing animaginary groups were expected to conform" (p. xi). civilization that attempted to replace those Film was a major force in creating the ideal civilizations that were already in existence. image of what an American shouldbe. ThecreationofamythologicalWest Filmindustrydictatedhow Americans justifiedtheseizureoflandandthe should behave, what they should believe in, genocide of the Natives. This inevitably led and what they should look like. to the formation of a new view of history Many scholars pointed out that people's which was mainly based on myths. perception of history are shaped to a great The Western was a type of American extend by images presented in film and mythology. The mythologies that exist in a television (Vidal, 1992; Seixas, 1994).For societyareindicatorsofthenational many peoplethe two main sourcesof character. The myths thatserved as a informationaremovies andtelevision. foundation for the Western were reflecting Mythsand stereotypes about Native the white society'svalues,beliefs, world Americans are alive today because view, andthedesirablesocialstructure. television and film, as media with mass Slotkin (1973) argued that one of the major appeal, played a major role in perpetuating forces that shaped mythology in America the misconceptions about the Natives. Film was thewilderness of theland andits and television have the 'unique power of indigenous people.Another major force reaching mass audiences in an entertaining

65 was the need to control this wilderness and building and perpetuating the stereotypes get rid of the indigenous people. of Native Americans. D.W. Griffith, who is In his book The American West in Film. regarded as one of the first greatest film Critical Approaches to the Western, Tuska directors, shot many films in which Indians (1985) identified seven basic plots around were the protagonists. Occasionally, which the Western developed. One of these individual Natives were depicted as "good" plots was the 'Indian story."According to but thegroupwas always presentedas this plot,"an Indian, an Indian tribe, or "evil." Bataille and Silet, (1980) cited The severalIndiannationsareeitherthe Redman and the Child (1908),Ramona principal focus of the story or the principal (1910), and The Battle at Elderberry Gulch motivation of the actions of other characters (1913) as examples of such films. inthestory. Generallythelaw of Veryrarelydidfilmmakersusereal miscegenation has applied, so while a white Native Americans in their work.Because man might marry an Indian woman,she the Native Americans were the "savages," comes to die in the course ofthe story. they have often been portrayed by stars of Rarely... anIndian woman might live and horror films like Bela Lugosi and Lon ride off with the hero; and even more rarely Chaney (Churchill et al., 1978). a white woman might choose tolive with an Occasionally, when real Natives appeared in Indian male and survive the end of the films, they were mainly used as props to picture" (p. 31). help create the appropriateatmosphere. An example of the above plotisthe Examples of thefew successfulNative movie The Searchers (1956)which was American actors are Willie Rogers, _Chief based on Robert Montgomery Bird's Nick Dan George, Willie Sampson, and Graham of theWoods, writtenin1837.After Greene. spending five years with a Native American Aleiss (1991) argued that one of the few chief, the white woman is "rescued" and the films ever made about Native Americans chief is killed.Very powerful was the which depicted them sympathetically was dilemma that the Whites were facing before' The Vanishing American (1925). rescuing the white woman. Should she also Althoughasilentfilm,TheVanishing die? After all, she lived with the savage for American is one of the film industry's most five whole years.Can she still be white? powerfuldepictionsonwhitesociety's Questions of this nature were prevalent in exploitation of Native Americans. The film many other Westerns. presented a very negative image of the The period during which most of Western missionaries. The importanceofThe plots take place, was from 1860to 1890, Vanishing American, according to Aleiss because by1890most oftheNative (1991),"lies not so much in its accurate Americans had been either killed or placed depictionofthemisguidedreservation on reservations. The Western genre was one systemasinitsabilitytorevealthe of the most favorable among the masses frustration of a society unable to resolve its and servedas an everlasting source of Indian Problem" (p. 468). myths on which a whole nation was built. From the time of WWI andon,the native's image became very popular in film, Brief Historical Overview of Images and for the next thirty years it remained of Native Americans in Film unchanged.Film images represented the From the beginning of film history, there Native Americanoften as lazy,savage, was already a large pre-existing bodyof drunken, heathen, usually male, with no images and stereotypesattachedtothe specific tribal characteristics and with no Native Americans.Filmmakers drew their family relationships (Bataille & Silet, 1980; material from the stereotypes that existed in Berkhofer, 1978). There was a serious popular culture. Native Americans appeared reason for why most of thetimes the Native on the screen with the very beginningof American in the movies was male. As According to Bataille and Deloria (1989) argued, Native American film history. of the Silet (1980),short films such as Sioux males have "too much of the aura Ghost Dance (1894) and the Parade of savage warrior, the unknownprimitive, the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (1898) were instinctive animal" (p. 3).This association shown by Edison's coin-operated machines. of male Natives with savagism wasvery Great early American directors like D.W. convenient for the Whites.It allowed the Griffith,playedasignificantrolein Native American's hostility towardsWhites

BEST COPY AVAILABLE to be explained in terms of the Natives' In the movie Duel in Diablo (1966), animal instincts and only rarely in terms of directed by Ralph Nelson, the savagery of a reaction to the white man's exploitation of the Natives is also punished.One of the the Natives. main ideas portrayed in the film was that Between 1951 and 1970 at least 86 Native there is nothing that can change the Native American-Vs-U.S. cavalry films were Americans from being savage.Therefore, produced and all of them were based on theyhavetobekilled. Themovie pre-existing stereotypical themes (Churchill postulated that thereis no place for the et al., 1978).The war theme was always a Natives neither on the reservations nor in favoritesubject. The United States American society. government signed more than four hundred Before the 1970s, there were only few treaties and agreementswith the Native films that treated Native Americans in a Americans. However, none of those treaties sympathetic way. One of these films was was ever kept (Deloria, 1989).Very rarely, Delmer Daves' Broken Arrow which was were the issues of treaties dealt with by the released in 1949. The story was about an film industry in a way that would shed light Apache Chief and an ex-army officer who on U.S. government's dishonesty. were tryingtobringpeace among the The violence depicted in the Western was Natives and the settlers.It was the "first a great selling point.War themes evolved picture that asked audiences to take the around the conflict between Whites and Indian'sside," andforthisreasonthe "savages"andhadastrongappealto Association on American IndianAffairs audiences. By depicting human conflict at "gave it a special award" (Spears,1959, its utmost, war films are very emotional and p. 25-26).Although there was a more engaging for the audience (Watt, 1988). sympatheticdepiction oftheNative Therefore, war films are well liked and Americansinthisfilm,Broken Arrow watched by the masses. Stedman (1982) lacked authenticity.Spears (1959) argued pointed out a parallel between the soldier- that the leader of the Apache was dignified Vs-Native American movies with World War in a way that "he resembled a Harvard II movies; the Natives, like the Japanese and graduate more than anilliteratesavage" the Germans, needed to be exterminated. (p. 31). With the beginning of WWII the focus of During the late 1960s and early 1970s the film industry turned towards making there was an obvious change in the political films about the war. Consequently, during and social situation in the U.S. mainly due this period the number of movies about to the Civil Rights movement and to the Native Americans declined. country's intervention in Vietnam. This was One of the most anti-Indian films ever aperiodofawakeningsinAmerican madewas JohnFord'sTheSearchers society. The genocide in Vietnam resulted (1956). The plot centers around the search inthereconsiderationoftheNatives' foralittlegirlthatwastakenby genocide on U.S. soil. Films like Tell Them Commanches,aftertheymurderedher Willie Boy is Here (1969), A Man Called family.Ford portrayed the insanity that Horse (1970), Little Big Man (1970), and resulted from being captured by the Natives Soldier Blue (1970), indicated this shift of and he deliberately justified the killing of attitudes towardstheNative Americans. Natives. Actor Jeff Hunter played the role Still, all these films have done very little in of Martin, the "half-breed"cousinof breaking the stereotypes and restoring the Debbie who was kidnapped. Martin, along Natives' image. with Debbie's uncle Ethan, played by John Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970) also Wayne, spent most of the time in the film received some good reviews in regards to trying to rescue Debbie. In a very powerful the film's representation of Native scene, the hatred towards Native Americans Americans.Chief Dan George, a Native is expressed by Ethan, who shoots a dead American actor, rises to an important figure Native in both eyes. He then said that the in the film. The killing of Custer and his Commanche warrior "will have to wander troops is presented as a justified revenge for forever between the winds" and he will theatrocitiestheU.S. Cavalryhad never be able to enter the spirit land.By repeatedly committed against the Natives. usinganactor withJohnWayne's George Armstrong Custer is presented as an magnitude, Ford managed to justifythe "insane maniac". This depiction of Custer killing of the Natives. wasincontrasttotheglorifiedhero

67 portrayed by Errol Flynn in They DiedWith problems.In most instances, the audience Their Boots On (1941). This illustrates how watches them getting killed because of the the treatment of a Native American subject "crimes"theycommitted.Consequently, in the 1940s is different compared tothe according to Churchill et al. (1978), by the treatment of the same subject in the1970s. 1950s it was more than natural for Native Michael Mann's adaptation of the James American children to "cheer the cavalry Fenimore Cooper classic, The Last of the when watching television or at the movies", Mohicans (1992)andKevinCostner's since they did not want to identify with Dances with Wolves (1990), are some recent Natives because most of the times they were films that deal sympathetically withNative the losers (p. 49). Americans. This does not mean thatthey John Ford's The Searchers (1956) was are authentic. Commenting onDances with usedina study conductedbyShively Wolves, Seals (1991) argued that thefilm (1992).This study attempted to examine presented Native Americans as being "very sociological models of how people use and poetic andnature-loving" (p. 634). interpretculturalmaterialsand how Furthermore, he pointed out that the men in minorities deal with cultural myths of the the film "speak Lakota inthe feminine dominant culture.The participants in this form," and this because the screenplay "was study were 20 Native males and 20 White translated by a woman, who also served as males living on a reservation. Both groups the primary linguistic coach" (p. 637). watched the movie The Searchers. The The documentary film Incident at Oglala assumptionbehindthisstudy was that (1991),andthefeatureThunderheart viewers interpret movies according to their (1992) are two examples of recent films cultural experiences. One of the questions that make strong political statements about that the participants were asked after they by the viewed the film was: With whom did you the exploitation of Native Americans of the federalgovernment. TheIncidentat identifythe most?"60 percent Oglala centers around the uprising atPine Indians and 50percentoftheWhites which identifiedwithJohnWayne,while 40 Ridge Reservation in 1975, during of the two federal agents were killed. percent of the Indians and 45 percent Thunderheart also deals with the events at Whites identified with Jeff Hunter" (p. 727). Pine Ridge and presents an insideview of None of the participants identified with the thereservation system. Walton (1995) Native Chief Scar, not even the Natives. argued that, because these films did not The impact of the Western on American that Danceswith culture was tremendousbecauseitwas receivethepublicity the indicatedthat white society widely viewed. Before the1970s, Wolves did, Western was a very well liked formof refuses to deal with its Native American in problem. entertainment. Cawelti (1971) found that Chicago during .1967, four majorchannels combined, were showing an averageof Impact of Stereotypes week. ASenate subcommittee in 1969 eighteen hours of Western films per which was part of a Images presented in movies aredominant in conducted a survey, other study on Native American education.After popular culture and they shape many spending more than two years researching, forms of representation. Consequently, the members of the committee found that to images of the Native Americans inWesterns image played a significant role in perpetuatingthe white society the Native American's first was the stereotypicallazy, drunken and preconceptions about North America's the committee inhabitants. dirty. Furthermore, Native American concluded that"the basisofthese The imageofthe stereotypes goes back intohistory-a warrior had a strong influence inpopular culture. Some of the many examplesof the history created by the white man tojustify are his exploitation of the Indian, ahistory the use ofthenative'swarrior image school, comics, cartoons, names of sportteams Indian is continually reminded of at Redskins),and on television, in books,and at the movies" (BlackHawcks,Braves, (Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, military equipment (Iroquoishelicopters). The fans of baseball teamAtlanta Braves, 1969). to Native Americans, with fewexceptions, use a "so-calledIndianwar chant" humans, people with salute their team and evokeimages of were never dealt as 170). The there ownhistory, civilization, and savagery (Marger,1994, p.

68 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 7 image of the Native American warrior was Bataille, G. M. & Si let, C. L. P. (1980). The already established andit was associated entertaininganachronism:Indians with strength and vigor.Therefore, it was in American film. In Miller, R. M. justifiable to name military equipment and (Ed.), The kaleidoscopic lens. How sports teams after Native American tribes' Hollywoodviewsethnicgroups names. (p. 36-53). Englewood, NJ: Jerome S. Ozer, Publisher. Conclusion Belton, J. (1996).Introduction. In Belton, The film industry has played a significant J.(Ed.), Movies and mass culture role in the misrepresentation and (p. 1-22). Rutgers University Press, stereotyping of the image of the Native NJ. New Brunswick. Americans. There are a few exceptions to Berkhofer, R. F.Jr.(1978). The white the rule, but still the film industry has a man'sIndian. NY: I A. longway togoforamorerealistic Knopf. depictionof Native Americansinfilm. Bird, R. M. (1910). Nick of Woods. NY: A. Even the films that are supposed to be L. Burt Company, Publishers. dealing sympathetically with the Natives are Cawelti,J.G.(1971). Thesix-gun not as authentic as they should be.The mystique.Bowling Green, Ohio: film industry's interpretation of the Natives Bowling Green Popular Press. was not merely a result of its ignorance on Cawelti, J. G. (1974). Savagery, civilization, thesubjectbutalsobecauseof white and the western hero. In Nachbar, J. society's inability to deal effectively with the (Ed.), Focus on the Western (p. 57- Native American problem. 63). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- The stereotypical images of the ,Native Hall, Inc. Americans were a result of a systematic Churchill, W., Hill, N., & Hill, M. A. (1978). effort of misrepresentation that goes back MediastereotypingandNative fourcenturies. Theywere createdto response: An historicaloverview. confirm the superiority of Western The Indian Historian, 11 (4), 45-56. civilization and to perpetuate the myths on Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, whichthenationwas build. Besides, U.S. Senate. (1969).Report 501. stereotypes were entertaining and therefore, Made byitsSubcommitteeon movies with stereotypes were very IndianEducation.91st Congress, profitable. 1st session. For many people, the only contact they Cooper, J. F. (1901). The works of James ever had with Natives was at the movies. Fenimore Cooper. (32 vols.), New The Western, as a film genre and as a type York: D. Appleton and Company. of American mythology, played a major Deloria, V. J. (1989). Custer died for your roleinperpetuating themythsand sins. An Indian manifesto. Norman, stereotypes about Native Americans. Images Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma presentedinmoviesaredominant in Press. popular culture and they influence many Lippmann, W. (1961). Public opinion. NY: other forms of representation.In order to The Macmillan Company. restore the Native American's image, the Mather, C. (1699). Decennium Luctuosum. mythsandstereotypesonwhichthe In Lincoln, C. H. (Ed), Narratives of American nation was built, needto be the Indian Wars, 1675-1699. confronted. (pp. 169-300). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Marger, M. N. (1994).Race and ethnic References relations.(3rd ed.).Belmont, CA: Aleiss, A. (1991). The Vanishing American: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Hollywood's compromise to Indian Miller, R. (1980).Preface.InMiller, R. Reform. Journal ofAmerican (Ed.), The kaleidoscopic lens. How studies,(25)3, p. 467-472. Hollywoodviewsethnicgroups Barnett, L. K. (1975). The ignoble savage. (p. xi-xiii ). Englewood, NJ: Jerome American literary racism, 1790- S. Ozer, Publisher. 1890. Westport, Connecticut: Pearce,R.H.(1967). Savagism and Greenwood Press. civilization. A study of the Indian

69 8 and the American mind.Baltimore: 95/96 (p.199-201).Guilford, CT: The Johns Hopkins Press. The Dushkin & Benchmark Seals, D. (1991). The newCusterism. The Publishers Sluice Dock. Nation, 634-638. Watt, D. (1988).History onthePublic Seixas, P. (1994). Confrontingthe moral screen,I.In Rosenthal, A. (Ed.), of popularfilm:Young New challengesfor documentary frames Berkeley, people respond to historica) (p. 43)-443). CA: revisionism. American Journalof University of California Press. Education, (102), 261-285. Shively, J. (1992). Cowboysand Indians: Perceptions of Western films among Films (director). American-Indians and Anglos. Apted, Michael American Sociological Review,(57), Thunderheart. 725-734. Costner, Kevin (director). (1990). Slotkin, R. (1973). Regenerationthrough with Wolves. violence. The mythologyof the Daves, Delmer (director). (1950). American frontier, 1600-1800. Arrow. (1956). Middletown, Connecticut:Wesleyan Ford,John(director). University Press. Searchers. Spears, J. (Jan., 1959). The Indian onthe Nelson, IWhrector). (1970). Soldier Films in Review,(10), 18 - Blue. screen. Duel in 35. Nelson, Ralf (director). (1966). of the Diablo. Stedman, W. R. (1982). Shadows Last of Indian:StereotypesinAmerican Mann, Michael (director). (1992). University of the Mohicans. culture. Norman, OK: Little Big Oklahoma Press. Penn, Arthur (director). (1970). west in Man. Tuska, J. (1985). The American Abraham.(director).(1969). film.Criticalapproachestothe Polonsky, Connecticut: Tell them Willie boy is here. western. Westport, (director). (1991). Greenwood Press. Redford,Robert history. Incident at Oglala. Vidal,G. (1992). Screening (1970). A Man Harvard University Silverstein, Elliot (director). Cambridge: Called Horse. Press. They died (1995). Hollywood and the Walsh, Raoul (director). (1941) Walton, J. with their boots on. Indianquestion. InSchultz, F. (Ed.), MulticulturalEducation

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