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Relations between native peoples and colonists
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The film Broken Arrow (1950) by Delmer Daves is one of the first Western genre films to sympathetically portray Native Americans. From the beginning of Western film production, Native Americans are depicted as savage enemies to be conquered and defeated by white Europeans. The focus of this analysis will follow the change of Native American representation as “blood thirsty savages” (Benshoff and Griffin) to a more sympathetic stance as noted by Benshoff and Griffin in their article Native Americans and American Film. Broken Arrow is credited for making effort to change the representation of Native Americans through a more accurate portrayal. The film can be noted for its many successful attempts in accuracy of Indian portrayal for its time, …show more content…
Tom, the main white male, dedicates time to learn the Apache language, how to send smoke signals and shows respect when speaking to Cochise. Tom’s effort to learn their norms represents Hollywood’s determination to represent the native culture accurately. Tom discovers that Indian customs are valuable in their own right, and he strives to reconcile the two races. He learns that “Indian mothers cry for their lost children and that Indian men have a sense of fair play, traits that correspond with the best values of his own race” (Lenihan 59). The film acknowledges how similar Indian life is to Eurocentric livelihood and values. The film succeeds in presenting the similarities between races and that Native Americans are human just like the majority of Eurocentric …show more content…
The production of Broken Arrow was during a time still under the Hays Code. This prevented a lot of the liberties the film could have proceeded to take, such as the marriage between Tom and Sonseeahray. Miscegenation is another of the films greatest pitfalls, when introducing a mixed race relationship but having to end it due to the production restrictions of this time. A relationship between a white male and an Indian female is still very controversial in the 1950’s but it is important to note that this was not even a possibility in films such as Stagecoach where the men in the coach were willing to kill the women with them rather than allow for them to get close to any Indian savages. The film abides to the Hays Code and the expectations of its audience when both white and Indian characters express some distaste towards the idea of the marriage. Sonseeahray’s death occurs based on the expectation that a relationship between these cultures is unrealistic and impossible. Nonetheless, Daves is still able to differentiate Broken Arrow by creating an emotional connection between characters. Tom and Sonseeahray’s relationship is a symbol of unity and understanding between races. Angela Aleiss in her article Hollywood Addresses Postwar Assimilation: Indian/ White Attitudes in Broken Arrow notes that “the wedding ceremony emerges as a metaphorical theme: it is the “blood brother”
Lliu, K., and H. Zhang. "Self- and Counter-Representations of Native Americans: Stereotypical Images of and New Images by Native Americans in Popular Media." Ebscohost. University of Arkansas, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
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.
People mistake the Indian culture for living in T-Ps and going to powwows and always being drunk. But Smoke Signals really shows how the Indian culture really is. It includes how their culture is different from the white man but the stereo types that people put out for Indians are really inaccurate. Victor and Thomas not only take us on this interesting adventure to see his dad but they show us all of the Indian stereo types.
Director Jim Jarmusch’s film Deadman displays many of the accepted conventions for Western genre films, but manipulated in such a way as to create a revisionist, rather than a classical, western. The most obvious example of this manipulation are the characterizations of the hero, William Blake, and his Native American partner, Nobody. Blake is an awkward easterner who travels westward unaware of the different rules governing western life, instead of the rugged, knowledgeable outdoorsman who “does what he has to do” to defend justice and honor. Nobody’s character is unusually independent, educated, and kind towards Blake, instead of the traditional Western genre’s violent, unintelligent Indian.
iv-v) Works Cited Berkhoffer, Robert F. 'The White Man's Indian. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, New York: 1978. Dowd, Frances Smardo. "Evaluating Children's Portraying Native American and Asian Cultures". Childhood Education; (68 Summer 92), pp.
Respect is shown to the laws and guidelines provided by their ancestors. Every morning Neena expresses to Ruby while she sits beneath the tree and connects to her spiritual ancestors, ‘Whitefellas call it meditation, but for us it’s remaking our spiritual connection to the country every day’. It is extremely important that there are people that are very close to their culture, so the tribe remembers their ways. Archie and Tjilpi are exceptional illustrations of...
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
The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper displays a great clash of culture. Not only do we see the difference between French and English soldiers fighting in the new world, but also present is the age old struggle between Native Americans and the white man. Culture for both parties varies drastically and has given rise to many conflicts over the course of time. Although in this novel we see a parallel with the father-son pair of Chingachgook and Uncas and the father-daughter situation of Munro and his daughters, their different circumstances give rise to different relationships. While the former is a deep connection that has been nurtured and strengthened by constant teamwork, the latter is more of a conventional bond
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.
It appears the caricature of Native Americans remains the same as first seen from the first settler’s eyes: savage-like people. Their culture and identity has become marginalized by popular culture. This is most evident in mainstream media. There exists a dearth of Native American presence in the mainstream media. There is a lack of Native American characters in different media mediums.
He adapts to the difficulties of the frontier and bridges the divide between white and Indian cultures. A hybrid, Hawkeye identifies himself by his white race and his Indian social world, in which his closest friends are the Mohicans Chingachgook and Uncas. His hybrid background breeds both productive alliances and disturbingly racist convictions. On one hand, Hawkeye cherishes individuality and makes judgments without regard to race. He cherishes Chingachgook for his value as an individual, not for a superficial multiculturalism fashionably ahead of its time. On the other hand, Hawkeye demonstrates an almost obsessive investment in his own “genuine” whiteness. Also, while Hawkeye supports interracial friendship between men, he objects to interracial sexual desire between men and women. Because of his contradictory opinions, the protagonist of The Last of the Mohicans embodies nineteenth-century America’s ambivalence about race and nature. Hawkeye’s most racist views predict the cultural warfare around the issue of race that continues to haunt the United
The story chronicles situations that illustrate the common stereotypes about Natives. Through Jackson’s humble personality, the reader can grasp his true feelings towards White people, which is based off of the oppression of Native Americans. I need to win it back myself” (14). Jackson also mentions to the cop, “I’m on a mission here. I want to be a hero” (24).
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).
They brought real Natives to play the Natives on the big screen and eventually movies were created by Natives themselves. Around the same time was the Hippie movement; many people wanted to be like the Natives they saw in the films even though it was not an accurate depiction of the Natives. They liked the 'positive stereotypes' of the Natives in the movies, the family unity and their strength as warriors. In the 1960's the American Indian Movement (AIM) also began and in 1973 The genocide at Wounded Knee occurred. Jim Jarmusch says “That is a genocide that occurred and the [American] culture wanted to perpetrate the idea that [the natives] these people are now mythological, you know, they don’t even really exist, they’re like dinosaurs.” This shows just how much Americans wanted to belittle the Natives, and despite succeeding for a number of years, the New Age of Cinema commenced and movies like Smoke Signals began what some would look at as a Renaissance. The Renaissance explained in Reel Injun discusses the rebirth of the Native American in the Hollywood films, and how the negative stereotypes went away with time. Reel Injun also makes a point to explain how it impacted not only the films but Americans who watched them, and ultimately America as a
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were