When Columbus first set foot in the New World, he believed that he had arrived in the islands just off the coast of Cipango, known today as China. Thinking this, he called the people that he met Indians, as they lived on the islands that he falsely believed were the Indies. The term Indian spread back to Europe, as did the term Indies, and to this day, Native Americans are known as Indians, and the Caribbean islands are referred to as the West Indies. The Indians populated a much greater area than Columbus could have imagined, covering the land of two Continents. The Native people of these lands, known already by a term in their languages that roughly meant "the people", were now thrown into one large group called Indians, which stretched nearly pole to pole.
The Indians were an invented people. The place they inhabited was not the Indies, and their culture varied from tribe to tribe. The Indian in film is also an invented population of people. No distinction between reality and the imagination are made in these movies. The portrayal of the Native American, and the Native American ways of life were displayed incorrectly in film, and warped the image of the Native American in the eyes of all Americans, especially their descendants.
The movies studied vary, from those dealing with Columbus' first encounter with these fascinating people, up through to the end of the 19th century. The films viewed include: 1492 (1992), Christopher Columbus (1985), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), The Last of The Mohicans (1992), Apache (1954), Dances With Wolves (1990), Crazy Horse (1996), A Man Called Horse (1970), A Man Called Horse III (1982), Soldier Blue (1970), Buffalo Bill and The Indians (1976), and Black Robe (1991).
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... L. Native American Images and Stereotypes. 1996. http://www.millersv.edu/~columbus/search/papers/garner ~1.html
Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com
Last of the Mohicans, The. Dir. Michael Mann. With Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeline Stowe. 20th Century Fox. 1992. 122 min.
Mission, The. Dir. Roland Joffe. With Jeremy Irons and Robert Deniro. Warner. 1986. 125 min.
Pathfinder, The. Dir. Donald Shabib. With Kevin Dillon and Graham Greene. Leather Stocking. 1996. 84 min.
Soldier Blue. Dir. Ralph Nelson. With Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss. AVCO. 1970. 114 min.
Spence, Lewis. Myths and Legends of the North American Indians. London: George G. Harrap & Company, 1914.
Tecumseh. Dir. Larry Elikann. With Jesse Borrego. 1995.
Wilson, Samuel M. Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press,1990.
The Last of the Mohicans (1992) was about the French and Indian war. The Last of the Mohicans was directed by Michael Mann (IMDb). The three main stars of The Last Mohicans are Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, and Russell Means (IMDb). The Last of the Mohicans won an Oscar in 1993 for best sound. It also won another five wins and was nominated for ten more award (IMDb). The Last of the Mohicans is a historically accurate film, but it has some in inaccuracies.
As there is a letter to which Columbus himself admits on 'discovering' west Indies. In the time, the news was spread in Europe and the arawaks were not aware. One would like to thoroughly explore the meaning of discover, to discover a place means to be the only person to find something before anyone else. How can Columbus 'discover' when people already inhabited it? How can he claim he was the s...
A Few Good Men. Dir. Rob Reiner. Perf. Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Demi Moore. Columbia Pictures, 1992. Film.
Velvet Goldmine. Dir. Todd Hayes. Perf. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, Toni Collette. Miramax, 1998.
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2012). Forensic and Legal Psychology: Psychological Science Applied to Law. New York: Worth Publishers.
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
Lyman, D. Michael; Criminal Investigation, The Art and Science; 3rd edition, 2002 Prentice Hall. Pgs. 188-200.
Blade Runner. Dir. James Riddley-Scott. Perf. Harrison Ford, Joe Turkel, Sean Young, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, Joanna Cassidy, Brion James, William Sanderson, M. Emmett Walsh, Edward James Olmos, Morgan Paull, Columbia Tri-Star, 1982
McGrath, Michael G. "Criminal Profiling: Is There a Role for the Forensic Psychiatrist?." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 28. (2000): 315-324. Web. 13 Apr 2011.
Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Samuel Goldwyn Company and Renaissance Films, 1993.
Woman who live in the United States are not typically circumcised, however some woman live out if the social normality in the United States and have for reasons such as religion been circumcised. Woman all over the United States are affected by the practice of female circumcision even though it is illegal; being circumcised is illegal because there are no medical benefits as a woman. In many cases children of immigrant parents will come to the United States circumcised, this can be difficult for children developing in an environment in which female circumcision is not practiced or widely accepted. The effects of female circumcision and it’s physical, psychological and social effects on women who live in the United States can be impactful to
Female circumcision is viewed as a disgusting and barbaric act by a majority of people in first world countries. The United States has even gone as far as to get an international law made to ban female circumcision because of the harmful physical and psychological problems associated with it. In the “Female Genital Cutting Fact Sheet” created and reviewed by Caroline Banquet-Walsh, Sandra Jordan, and Francesca Moneta I discovered that female genital mutilation is an e...
Female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, is a practice that involves the removal of part or all of the female external genitalia. It occurs throughout the world, but most commonly in Africa where they say that it is a tradition and social custom to keep a young girl pure and a married woman faithful. But to some Westerners, the practice is viewed as being primitive and barbaric. We react with disgust and find it nearly incomprehensible that female genital mutilation can occur in the world today
Stand By Me. Dir. Rob Reiner. Perf. Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell. DVD. Columbia Pictures, 1986.
1980. Warner Bros. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Music by Wendy Carlos and Rcachel Elkind. Cinematography by John Alcott. Editing by Ray Lovejoy. With Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd.