The movie the searchers and Little Big Man really depict Indians in a certain way each film showing different aspects of the Indians. The movie little big man shows Indians in a different light than searchers do. What I mean by this is that while little big man shows Indians in almost as a positive light the searchers indefinitely shows Indians negatively almost in every moment of the film. Both movies as well have brief moments in each where the Indians were either as in little big man, as ruthless savages or in searchers as kind people willing to help, although these were the exact opposite connotations to each of these movies. Overall, I am going to talk about how each movie displayed the Indians and what light they were meant to be shown. …show more content…
First off I want to talk about how each movie displayed the Indian people of the time. The first movie little big man I want to talk about almost throughout the whole film displayed the Indians in a positive light. The Indians took our main character Jack in after his caravan was decimated by Jack and take his wife, ultimately they find out Jack really never even wanted his wife, so almost doing him a justices or when the indians slaughter the cavalier of general Custer but the film portrays Custard as the evil man trying to end the Indians lives so in hindsight, this attack was evil on the white man's part not the Indians part ultimately this movie portrayed the Indians in a positive light and the white man in a negative light trying to crush the Indian people without any regard as to how they fell. Secondly the movie the searchers portrayed Indians in a terrible light the almost exact opposite of how little big man portrayed the Indian people.
The movie searchers portrayed the Indians as almost savage like beast that have no regard for human life other than their own. From the very start of this movie the Indians were portrayed as ruthless savages like I said, murdering the mother and father of a innocent family, then taking their daughter for their own tribe and do whatever they want her to do. There was also chased scenes in this movie that negatively portrayed the Indians as idiots trying to cross a river at gunpoint of the white man almost seemingly mowed down easily. At the very end of the movie, were that one man part of the Calvary are about to attack the camp, saying, living with the Indians isn’t much of a life at all in the context of the question what if they kill her as they start to attack implying it's better to be dead than part of an Indian tribe. The only time the movie ever portrayed the Indians in a positive light was when they stopped communicating with the woman that was taken. Even then it was shown in my eyes as a negative sit-up with Martin Ethan's sidekick gaining a wife by putting a hat on her, this almost seemed to make the Indian people look like they were giving away wives for meaningless things making them look like idiots again, although they weren’t attacked this scene. This made Indians look as almost savage idiots, leaving the civilized white man looking like they are just trying to protect their lives and way of living, or even trying to save the people the Indians have
taken. In the overall scheme of things both movies showed the Indians in total opposite lights. While the searchers show the Indians as backward savage people that cannot do anything but take scalps, murder innocent people, or steal their children for their own needs. Little big man portrayed the Indians in a nicer light than that of the searchers, by them taking Jack, the main protagonist , when he was down on his luck, at any point in the movie these two movies Jack displays Indians in two opposite lights of the spectrum. The movies also display the white man in opposite manners what I mean by this is in both movies the white man was either portrayed as evil, like in little big man or the hero, as in the searchers. In conclusion, both movies really displayed the Indians very differently and in very different ways.
In The White Man’s Indian, Robert Berkhoffer analyzes how Native Americans have maintained a negative stereotype because of Whites. As a matter of fact, this book examines the evolution of Native Americans throughout American history by explaining the origin of the Indian stereotype, the change from religious justification to scientific racism to a modern anthropological viewpoint of Native Americans, the White portrayal of Native Americans through art, and the policies enacted to keep Native Americans as Whites perceive them to be. In the hope that Native Americans will be able to overcome how Whites have portrayed them, Berkhoffer is presenting
In the book Bad Indians, Miranda talks about the many issues Indigenous People go through. Miranda talks about the struggles Indigenous people go through; however, she talks about them in the perspective of Native Americans. Many people learn about Indigenous People through classrooms and textbooks, in the perspective of White people. In Bad Indians, Miranda uses different literary devices to show her perspective of the way Indigenous People were treated, the issues that arose from missionization, as well as the violence that followed through such issues. Bad Indians is an excellent example that shows how different history is told in different perspectives.
If something didn’t fit this predetermined mold then it was best left out. This is how the history of Indians was transformed into the fantasies displayed today. Their voices were left out because rather than a success, the story of the Native Americans was one filled with decline and suffering. It was difficult for history books to shape that into a format that would fit the master narrative. Therefore, if Native Americans weren’t left out they were depicted as futile and resisting the march of civilization or savages who were hostile towards Euro-American settlers. This kind of treatment is so distorted that Native American are practically robbed of their
By implementing pictures, ideas, and interviews in the film made it seem authentic and presented by individuals who took part. The illustrations of tanks, helicopters, and guns formed an emotional stance with mournful music following while the Americans were forcing the Indians off of American ground where they did not belong. Trudell explains how Indian children are getting to know the relationship between the government and themselves. The Indians want to be treated as human beings, treated equally, and to be treated with respect. Why could they not obtain the same level of respect as others
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
Oftentimes when people think of Indians they think of animal skins, hunting on reservations, and being very close to nature. This movie and the ironworkers portrayed a very different image of what Indians are really like. They live in urban areas (such as the apartments in Brooklyn), they used modern technology (in order to build the buildings), they dressed in western clothes (such as the jeans and vest seen in both videos), and they had a Christian church (which was a very typical church in appearance and what was taught, the only change was the language they used). All of these things portrayed in the movie took this defining stereotype that Indians are close with nature and do not use modern technology and completely defies
Growing up Black Elk and his friends were already playing the games of killing the whites and they waited impatiently to kill and scalp the first Wasichu, and bring the scalp to the village showing how strong and brave they were. One could only imagine what were the reasons that Indians were bloody-minded and brutal to the whites. After seeing their own villages, where...
Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria’s book reveals the White view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging affect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems and build a better future for their children.
Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria book reveals the Whites view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging effect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems.
While both John Ford and Kevin Costner emphasize a desire to apologize to the indigenous people, they use similar themes such as stereotypes, miscegenation, and the way characters are depicted; conversely, these two movies are different by the way the themes are developed within each film. John Ford’s The Searchers was given the intention of apologizing to the way Native Americans had been portrayed at that time as compared to his previous westerns.... ... middle of paper ... ...
In his novel, Thomas King plays on stereotypes and expectations that occur in our society on the portrayal of Native Americans. He show us the bias image that we have of them by describing what is an indian from a colonizers point of view, how the genre of western movies has an effect on our perception in society. In the novel, Nasty Bumppo, who represents modern society, explains that :
Over the course of history, there have been many different views of Native Americans, or Indians, as many have referred to them. Some have written about them in a positive and respectful manner while others have seen them as pure evil that waged war and killed innocent men, women, and children. No matter what point of view one takes, though, one thing is clear and that is if it were not for these people the early settlers would not have survived their first year in the new land now called the United States of America. In short, it is my belief that the various authors’ viewpoints are simply a reflection of the circumstances of their particular situation. Nevertheless, one question remains: Were the Native Americans good or evil people?
...government’s policies. The changes of the 1900’s influenced many people such as historians, writers, film-makers, and other non-Native-Americans, causing them to view Indians in an increasingly sympathetic way. The non-Native Americans perceived Indians as a historically-oppressed minority who were victimized by imperial conquests and were dignified as peace-loving people in a sovereign nation.
Many people do not realize that Indian people are around us everyday. They could be our neighbors, our bus driver, or anyone that we see on a daily bases. In Thomas King’s essay “You’re not the Indian I Had in Mind,” and his video “I’m not the Indian You Had in Mind,” he exemplifies the stereotype that many people make about Indians. King mentions in his essay that people always would say to him, “you’re not the Indian I had in mind,” because he did not look like the stereotypical Indian. Through King’s essay and video, I have been educated about this stereotype that I was unaware of. Since I now have an understanding of how unrealistic this stereotype is, I now can educate friends and family members on this issue.
When stories are told about the American Indian it is usually the Indians that are looked upon as the heathens. They are portrayed as savages who spent most of their time raiding wagon trains and scalping the white settlers just for fun. The media has lead us to believe that the American government was forced to take the land from these savage Indians. We should put the blame where it belongs, on the U.S. Government who lied, cheated, and stole from the Indians forcing many Indian leaders to surrender not only their tribes but their nation in order to save the lives of their people.