Historically, the Comanche nation held great political power throughout the United States Plains First Nations. The Comanche were known for renowned horse-top warfare, yet, following the inarguable unspeakable brutalities of colonization, many of these practices fell out of everyday use. Regardless, with effort, Indigenous traditions and language march on, as represented by the 2022 Sci-Fi film “Prey” has a modern impact on Indigenous representation on screen. Indigenous representation falls flat, but with the help of First Nations actors, crew, and active care for cultural representation, “Prey” triumphs as a thoughtful representation of Indigenous stories not only in history books but modern sci-fi as well. The film, “Prey” directed by Dan …show more content…
However, the world as she knows it is altered when the alien predators arrive. After narrowly avoiding death in the face of the Predator, Naru refers to the alien as a Mupitsi or Mother Owl. The Mupitsi is a Comanche man-eating monster, living in far-off hills and eating children who don’t behave, a rather fitting comparison to the bloodthirsty Predator. However Naru is not the first to have seen the creature, it is later revealed that the French settlers are hell-bent on capturing the Predator, and have no shame in using both Naru and her brother Taabe as bait. Following this capture, the Predator finds and murders almost all of the French colonizers, while the siblings are freed. After herbally treating a survivor's leg, Naru discovers that her healing herbs work as a shield from the Predator, reducing body heat enough to cloak one from the predator's gaze. Following a relentless battle against the Predator, Naru is able to murder the alien and celebrates with the green blood decorating her face. The actors cast in this film are primarily indigenous, and while many of them are not specifically Comanche, real representation is …show more content…
The inclusion of the Predator being initially thought of as a Pia Mupitsi adds a deeper level of respectful cultural representation but is done so in such a delicate way that it significantly deepens the film's storyline. With this inclusion alone it draws further questions for the film's cinematic universe: have the Predators landed on Comanche land before? This is also seen in Narus' use of herbs to heal Raphael and later aids in Narus' survival. Indigenous medicinal use has historically been demonized, or in recent years romanticized by nonindigenous users far past the point of cultural appropriation. However, it speaks volumes to the film's greater message as Narus' medicinal use is ingeniously utilized to hide her body heat from the Predator. This is a common theme in the film as Indigenous peoples are not only put front and center but seen as more than the limiting tropes placed upon them. Often Hollywood represents indigenous peoples as subservient or overly aggressive, both tropes that are absent in this film. Overriding the colonial narratives, this film's Indigenous representation is incredible as it centers real Indigenous practices and perspectives at the forefront of the
Modern day Native American are widely known as stewards of the environment who fight for conservation and environmental issues. The position of the many Native American as environmentalists and conservationists is justified based on the perception that before European colonists arrived in the Americas, Native Americans had little to no effect on their environment as they lived in harmony with nature. This idea is challenged by Shepard Krech III in his work, The Ecological Indian. In The Ecological Indian, Krech argues that this image of the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970’s, and that attempts to humanize Native Americans by attempting to portray them as they really were. Krech’s arguments are criticized by Darren J Ranco who in his response, claims that Krech fails to analyze the current state of Native American affairs, falls into the ‘trap’ of invented tradition, and accuses Krech of diminishing the power and influence of Native Americans in politics. This essay examines both arguments, but ultimately finds Krech to be more convincing as Krech’s
Which makes us question whether he/she is a well implemented metaphor. For example Dr. Alberta Frank’s lecture asking students to come up with interpretation of a particular drawing “Plains Indian Ledger Art” students do not fully comprehend the picture and it’s meaning which in turn emphasizes the fact that students are disassociated with Native traditions (King,p18-21). But it also allows us to consider the fact that trickster is the metaphor of the association that connects the contemporary with the mythic story in the novel. One about is the realistic story of a few Blackfoot Indians who are in identity denial. The four main characters from the contemporary part of the novel are Lionel, Charlie Looking Bear, Alberta Frank and Eli Stands Alone and another which incorporates various creation sequels with the four old Indians (Lone Ranger, Ishmael, Robinson Crusoe, and Hawkeye) who have left a Florida hospital to save Lionel; The elders are each romantically involved with a female character from Native customs (First Woman and the Lone Ranger, Changing Woman and Ishmael, Thought Woman and Robinson Crusoe, and Old Woman and Hawkeye). Just like Coyote these four heroes drift between the narratives that shape the modern part of the novel. Interestingly, these elements are brought together into one narrative that relate to Coyote as he is entrusted with bringing balance, between the two
Reel Injun is a compelling, thought-provoking documentary that shows how movies have stereotyped Native Americans, and has shaped how society in general viewed Natives. The film seeks to show how Natives really are, and ultimately seeks to correct the Native stereotypes created through the Hollywood Native films. Neil Diamond discusses why films about Natives were originally created and how Natives were portrayed in the early years of film. Through the documentary he continues to show how Natives and their culture changed in the eyes of society.
The depiction of Native Americans to the current day youth in the United States is a colorful fantasy used to cover up an unwarranted past. Native people are dressed from head to toe in feathers and paint while dancing around fires. They attempt to make good relations with European settlers but were then taken advantage of their “hippie” ways. However, this dramatized view is particularly portrayed through media and mainstream culture. It is also the one perspective every person remembers because they grew up being taught these views. Yet, Colin Calloway the author of First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, wishes to bring forth contradicting ideas. He doesn’t wish to disprove history; he only wishes to rewrite it.
The film industries over the years involving Native Americans tend to display various myths and negative portrayals of indigenous people. However, some films like Smoke Signals and Rabbit Proof Fence show real experiences and lifestyles of indigenous people.
The Native American people have great respect and reverence for nature, in fact the animal spirits and other elemental spirits represent important roles in their daily life (Taylor). They view the world as an interconnected fabric of harmonious and inharmonious interaction between people and nature. One tribe in particular, the Miwok, consider the Coyote as an ancestor and creator of man; additionally, they consider Coyote as a trickster god (Godchecker). A Miwok myth recount a story from long ago in which animals were like people. In this tale, the Coyote and Falcon decided to create man. Coyote pretended to be dead, and permitted the buzzards and crows to eat his posterior (Bastian and Mitchell). As they dug in, he trapped them inside, and
In a land swarming with predators, this family of delicate prey found their place and made the best of it, despite the fact that America, a somewhat disarranged and hazardous jungle, was not the wholesome promise-land they had predicted it to be.
Comanche People In the western part of Oklahoma, ranging south on the Plains, a courageous people, known as the Comanches, roamed. They were nomadic people who lived in skin teepees, which were easily moved from place to place. They had strong friends among Indians, such as the Kiowas and Apaches, as well as many enemies. This is only a minute view of the Comanche tribe, however.
It has been a while since a movie depicting wrongful images of Native American has been developed. This would continuously happen about 70 years ago in cookie cutter Western films in which Indians would often be represented as barbaric, savage, and non-human. With time, these films became bland and repetitive; as a result of this, less and less money was profited with every passing Western film made. Propitiously enough we have abandoned this form of filmmaking and although Native Americans still don’t receive the ideal representation in Western movies, they are no longer presented as the villain all the time. There has recently been a resurgence of this treatment of Indians within
As a result, both films represent Natives Americans under 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 add in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfold partly unlike. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar say, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
This provides powerful insight into the role Bigfoot like creatures played in Native American cultures. Some tribes were not afraid of the creatures, considering them kind and helpful, while peacefully coexisting with them. Other tribes found them to be more violent and dangerous creatures. The fact that these tribes called the animals Stick Indians or Brush Indians seems to suggest that the creatures were simply other tribes they did not get along with opposed to a village of mythical creatures. Some examples of Bigfoot like creatures in Native American tribes include the Chiye – Tanka, the Lofa, the Maxemista, and the popular Sasquatch. The Chiye – Tanka was the Bigfoot like creature of the Sioux Indians (“Native American,” n.d.). This animal
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.
Smoke Signals, directed by and starring Native people, ushered in the golden age of Aboriginal cinema. The story was not about what occurred one hundred years ago but about current-day “nativeness,” where there are no stereotypes and no stoic Indians.
A reader of Sherman Alexie’s novel Reservation Blues enters the text with similar assumptions of Native American life, unless of course, he or she is of that particular community. If he or she is not, however, there is the likelihood that the ‘typical’ reader has images of Native Americans based upon long-held social stereotypes of the Lone Ranger’s Tonto and Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves,” possibly chastened with some positive, homey images of the First Thanksgiving as well. However, Alexie’s prose forces one to apprehend Native American life anew, and to see Native Americans as fully-fledged individual characters, with wants and needs and desires, not as those who are simply stoic and ‘other.’
For example, in the local school, stereotypes such as the image of the ‘wild man’ are consolidated by claiming that there was cannibalism among the indigenous people of the northwest coast (Soper-Jones 2009, 20; Robinson 2010, 68f.). Moreover, native people are still considered to be second-class citizens, which is pointed out by Lisamarie’s aunt Trudy, when she has been harassed by some white guys in a car: “[Y]ou’re a mouthy Indian, and everyone thinks we’re born sluts. Those guys would have said you were asking for it and got off scot-free”