Native Americans in Film and Culture

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how American culture has defined the Native American throughout our history which finally translates to a stereotypical representation in film/mascots. This essay discusses aspects from as far back as Colombus' letters, to 20th century movies.

From the Paper:

"The true image of Native Americans has been an issue of much debate concerning their inaccurate portrayal in film, literature, and even representatives of schools and sporting teams as mascots. The depiction in such forms of what a Native American is relies heavily on the much-loaded mental imagery of the Indian in the minds of our modern society. This imagery is based upon the Hollywood representation of the Native Americans, and the lack of knowledge, and true respect, of the Native American within our culture. Hollywood's characterization of the Indian peoples has narrowed our culture's thought on the idea of the Indian to a popular image. This image in itself was perpetuated previous to Hollywood's version of the Indian, and only continued in our popular culture by western films. This popular image is of the stereotypical Indian; face painted, feathered, aggressive, dancing and hollering, and living in teepees. It has been the struggle of modern Native American groups to seek acceptance of the Indian, with mutual respect of their traditions and images, and to put an end to such poor representations."

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• Essay # 28609 : "Revisionist Western Films"

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