Michael Nicolos
1/6/12
Native American Studies
Native Americans and Hollywood
Hollywood has misrepresented the American Indian population since the beginning of its conception, and it is only fairly recently that efforts have been made to present a more realistic portrayal. It was impossible to ignore American Indians altogether, they are an essential component of how the west was won, but rather than portray the truth behind Indian-white relations and the culture of the Indians themselves, a handful of stereotypes were introduced to effectively mask the bitter struggle for control initiated by the white men.
In films, American-Indians are portrayed as dim-witted, unintelligent beasts, capable of savage and lustful acts, almost completely lacking any humanity or moral direction. Every so often the idea of the “noble savage” was used, but the trait was never extended to the entire population. If it was portrayed at all, “the noble savage usually existed in the singular” (Kilpatrick, 2). Although it could be argued that this character makes the Indian seem more compassionate and human, it actually creates a startling image when contrasted to the savagery of the rest of the population. It is virtually impossible to maintain the status of the “noble savage” as it is not a permanent state of being. Only after extensive spiritual searching is it achieved. Placing such an emphasis on the spiritual state of these noble characters makes them seem less human than their counterparts, who are portrayed as barbarians. It was the view of Native Americans as savages that won out in the minds of the 1900’s American population. President Roosevelt upheld this detrimental view towards native Americans saying” The Indians never had any real title to the soil. This great continent could not have been kept as nothing but a game preserve for squalid savages.” (Singer 14) Native Americans never stood a chance when arguably the most influential man in the US bought into the propaganda.
“The tribes were in ‘childlike’ need, an assumption shared by most Euro-Americans of the time who considered themselves friends of the Indians.” (Kilpatrick 6). In the 1800s the misconception that Indians were naïve had already been established. White Americans believed it was their duty to help civilize these people whose culture meant nothing to Europeans who deemed it to be crude. With the birth of film the view of Indians as mindless was spread. “Generally, there were reduced to the ubiquitous ‘ugh’.”(Kilpatrick 9) Native Americans were viewed as primitive and without an intelligent language.
The combination of many Native American tribes’ traditions in films stripped American Indians of their heritage and identity. On screen all tribes were portrayed as the same. In The Searchers Ford, the director, doesn’t differentiate between the tribes, instead called all of them Indians. The film even uses Navajo Indians to play the parts of Comanche. A Man Called Horse is no better, as Ward Churchill points out “the most authentic description of North American Indian life ever filmed, depicts a people whose language is Lakota whose hairstyles range from Assiniboine through Nez Perc to Comanche, whose tipi design is Crow, and whose Sun Dance ceremony and the lodge in which it is held are both typically Mandan.” (Kilpatrick 81) Americans were given a portrayal of Indian lifestyle and it was made to seem that this lifestyle applied to all Native Americans.
The average white American would describe an Indian as a person who lives in a tipi, dances around a fire, and in connected with nature. It was this generic character that was the “Hollywood Indian.” A childlike, headband wearing, noble savage.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the American people were just starting to realize the injustice done to Native American’s through film. Unfortunately little was being done to correct this. The depiction of white people in films about Native Americans was still that of a superior being. The white man was commonly portrayed as more intelligent than the Indians and could become accustomed to the Indian lifestyle; so much so that he became a better Indian than the actual members of the tribe. White men were seen as great warriors or soldiers generally much better at fighting than the Native Americans, on occasion having to teach them how to protect themselves. When it came to the rolls of white women in these Native American films, natives were portrayed as savages that took the purity of innocent white women. This is not to say that all films about Native Americans supported a skewed outlook towards Indians, some did attempted to shed a more positive light.
“I bet I can make you speak Indian!” This was a common line heard throughout my elementary school years. The natural response was “How?” This was believed to be how all Native Americans greeted each other. At a young age I didn’t realize that I was part of a culture that believed Indians to be of a lesser intelligence where the uses of grunts or single syllable words were used to communicate. The film industry is in large part responsible for this misconception in Native American intelligence. This in turn can explain why Native Americans were treated as less than even dogs on the set of Dances with Wolves. As Kilpatrick states “The young man was upset by the lack of concern from the welfare of the Indian extras during the filming, and tells of watching a woman bring water to the dogs while the Indian extras remained parched and thirsty in the summer heat.” (Kilpatrick 211)
Additionally white men were shown as adaptable to Indian culture often becoming better Indians. As seen in A Man Called Horse the main character is first seen as being a pompous Englishman who looks down upon everyone except kings and queens. After all his travels he believes he is able to master any challenge and is looking for something more. When he is captured by Native Americans and made to be a horse he is belittled and submissive however his opinion of himself doesn’t appear to change. He continues to believe he is better than the Native Americans and will be able to outsmart them and escape. This is proven true in the end when he is able to leave the tribe a free man. Although the film is in some ways sympathetic to Native Americans it continues to represent the white man in a positive light and superior to the Native Americans. At one point in the film he teaches the tribe members how to be effective warriors, this only perpetuates the belief that Native Americans are unintelligent.
In the films a Man Called Horse and The Searchers the concept of miscegenation is spotlighted. Society at the time believed that it was ok for a white man to be with a Native American woman but not for a white woman to be with a Native American man. White woman were viewed as virtuous and if they were with an Indian man they lost their purity. It leads one to believe that only a white man, who is depicted as superior to Native Americans and other races, is good enough for a white woman. It was believed that if she is with a man of a Native American culture she is contaminated. This belief is inflated in the film The Searchers. In the film the main character, played by John Wayne, sets out to find two young girls who have been kidnapped by the Indians. His mission is to murder the girls rather than have them despoiled by an Indian man. This outlandish response is made to look like a heroic act, that John Wayne is saving these girls from an act that is apparently worse than death. Unfortunately, as Kilpatrick points out, most audiences would not find fault in Wayne’s actions. “An audience who had little cinematic exposure to favorable depictions of miscegenation would be hard pressed to find anything amiss in their favorite hero’s views.” (Kilpatrick 61) Ironically the opposite relationship, one in which a white man is with an Indian American woman, is romanticized. “If the relationship involves a white man and an Indian woman, the whole affair actually carries a romantic aura about it, although that relationship is also doomed, and the Indian woman will die, either at the hands of a villain (Indian or white) or by her own hand to save the man from death or humiliation.”(Kilpatrick 63) Again the film a Man Called Horse gives an example of this when Horse falls in love with and marries and woman from the tribe. As is the norm she dies at the hand of an enemy tribe. However this is a convenient way for the film makers to allow Horse to leave the tribe, which was his goal all along, thus enabling the white man to succeed in outmaneuvering the Native Americans. Despite Hollywood’s attempts to correct the misrepresentation of many of America’s early films about Native American’s it is difficult to find a film that accurately portrays white characters. It seems that film producers and directors find it difficult to create a film that allows a white person to be seen as a true villain; this is most likely due in part to the fact that many of these producers are white themselves. Films were made to be sympathetic to the Native Americans and the villains were often white, however more often than not the hero was also a white character. This enabled film audiences, whom the majority of were white, to gain understanding and sympathize with the Indian struggle but be allowed to leave the theater without guilt because after all it was a white character who saved the day.