Native Americans and their portrayal in film

     Throughout film history, many different groups have been misrepresented in cinema. Women, homosexuals, and people of color typically being the three most targeted groups. One group that is often not discussed when it comes to the issue of misrepresentation would be Native Americans. Their stories are often told from the white man’s perspective and attitudes regarding Native Americans during early film. There are many different stereotypical images used to represent Native Americans. The noble savage and the blood thirsty savage are both very common representations. The blood thirsty savage is a stereotype of an “aggressive, violent Native American always ready to attack white settlers” (Benshoff). Films with these stereotypical roles show images of Natives raping women, killing, and kidnapping white settlers.

“The noble savage portrays Native Americans as childlike and primitive, but instilled with purer and more ‘natural’ instincts” (Benshoff). One example of a “noble” savage character would be in the film Pocahontas. Pocahontas was a Disney Animated film about Native American women (Pocahontas) and her encounter with an Englishman, John Smith and some white settlers that arrived from the Virginia Company. In the film these settlers are hoping to look for some gold and hoping to expand land in the "New World". Pocahontas’s character is presented as a good, nature loving, and spiritual individual. In most films, the “noble savage” is shown coming to the white mans aid. In the film Pocahontas did exactly that when she fell in love and saved John Smith from being executed by her father.                

            Although this image of a noble savage may seem like an improvement from the early description of  a  blood thirsty savage, both still conceive Native Americans as being barely one step above animals. “Guided by instinct rather than complex thought.” (Benshoff).In the movie, Pocahontas, the song “Savages” gives a good description of how early Native American were portrayed to white settlers during that time period:

What can you expect
From filthy little heathens?
Their whole disgusting race is like a curse
Their skin's a hellish red
They're only good when dead
They're vermin, as I said
And worse
They're savages! Savages!
Barely even human

        The image of Native Americans continues to be misused even in film today. Contemporary Native Americans are not represented in modern day movies. Native Americans are probably one of the most underrepresented minorities in North America. Films that are based on Native Americans are based on traditional 19^th-century versions. These Natives are typically shown carrying bows and arrows, wearing a feathered headdress and moccasins, sleeping in a teepee’s, and smoking on a piece pipe (Benshoff).

    

        In the mid-1910s, the Western genre was being formed. These movies are the most common portrayals of Native Americans. Western movies are a movie genre that “centers on a cowboy hero as he attempts to tame the wilderness, including its Native American inhabitants” (Benshoff).  In early Western films, Native Americans were portrayed as blood thirsty savages. The cowboys normally played the good guys.  This genre was also popular during the 1920s and 1930s. Although Native Americans were offended with these stereotypical images that were being portrayed, Native actors had no other choice but to accept these roles because there was such a limited number of roles open to them. Non-Natives began taking larger Indian parts and started playing Native Americans at that time as well.

A popular western movie named “Cheyenne Autnumn” features two Latino actors (Gilbert Roland and Dolores Del Rio) playing the role of two Native Americans.     

   

          Before reading chapter three of the book titled America on Film,I'd never given much thought to how Native Americans are represented in society. There is such a limited number of roles open for Native Americans today.We’re stuck with images of  noble and blood-thirsty savage images from the past.
A contemporary portrayal of Native American needs to be displayed. 

Works Cited

Benshoff, Harry M., and Sean Griffin. "Native Americans and American Film." America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. Malden, MA, USA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.