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Since the white man first set foot on the new world Native Americans have been misrepresented. ... ” The name Indian was given to the Native Americans by Christopher Columbus when he landed in the new world, which he wrongly thought was India (Barr). ... With the invention of motion picture films, stereotypes of Native Americans have become more commonplace. Early movies based on nineteenth century dime novels and Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Shows were ripe with stereotypes and images of savage Indians (Images). Cowboy and Indian movies have always put Native Americans on the wrong side of the law. Of the three movies I watched while researching this film, all three included scenes in which different savage Indian tribes attacked families and the cowboys come to the rescue by slaughtering the Indians in a hail of bullets. These western movies also portray Native Americans as alcoholics who would do whatever is necessary for a bottle of whiskey and a cigar or two. But stereotypes are not limited to westerns. In the children’s classic, Pocahontas, stereotypes of savage Indians returning home from a war and a beautiful Native American woman “going gaga over the first white man she sees.”(Kilpatrick 2) The portrayal of Native Americans in film has always been filled with stereotypes, but their roles have, over the past few decades, become more politically correct and more sympathetic.
When Native Americans were first portrayed on the silver screen they were seen as savage barbaric and untrustworthy. ... ”(Outside) Although there were no differences between tribes, movies like Comancheros made sure there was a difference between the savage Indians of the west and the “tame Indians. ... Within the first ten seconds of contact between the cowboys and the tame Indians, one Indian ask John Wayne for whiskey and cigars; two more stereotypes which have plagued Native Americans. ... It is no wonder Native Americans have been stereotyped as alcoholics, every single Indian in this movie tamed or savage, barbaric or noble wants whiskey and begs the white men for it.
Not all portrayals of Native Americans are that of savage Indian warriors raping white women and killing families. Television shows like The Lone Ranger show Native Americans fighting on the side of good, side by side with the white man, and Dances With Wolves sets the standard of the amount of respect movies should show toward Native Americans portraying Native American as a “Nobel” race.
Approximate Word count = 1881
Approximate Pages = 7.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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