The development of the representation of Native Americans in films has been quite uneven, with early movies featuring the specified population quite amply, while making obvious mistakes in the portrayal of Native American groups. Specifically, the earliest introduction of Native Americans into the U.S. cinema starts with Western films, where Native American traditions and people are largely misrepresented (Buscombe 24). Remarkably, the trend to portray the described population in movies declined after the Civil War (Buscombe 25). Remarkably, a range of changes within the lifestyle and characteristics of Native Americans, such as the impact of the Spanish culture, failed to percolate into movies.
Remarkably, the representation of Native Americans in the cinema was uneven, with some members of the specified culture being provided with significantly greater amount o focus than others. For instance, residents of the Plains were offered as substantially greater number of roles and cinema opportunities (Buscombe 26). The described inequality in role distribution can be attributed to the challenges that the specified communities faced due to discrimination and racism. Specifically, the residents of the Plains were facing constant threats of evictions from the white population, which implied the necessity to participate in the hooting process (Buscombe 26). Similarly, the geographic location contributed to the availability of the specified community for the film shooting.
The attitudes of entertainment films and the industry, in general, toward Native Americans were quite mixed when considering the existing cinematic legacy. On the one hand, moviemakers clearly viewed the specified demographic solely as the basis for driving their profits up, leading to the eventual abuse of Native Americans’ rights. Specifically, since the Hollywood was geared toward making the films that were “more in tune with the ideas of whites than of Indians,” the problem of misrepresentation was unavoidable (Buscombe 28). As a result, the depiction of Native American communities in Westerns and the following films was overly simplified and approaching a caricature.
Works Cited
Buscombe, Edward. ‘Injuns!’: Native Americans in the Movies. Reaktion Books, 2006.