The American Indian has long been portrayed and stereotyped as an ambushing, spirit chasing, lazy, boozing, illiterate, sadistic, wife-beating, dumb, pouting, change resistant, small part of American heritage. This is true in most media outlets throughout the last six centuries. From the beginning Indians were portrayed differently from any other human being.
The films Little Big Man and Dances With Wolves are similar in that they show a white man's experience with a society of Indians. The films are, however, very different in portraying the Indians... Shadows of the Indian details various excerpts from early novels and stage plays to current film industry and television networks, and the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of the Indian people.
One would think that in the seventies with equal rights and affirmative action that films produced of ethnic groups would be truthful representations. This is not the case as can be seen in the film Little Big Man, produced in the early seventies, which followed the old standards of cinematically boosting the Indians for audiences of popular culture. The film displayed patronization and misconstrued the truth about Indians and their cultural history. It showed eccentric behaviors within the Indian society such as homosexuality and psychological disorders as common occurrences of individual members. Not that such behaviors are exempt within the Indian society but the satirical slant did not add justice to the film itself. The absurdity and hype of such behaviors made the film unbelievable to the academic viewer. The language spoken was not the Cheyenne native tongue, however English was used between the white man and the Indian. It is interesting to note that in Little Big Man the Indians were portrayed as having speech impediments as was the case in earlier films and novels. The Indian talk would have best been served if the producers had used the native language with English subtitles, similar to that in the film Dances With Wolves. Subtitles would have put the Indians in a more factual light, lending more credibility to the film. In my opinion, when the native language is not used it dismisses the truth, leaving the Indians as extinct as the buffalo. Little Big Man also portrayed General Custer as always upstaging the Indians. This is typical for media to put emphasis on the American heroes rather than heroes of other cultures regardless of their contributions to the U.S. During the early years of our nation, Indians were portrayed as savages and beasts ultimately becoming the bad guy while the white man remained the good guy. I did not enjoy Little Big Man as much as I thought I would have. I was expecting something much different as far as staying more true to the Indian character.
"[U]ntil the second half of the 1800s most authors and playwrights gave [the Indian] his rhetorical due -- and then some." (Stedman 64). The early media did not distort the Indian language or character as horribly as media of later day. Robert Montgomery Bird's novel Nick of the Woods; or, The Jibbenainosay (1837) can be blamed for the inherent change of the portrayal of the Indians. Bird felt driven to show the ideal Indian as ignorant, violent, debased and brutal (Stedman 67). Stereotypes of the Indians from the early media have declined since the early 1980s when the media started to change its viewpoint of the Indians. This change is due to more research, historical data, and contributions from 20th century Indians.
A more authentic portrait of the Indian character is in the film Dances With Wolves, starring Kevin Costner who also produced and directed the film. I have never seen a movie, except for documentaries, that showed a more truthful and honest representation of the Indians. The movie is a deep portrayal of Indian humanness. The movie reveals a soldier's misconception about the Sioux Indians and how his earlier opinion about them contradicted the truth he came to know. It too shows a white man's experience with the Indians, but also enlightens the viewer that not all Indians were what popular opinion made them out to be. Dances With Wolves does not exaggerate the Indians' hostility and savagery. It shows us that some Indian tribes were just trying to co-exist with the white man. Unlike Little Big Man, Dances With Wolves avoids the satirical approach in representing the Indians and their history. Dances With Wolves details the Indians as a complex and structured society, which is not clearly defined in Little Big Man. Finally, the film producers were trying to credit the Indians for who and what they really were and are. The film glorifies the Indians in a subtle way that has not been apparent in other films or novels. This form of media does not patronize the Indian people, but recognizes them as a living force, not an extinct species. I appreciated the way the speech of the Indians was delivered in their native tongue and how the white man tried to accommodate them in learning it. I credit much of the success of Dances With Wolves to Costner's intensive research of the Indians. I remember reading before the movie came out that the research was the biggest part of the production. The producers and directors wanted to get the history right in order to deliver such an outstanding true-to-life film.
Many early writers, playwrights, and screenwriters defined the Indian language as "copious and very expressive," sweeter and greater in accent and emphasis and different but not inferior to the English language (Stedman 63). In the book Shadows of the Indian there are many excerpts from novels, films and radio that reveal these ideas. The book details many misconceptions that the media exaggerated upon for popular culture of the time. For example: Indian vocabulary (broken English words belittling them), the "Tonto"-like figure misconception (all Indians were like him), Indians being extinct creatures, savage like portrayals, demoralization of the Indian way of life and misrepresentation of their efforts and contributions to society. Shadows of the Indian gave a wide variety of information pertaining to how the Indians were portrayed by different media throughout time. "Indian Talk" (chapter 4), "The Enemy" (chapter 8), and "Mea Culpa" (chapter 13) were most beneficial in reviewing the material with the two films. "The Enemy" explained why the Indians were the so-called "enemy." "Indian Talk" described their language from the early to the present day. "Mea Culpa" outlined various films, novels and radio broadcasts with the different avenues each took in portraying the Indians.
I felt the book Shadows of the Indian could have been written more smoothly, which would keep the reader's interest. There are too many complex sentences and words that intimidate the reader from further reading. I also feel there are better sources available that would lend more credibility to the subject, not limiting it to one source.
The media, whether it be radio, television, film, newspapers, theater or novels, may not be solely responsible for the misrepresentations of the Indians. Some blame may lie with the historians who decided what and how the information should be recorded while popular culture yearned for its dramatics. The media is responsible for the publicizing and stereotyping of the Indian people. The media saw and early need of exploitation and a need for propaganda to feed the white man's need for expansion and mineral wealth. The power of the media started long ago with the press. Early newspapers focused on politics, economics, and literature because they catered to small, sophisticated audiences. Although early newspapers had low circulation they had high 'listenership,' as illiterates gathered at coffeehouses to hear the news read aloud (Black and Bryant 154). The early advantage the press had over the people allowed them to disseminate information, and influence opinions of the time. Events are destined to be remembered forever in the context by which the media has defined them (Black and Bryant 316). It wasn't until the revision period of history during the late 1960s that "we the people" learned some truths about what really happened centuries before.
Present day media can prevent such atrocities of influencing popular opinion and misrepresenting ethnic groups. The current media should study their mistakes of the past, research current data, involve 20th century Indians and historians, and maintain an ethical approach to disseminating the message and information. In addition to its packaging of reality, the media whether it be radio, television, novels, films, or newspapers, is more than capable of packaging fiction, drama, culture and the economy, among other things (Black and Bryant 316). The media is increasing its role in our daily lives as fast as we are growing conscious of its reach. We as members of society or the "elite" need to be careful users, scrutinizing such a pervasive medium.
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