The Role of the Indian in Hollywood Westerns - Essay Example

Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date Assignment is due: The Role of the Indian in Hollywood Westerns The American Indian’s image has been shaped a great deal by Hollywood Westerns more than any other ethnic group in the United States. It has been shaped so much that it has become very stereotypical. The reason for this is that all the characteristics that are definitive of the American Indian have been dramatically conveyed in film, which has been one of the most powerful media of the 20th century. Of course there exists stereotypes of all American ethnic groups but when it comes to the issue of the Indian character possesses many features that are easy to pick out and describe in narrative form. These features include rapid physical movement, violent confrontation, exotic appearance, and a spirituality that is deeply rooted in a natural environment. With time, the trends through which the American Indian is portrayed have been changing but the stereotypical image remains as before. The dramatic effect has not changed. Sometimes the Indian is portrayed as a wronged victim. At other times, he is portrayed as a generous host or even a savage opponent. Very recently, a dramatic shift has been observed whereby white actors are replaced by Indian actors in the task of portraying Indians in films. The film industry, owing to its ability to define the past as Indians know it through the cinematic image, has helped in the work of promoting the recovery of the modern Indian the mid-twentieth century, in what may be termed as the renaissance of the Indian through art and literature. Motion pictures prevented the identity of the Indian Character from being absorbed into the American society as merely another tiny minority. Additionally, this same medium made it possible for Americans to be reminded of the importance of Indian adversaries in shaping the American history. The portrayal of the Indian-white past through recreations seems more interesting to learn about compared to the case when the same experiences are conveyed through documentary films, which of late have tended to assume a dramatically growing sense of importance. A person who chooses to view The last of the Mohicans or Little Big Man cannot easily forget the past or its representation as depicted by several artists working on a record of the past, whose details are admittedly recorded in an incomplete manner. Sometimes, the realities of Indians may be historically unsupported or ideologically distorted but this does not prevent docudramas and documentaries gaining more popularity over reinventions of the past that are composed into westerns. In fact, these documentaries are more critically appealing compared to contemporary imaginative films that are loaded with many political overtones. Films contain the stereotypes of greedy whites who own mining companies with the support of puppet tribal governments are as appealing as ever. Scholars have been debating on the question of objectivity in history for a long time. It seems that the debate may not end in the foreseeable future, at least not in matters of films as recreations of the past as Indians experienced it. Literary scholars have been debating on whether or not physical reality exists, and if so, the shape that it should take. Makers of westerns that present Indian stereotypes often the obvious excuse that film is a “privileged” medium that is shaped as much by stereotypes as by historical realities. Critics of film may accuse filmmakers of committing “literary offenses” manifested in anomalous or incorrect details in many Indian movies. Other critics tend to point out that the wrongful inclusion of questionable abstractions including the commonly-used “collective wish-fulfillment patterns” in interpretation of most Indian films. In some Indian movies, past events are used to give comments to an event that is happening currently. A good example is Little Big man and Soldier blue both of which give allusions to the Vietnam War. Few people can ever agree on which films give a true representation of the American Indian; however, everyone should be free to debate the question of “historical reality” as depicted in different Westerns. Sometimes, scholars seem to be coming to a consensus that the concept of historical reality as pertains the Indian in Hollywood westerns will always remain speculative, elusive and very controversial. The study of the Hollywood’s Indian is still deeply entrenched on the scholarly frontier. Contemporary ignorance as exemplified in stereotypes relating to Indians and the notion of “passing West” no doubt deserves condemnation. In fact, many film scholars have been doing just this. Those who analyze films ought to go down this road in order to leave a legacy of enlightenment. In Los Angeles, the Native American experience has been remolded to bring about a formula that attracts large audiences, in most cases at the expense of presenting historical facts as they are. In most cases, the Native American community has expressed utter dissatisfaction with the meager attempts by filmmaker of Hollywood Westerns to portray the Indian’s way of life as it was. Outrage arises from use of non-Indian actors taking up the roles of Indians. For instance, in The Legend of Walks Far Woman, produced in 1984, Raquel Welch plays the starring role; he is not Indian and the film is ostensibly sympathetic to Native Americans and the historical dilemmas they are “made” to have encountered in this film. However, the classification of films that fall within the category of Hollywood Western is not as finely cut out as some amateur film analysts tend to think. Many readers and editors have had to agonize over whether to place films such as Powwow Highway (1989) within the Indian category or not. Such films are often denied critical attention on account of being commercial minors despite their cultural significance. When placed in broader context, these films come out as important reference points to those who ponder over the question of whether Native Americans themselves need any form of “reawakening” in order to be able to appreciate their own cultural heritage or not. Indeed, “Indian sympathy films” according to contemporary film critics fail to fair well both on the commercial and cultural front as long as non-Natives are the ones assigning roles to Native actors. Interestingly, towards the end of the 20th century, institutional approaches have been put in place in order to assess whether there exists such a thing as “Indian haters” in Hollywood whose core intent is to dilute the power that the natives exude. In this regard, commentators argue that on only needs to only observe the dramatic change from the portrayal of the Indian as a “bloodthirsty” into a “noble savage” whenever the market demands this type of transformation. It is not fair to claim that the Indian stereotype has occurred as a way of purposefully distorting the most significant elements that define the historical Indian Image. This decision becomes clear if one analyzes all technical and business-related direction and production decisions, most of which may never have been put in place with regard to their overall effect on the image screen. Moreover, in the last half a century, there have been very few power bases within the political arena from which any Native American group, including Indians, could pile pressure on Hollywood. In fact, when it comes to the struggle for the interpretation of the frontier past, either through scholarly and cinematic criticism or filmmaking, the least defended dimension is one that entails the historical journey that Native Americans have followed to reach where they are today. No wonder the images that attempt to do this appear very vulnerably stereotypical. The early days of films illustrating the life of Indian Americans have been sources of fundamental paradoxes. A classic example is the classic documentary entitled The Native Americans, which was produced in 1994. In this six-hour ambitious special, the racial legacy in America that dates back to the Age of Discovery faces a very scathing attack. This is a noble effort for which the producer of the film deserves praise. The paradox arises when some American television stations show demeaning pictures of the producer, Ted Turner, an action that attracts protests by advocates. Such a paradox complicates the ordinary American’s notion of the manner in which Hollywood in conjunction with the larger media culture make use of, continually refine and rewrite the story of Native Americans in order to create an image that is “fit” for mass consumption. The stereotype of the Native American Indian is not important in America alone. Almost all nations fantasize about the type of life that their native peoples used to lead. The international popularity of Hollywood Westerns cannot be underestimated. Hannu Salmi’s a teacher in Finland wrote an essay entitled “The Indian of the North” in which he reminded everyone that Native Americans have always been an integral part of global population comprising indigenous peoples who have been encroached upon by an European civilization at the height of its expansionism drive. It is in this process that these people, who were considered “backward” during European civilization, became important objects of many fables and fantasy. The origin of fantasy through stereotyping of the Indian in American film is seen to have taken root during the 1920s, when Americans were busy looking for different ways of leading their lives. During this time, there was widespread pervasive discontent with all tenets of Establishment culture, a scenario that fostered widespread sympathy for alternative visions. However, an epic contemporary film entitled The Vanishing American was not in tune with the sympathy that Americans were looking for. Instead, it dissipated it by drawing pessimistic conclusions about Americans’ future; it reminded Americans about collisions between White and Indian cultures, about a people who were once free. It reminded Americans about how these once-free people had been denied their birthright as Native Americans, even after serving valiantly with the military during World War I. The movie overtly attempted to maintain sympathy towards Indians although it did not hide a Social Darwinian assumption that predicated that a “struggle for existence” scenario may bring about a racial revolution, in which case Indians may be faced with extinction. The nature of the ideology of the 1920s made it utterly impossible for even those people who were very sympathetic to the Indians to come up with alternative themes that could shape the future film image. No wonder Michael Riley of Roswell Museum in New Mexico observes that Native Americans other than being trapped in history, they are also trapped in the history of film. Stereotyping has a lot to do with this trap that promises to remain in place until the end of time. The American film has not only perpetuated racial stereotypes, sometimes it has condemned it. However, in these efforts, there has been a fundamental clash between Native Americans and Euro-Americans on the issue of the westward expansion, which triggered a deadly culture war. Euro-Americans perceived Native Americans as lacking a “real” sense of property, something that may have protected their continued claims to “open” lands of what has traditionally come to be regarded as Indian Territory. Stereotyping enables Delmer Daves, through Broken Arrow (1950) highlight conflicts between two cultures that collide not just during the 19th century mercantilist expansionism by Euro-Americans, but also as remembered by American celluloid history. The persistent use of historical inaccuracies as fundamental clues to distortion of vision proves valuable in this particular film, as specific scenes are discussed at length with an aim of proving broader arguments. No wonder film critics seem to agree that Broken Arrow was a progressive attempt in trying to improve the way Native Americans are treated in film. The intrigues and stereotypes of the Indian in Hollywood Westerns have also penetrated the world of novels. John Sandos, wrote a novel, which is a film version of Tell them willie Boy is Here with a core aim of convincing filmmakers that there exists style and drama if one chooses to use an authentic Native American Perspective instead of the popular culture of “Indian-hating”, which has dominated the American popular culture. In the eyes of many Americans, the art of storytelling as Native Americans know it would be an innovative and refreshing approach to the real story-telling approach employed by the West, characterized by new cultural conventions and creating an opportunity for filmmakers of Hollywood to discard the stereotypical mask with which they have always tended to cover the Native Americans while trying to pursue commercial success. The stereotypical veil of the Native American has penetrated the society so much that any movie that has an Indian in it is considered a Hollywood Western. In order for efforts by promoters of the Indian cultures to bear fruits, there has to be people who are willing to buy films whose makers are dedicated to the noble goal of setting the historical record straight by telling the real story as it is. A rather unique trend started to emerge in the 1970s whereby movies such as Little Big Man (1970) reconsidered the way in which it treated Indians. Perhaps efforts by people who were crusading for the Indian-character renaissance were bearing fruits. This film did not perpetuate any negative connotations regarding Indians except when it was attempting to transcend these stereotypes. Scholars have been quick to notice the efforts that were made by Little Big Man and to applaud it. Powwow Highway was a good movie that some commentators believe came closest to giving a revelation of the modern image of the Indian self. It is unfortunate that the movie was not a success in the Box Office. Meanwhile, it gained and underground Native Indian audience and popularity as a rental video. The film is characterized by a sense of seriousness and the play that is characteristic of this film contains a mix of parody, cultural statement and adventure. The film seems unusual because of adopting an image of the Native American in ways that whites, nonetheless, find very appealing. This is because it is partly picaresque road film, partly western partly comedy, partly action or adventure. There is also an image in Powwow Highway that contains a repository of popular culture images and allusions. By bringing out this popular element, the movie Americanizes Native Americans while at the same time Native-Americanizing the movie. It is interesting to see how this ambitious and precarious mix of themes and images attempts to, and seems to succeed in, respecting the sacred traditions of both the Cheyenne Indians and Native Americans. Some people who keenly follow the development of the Hollywood Western do not seem to find it interesting that the Native American’s image can be traced back to the many, novels of James Cooper, which some would people say are long and very tedious. Cooper perpetuated the myth of the Native American with his virgin Land (1950). However, for casual readers, it is worth noting here that Cooper avoided using the work “myth” it is pejorative sense. The Film version of The Last of the Mohicans, another of Cooper’s literary classic appears to have failed to pass the test of stereotype. However, all Hollywood renderings of this classic novel have chosen to violate the plot as Cooper constructed it. Yet this is not the first time that Hollywood was imposing a version of “entertainment” through American Native Indian classic as it deemed fit; As far back as 1920s, Hollywood filmmakers were busy reconstructing the image of Indian in order to make commercial success as well as to swing along with the moods of many Americans who were searching for new ways of life that were not in tandem with the Establishment Culture. By turning Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans into a love story, the essence of the captivating Native-American Theme was abandoned and the plot was twisted. For this reason, the flavor and theme of the classic tale that Cooper was narrating was replaced by mere stereotypes. However, this is not a uniquely Hollywood vs. Native Indian cultural reconstruction dispute; it often happens that in any filmmaking history, enormous resources tend to be wasted in the production process that contains unrealistic recreations of the past, thereby clouding crucial themes instead of illuminating them for everybody to understand the core aspects of a people’s culture. The problem of stereotype has not gone unnoticed by lover of Native Indian culture. In 1995, Hollywood Indians were featured in two major films whose target audience was children. The Indian in the Cupboard and Pocahontas became moneymakers and were even able to spawn many spinoff products. However, film scholars were quick to observe that destabilizing stereotypes was a tricky idea as new stereotypes could easily rush in so as to fill the void. In the Pocahontas, one notices that on the surface, the song “Colors of the Wind” seems innocuous, sometimes even helpful, going by the manner in which it promotes empathy for the nature. However, all the other messages in this film are aimed at proving the long-lost innocence of Hollywood filmmakers in matters of creating and recreating the Indian’s culture and building strong stereotypes along the way. Since the invention of film, the Native American was weaned into the image of a Hollywood Indian as person who is obsesses with war-bonnets and war-paint ideals. When Thomas Elva, an inventor, produced Hopi Snake Dance, few people thought that the stereotype it created would find its way into the contemporary times. It was persistent in creating a symbol and a myth, all wrapped up in the character of a Hollywood Indian. Since then, the Indian was turned into a genuine American symbol full of distorted images that date back to the times when the new world was being discovered. Rollins and O'Connor observe that today, the Hollywood Indian remains a mythological being who does not exist anywhere in the fertile imaginative realms of the directors, producers and movie actors (11). When such movie images become preponderant, as they have become today, the native people are reduces to merely ignorable stereotypes. The same case applies whenever these moviemakers try to depict the Indian urban experience; it always comes out as surreal. The sense of being surreal comes out when one tries to take into considerations of the Indian’s experience in its entirety. The resulting image comes out as subjective and its purpose seems merely to corroborate the viewpoint of the outsider. This process is referred to as revisionism. Through revisionism, native people are recast away and apart from their social and communal realities. The irony of using revisionism is that the native Indians started behaving and acting and leading their lives just like their counterparts in the movies. It is a pity that at times, they were doing this in order to earn a meager subsistence through tourism trade. For this reason, they seem to have been reduced to the positions of mere props meant for commercial gain. Without the stereotyping of the Indian in Hollywood, Indian activism would not have existed. On the other hand, if this activism was not put in place, the Image of Native American of the 1960s as exhibiting anti-American behavior would have stuck in place to this day. Perhaps, in an ironic twist like the one encountered through revision of 1950s the Native Indians would have began acting just as they were depicted in movies. Despite many shortfalls because of stereotyping, the native presence has enjoyed a major success in the American film industry. Hollywood Westerns have turned out to be very popular, both locally and internationally. In order to correct past mistakes, various organizations such as the American Indian Movement (AIM) have committed themselves to the task of promoting Native Indian actors who choose to play Native roles in Hollywood Westerns. In conclusion, the role of the Indian in Hollywood Westerns is best described in stereotypical terms. These stereotypes date back to the early 20th century, perhaps even earlier. Today, films with Indians in them are automatically regarded as Hollywood Westerns. However, Indians are pleased to note that a tone of advocacy is emerging along the senior ranks of Indian actors, who are keen to promote Native Indians who take up Native American roles in Hollywood Westerns. Works Cited Rollins, Peter, and O'Connor John. Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film. New York, NY: Routledge, 2003. Read More