The Cinematic Colonization of American Indians

I thought the reading on Native Americans was really interesting. I had no idea that so many movies existed that portrayed Indians in negative ways. Of course, the way Hollywood and the media portray them has helped the formation of stereotypes. Starting at the beginning where it says, seen one Indian seen them all, I could already imagine what was going to be talked about. Unfortunately, it’s true that when I picture an Indian, it actually is on a horse with a head dress and fighting American Soldiers. It seems to be that we really don’t get much idea of what their actual lives were like. In movies, we always see Indians on the move or at war with soldiers. Kind of like African Americans and blackface- some Indians were considered fools or dunces and if they were friends with whites then they were their loyal helpers. What also stuck out to me was on page 179 where it says how the victim always forgives the victimizer. If this idea continues, people will believe it’s okay to do this to the Indians because we’ll think they will always grant forgiveness. It’s just unbelievable how many times Indians are down played. Their language is actually highly intellectual but Hollywood portrays them as primitive beings that wouldn’t seem to have any type of advanced language or writing. This reading also made me think about the movie on Arabs we watched in class- how they’re all portrayed as terrorists in all the movies. It’s absurd that all people could be categorized as the same, just how all Native American males are thought to rape and murder women. I agree with page 187 that says all these images have consequences in the real world. These images are the reason we judge and stereotype a person of a certain race when we see them.