Reel Injun: Stereotypes In Hollywood Film

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KENNEDY ANAELE
213145511
HUMANITIES 1780

Reel Injun
In the beginning, Neil Diamond introduces himself as an Injun (Indian) born in a native community by the Arctic Circle who seeks to discover the role of movies in shaping the global perception of them as wearing feathers, riding horses and killing animals. Along with instances from several films, Diamond interviews various actors, critics, historians, activists and filmmakers to observe and understand the portrayal of native society and culture in those films. He argues that first appearance of Indians in films of the silent era such as The Silent Enemy was quite brave and noble. However, this image of the Dignified Injun soon turned into the Savage Natives in the 1930s. For decades, films …show more content…
It was astonishing to learn that some of the most popular films in the Hollywood filmmaking history continuously succeeded in portraying false image of the native Indians for decades. Although it seems too succinct to represent the entire film history and provided the fact that many films depicting Navajo people such as Windtalkers were not included, the documentary provides with considerable insight for learning the various stereotypes portrayed by Hollywood cinema. The depicted positive or negative stereotypes such as Noble Injun, Groovy Injun, Drunken Injun, Savage Injun and Plain Injun are in strict contrast with the actual ways of the Native Americans. Since the silent era, Hollywood films not only attempted to manipulate their original roles, but also distorted facts about their lifestyle. For instance, the language and headbands depicted in the films were falsely associated with the native people. It is also convincingly evident from this film that representation of Native American women throughout film history remained negligible. The traveling by the director, Neil Diamond, across North America to draw a comprehensive picture of the native culture was a fine effort, which successfully served the purpose of highlighting many places of historical significance including the Monument Valley, the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wounded Knee, associated with Hollywood's greatest Westerns as well as the Native American
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