An insightful if occasionally dry collection of historical and
sociological studies by academics demonstrating how whites have
portrayed Native Americans in a wide range of media for the last
two centuries. Bird (Anthropology and Humanities/Univ. of Minn.)
sounds the central theme of these pieces in her introduction: From
the popular, early 19th century play Metamora to Disney's recent
animated rendering of Pocahontas, Native Americans have been
predominantly depicted in ways that suit the mythic, psychological,
and political needs of white America. An essay titled "The
Narrative of Sitting Bull's Surrender" describes how a series of
staged photographs shot in the 1880s show not only the capture of
the famous warrior but also the "civilizing" of the Sioux Indians.
An account of how newspapers and public relations pronouncements
covered an Indian boarding school homecoming and football game in
the 1920s reveals a vision of a similar "progression" of Native
Americans from "noble savages" to assimilation and the removal of
"long-dead traditions that were no longer a threat to white
people." A chapter discussing Seminole tourist sites in the Florida
Everglades notes how white entrepeneurs first sought to display the
Indians as primitives at one with nature in the early 20th century;
by mid-century, the Seminoles were depicted as sharing in the
technological benefits of modern civilization while still portrayed
as "noble children of the swamp." There is an especially persuasive
study of the cultural myths reflected in recent television shows
and films, covering movies such as Dances With Wolves and Little
Big Man, the lack of cultural identity afforded the Native
Americans depicted in the TV series Northern Exposure, and even
worse, the lack of any realistic portrayal of the Cheyenne in Dr.
Quinn, Medicine Woman. For the serious reader, this volume of
essays will have a decided impact on how the next western is
viewed. (Kirkus Reviews)
One hundred members of NatChat, an electronic mail discussion group
concerned with Native American issues, responded to the recent
Disney release "Pocahontas" by calling on parents to boycott the
movie, citing its historical inaccuracies and saying that "Disney
has let us down in a cruel, irresponsible manner." Their anger was
rooted in the fact that, although Disney claimed that the film's
portrayal of American Indians would be "authentic," the Pocahontas
story their movie told was really white cultural myth. The actual
histories of the characters were replaced by mythic narratives
depicting the crucial moments when aid was given to the white
settlers. As reconstructed, the story serves to reassert for whites
their right to be here, easing any lingering guilt about the
displacement of the native inhabitants.To understand current
imagery, it is essential to understand the history of its making,
and these essays mesh to create a powerful, interconnected account
of image creation over the past 150 years. The contributors, who
represent a range of disciplines and specialties, reveal the
distortions and fabrications white culture has imposed on
significant historical and current events, as represented by
treasured artifacts, such as photographic images taken of Sitting
Bull following his surrender, the national monument at the
battlefield of Little Bighorn, nineteenth-century advertising, the
television phenomenon "Northern Exposure, " and the film "Dances
with Wolves."Well illustrated, this volume demonstrates the
complacency of white culture in its representation of its troubled
relationship with American Indians.
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