Seminar Ticket for Celluloid Indians Native Americans

The text Celluloid Indians Native Americans And Film by Jacquelyn Kilpatrick reflects how the Native Americans are depicted throughout modern American Cinema. I found this book to be quite interesting, however it restated a lot of what i already was aware of. I was already aware of Hollywoods’ bias towards most ethnic groups, after all, the media favors stereotypes. I was also aware of many western films that depicted Indians as savage heathens that were to be defeated, if they were not aiding the white man in expeditions, or seducing them as temptress icons. Although the premise of Hollywood is to entertain, therefore using stereotypical information was, and still is, to this industries benefit. It is sad that the entertainment of America had to be at the disgrace of Native Americans.

The book opens with an analysis of the work of James Fenimore Cooper, who wove idea of the “noble savage” into his fiction. Yet Montgomery Bird was an other that perfected the demonization of Natives during the 19th century, with his character Nathan Slaughter. Slaughter was described as a “one man genocide”. He representing a growing Nationalization movement that was brewing in American culture during that time. In my opinion, Slaughter was the beginning of a fad of ‘American Hero Icons’ that were seen as protagonists even though they kill innocent people, like Native Americans in slaughters case. Yet there are so many of these icons it is simply ridiculous; Captain America, for example was originally used as U.S propaganda during WWII. He was seen as a violent German/Japanese killing machine, yet was greatly glorified by the American people, and is still a cartoon today.

This book refreshed my memory of how much government is truly tied to media.

Questions: What were the real reasons that the government would favor anti-indian media?

Why are all of these Native stereotypes still embraced today, with little objection from the majority?