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Redface - The History of Native American Stereotypes

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Redface! The History of Native American Stereotypes   Introduction Redface refers to the creation and propagation of racist American Indian stereotypes and caricatures. It also describes the systematic bias against hiring real Native Americans to play Native American roles shown by white producers, directors, and others who control the depiction of Native Americans in popular culture through casting decisions.  The history of American Indian stereotyping has had important cultural consequences, the full import of which is not readily apparent. Ask yourself these questions: Is the childhood game of Cowboys and Indians the cultural equivalent of Germans playing a similar game that might be called Nazis and Jews? Why would we tolerate one and not the other?   Racist Indian Stereotypes   Chief Most American Indian 'chiefs' were never actually chiefs. It was a common name Whites gave to Indian leaders.       Princess There were no actual Indian Princesses b...
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Redface in Film and TV

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  Redface in Film and TV   In early films, American Indians were almost always depicted as half-clothed savages, screaming war cries as they got shot off their horses by the white heroes. It's almost comical now, but that was the only Hollywood image of American Indians until the mid- to late-1970s; and it was exported to the entire world. Thomas Ince's Heart of an Indian (1912) showed Indians as sensitive people but DW Griffith's The Battle of Elderbrush Gulch (1914) presented the Indians as absolute savages. The Vanishing American (1925) and Broken Arrow (1950) present a "noble savage" stereotype. The White Squaw The Indian woman of early films was depicted in only two categories. She was either a princess or a squaw. Either she was a dangerous and seductive threat to the white frontiersman, or she was the faceless, dutiful figure tagging along behind her buck with papoose in tow. Her only utterance was "Ugh." The word "squaw" means wife, but...
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Indian Myths vs Reality

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Indian Myths vs Reality Close your eyes and note what comes to mind when you hear the words "American Indian." No matter your political leanings and cultural sensitivity, the dominant images most people see are feathers, war paint, bows and arrows, buffalos, horses, teepees, beads, animal skins, and warfare. These images are a manifestation of cultural programming by adventure movies, books, photographs, museum exhibitions, films, television shows and documentaries. Western novelist Larry McMurtry described the vast gap between myth and reality in the depiction of the West in popular culture. "Most of the traditions which we associate with the American West," he wrote, "were invented by pulp writers, poster artists, impresarios, and advertising men." The myth of the American Indian was further refined by frontiersman and master showman William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill. In 1883, Cody formed Buffalo Bill's Wild West, a traveling show....
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