(Response paper section)
Chapter 5 deals with Native Americans in American film. I assigned you to watch the full-length movie Smoke Signals. How accurate do you feel the film is as it attempts to describe the Native American experience in the 1990s. How does this film compare to Spike Lees film Do the Right Thing? Lee had strong feelings about what it was like to be Black in America in about the same time period. Do you sense the same passion in Smoke Signals?
As always, you may write about other subjects related to the film as they relate to the material in the textbook. Please use at least 5 vocabulary terms (where relevant) when writing your response.
Your Response Paper should provide an analysis of the film as the content relates to the material presented in the textbook and your perspective. You will be graded on your integration of the concepts and terms presented throughout the textbook chapter. Refer back to the chapter Quizlet to clarify the concepts and terms. Do not submit a summary of the film!
What to Submit
One-page (roughly 250 words using standard processing), double-spaced, 12 pt. font
Include:
You may use the style of your choice, just be consistent.
Purdue OWL (Links to an external site.) – Here you will find a few of the different types of citation styles that are widely used in academic writing.
Your name, Instructors name, Assignment title
Use proper citations
Objectives
Completing this assignment will help you:
Discuss factors that shape cinematic representations of diversity in film
Explain how the film industry perpetuates social ideals of the time
Compare differing cultural perspectives
Critically examine the cultural accuracy of a film
Identify cultural attitudes represented through film
Discuss the impact film does or does not have on changing cultural attitudes
Identify themes that impact diverse groups
Discuss how a film acknowledges the voice(s) of underrepresented groups
Identify how a film can insight discussion and awareness of a cultural issue
(Discussion Section)
The authors of our textbook explain that just as white slave owners argued that blacks were more like animals than they were human in order to justify slavery, so did the first settlers of the new world deny the very humanity of Native American people. Similarly, Native Americans were reduced to simple stereotypical characters in the movies that often celebrated differences from the white man.
Original Post
Part 1:
How has the limited representation of Native Americans and Native culture in American cinema contributed to the shared understanding of Native Americans and Native culture? For example, do children still play Cowboys and Indians? Where did the rules for such a game come from and how are they learned? Have you seen any films featuring Native Americans that try to break the more typical stereotypical portrayals? Why are non-Hollywood “Indian” roles so scarce?
Part 2: https://slccbruins-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/btayl166_bruinmail_slcc_edu/EXcpsChgL2xFsNJB5NqkB64Bz6A50zbwDTO3dvCrVTy1TQ?e=Vb2vvd
Powerpoint slides link^^
Refer back to the Native American montage (Hollywood/Disney vs. the “Indians”) that was included in the History of Racism on Film slides from Module/Week 4. Identify some of the specific stereotypes (discussed in the textbook) that were present within the film clips. Why are such representations problematic in their depictions? How might they have been portrayed differently to be more historically or culturally accurate?
How to Complete This Post
Use examples from the textbook and clips you have watched for this module to inform your writing. You may also use examples that have not been presented in this class.
Please keep your post under a page but longer than a sentence. You can have a robust post and still be concise.
The discussion board is a two-step process. Please take the time to develop and present your ideas in short yet concrete statements. Make your initial post based on the provided prompt, then return to engage in the discussion by commenting on your peers submissions.
Response
Find a classmates original post (preferably one that has not been overly responded to) that generates a strong reaction from you. Take the time to read through it and respond thoughtfully to what they have written.
This online discussion board format replaces the face-to-face communication found in the traditional classroom. It will enrich your cultural awareness and critical-thinking skills and will help you to develop as responsible citizens of the world in an increasingly connected global community. Communication is interconnected and inseparable in a world characterized by diversity. As you gain greater intercultural sensitivity, you develop a greater understanding of yourself and your own culture.
As we will be discussing students ideas as a class, I expect each of you to act as professionals by treating others with respect. You may not agree with everyone, and there is a chance that you are the minority. This class must be a safe haven for all ideas. If you need a refresher about the course netiquette, you can click the following link.
Marissa’s Comment/Post that needs to be responded to after intiao post.
There are very few Native Americans in films and majority of the Classical Hollywood cinemas involving Native Americans are Western Films stereotyping them as marauding blood thirsty savages, yet the white cowboy was always portrayed as the noble hero. In the western film The Searchers (1956) they stereotyped the Native Americans as the Bloodthirsty Savage when it mentions that the homestead was attacked by Native Americans and the two daughters were carried away, one of which was later found raped and killed. Native Americans in classical Hollywood Westerns are written to have a lack of motivation, leaving out prudent information on their characters back story that would help identify the reasons behind their violent actions towards the white men and their families. A real life example of the white mans part would be the violent tactic the US government used towards the Native Americans during the Indian Wars where they relocated the tribes into desolate lands resulting in them starving to death or delivering small-pox-infected blankets as kind gestures. Unfortunately, I cant think of any films featuring Native Americans that tries to break the stereotypical portrayals and instead a scene from the movie The Proposal (2009) came to mind. In the scene Sandra Bullocks character Margaret comes across the grandma (Betty White) in the woods dancing around a fire giving thanks to mother earth while wearing a feathered headdress and matching outfit stereotyping the Hollywood Indian.
In the Native American montage I noticed several different stereotypes throughout, but the main one that really stood out was their portrayal of every Native American being aggressive, especially towards white settlers and always shown with an axe or bow an arrow in their hands making them out to be the Bloodthirsty Savage stereotype. Almost every Native American character in the montage could be labeled as the stereotypical Hollywood Indian always carrying a weapon, dressed in a feathered headdress, and moccasins. I think the biggest problem in their depictions is how aggressive and violent for no apparent reason they make the Native Americans out to be, especially towards innocent white people. In the textbook it states, While Native warriors definitely did attack white settlements on numerous occasions, most Eurocentric narratives softened or denied altogether the European aggression that had caused the indigenousness people to fight back. There are two sides to this story and the white settlers side needs to have light shed on it in order to make it historically accurate.
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