Media Representation of Native Americans

Media Represention of Native Americans

How have Native Americans been represented in the media over the years?

Is this group accurately represented in the media?

Historical Background

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Historical Background

Early encounters with American Indians sparked the use of two dichotomous represetations: the "noble savage" and the "evil savage". The Europen colonizers used stereotypes to justify their actions. If American Indians resisted encroachment on their lands, they were potrayed as "evil savages", yet portrayed as "noble savages" when they met colonizers' needs.

Innocent creature In touch with nature Did not pose threat to the colonies

Subhuman Vicious figure Opposed civilization

"Evil Savage"

"Noble Savage"

Colonial ambitions for territory to settle, resources to exploit, people to enslave, and souls to proselytize ensured that people characterized one day as kind, noble, and trustworthy would be denigrated and warred against the next day

-James Riding In, Historian

Native Americans in Film

The Battle of Elderbrush Gulch

1913 silent film by D.W Griffith depicts American Indians as uncivilized and savage.

The story follows a European family settling into the West when a couple American Indians steal their dog for food, resulting in a battle.

modern look

See the moment the American Indians find the dogs and conflict arises

Dances With Wolves, 1990

"Deemed as a film of historical and cultural importance...namedd as a film that should be included in the Library of COngress's National Film Registry" Better representation of Sioux tribe customs, clothing, and language. However, reinforces the demarcation between good and bad American Indians. (Luther et al., 2018)

A Civil War soldier develops a relationship with a band of Lakota Indians.

Hegemony, Symbolic Annihilation, Cultivation Theory

Media is not giving us the full or accurate picture of Native Americans. One reason can be atributed to hegemony: "dominance of political and social elites over those with less power" (Luther et al., 2018). Hegemony is not as visible as it used to be, but the media perpuates this ideology. Modern flims, like Dances with Wolves, perpetuates racial hegemony. Symbolic Annihilation is misrepresentation of a group in the media. Many Indian characters were played by White actors in early films. Survey research revealed how Native Americans experience symbolic annihilation through absence: appoximately only 0.4% of PrimeTime TV & Films have a native character (Native Media Facts – Vision Maker Media, n.d.). And when Native Americans are included, they are treated by the media as a monolithic group of “Indians” – lazy, savage, stupid, drunk, etc. (Merskin, 1998). Cultivation theroy proposes that mass media contour or cultivate the viewpoints of individuals regarding their surronding envrionment. The greater the exposure to inaccurate American indian representations in media, the more likely you are to follow the beliefs highlighted.

Vision Maker Media discusses the importance of Native American representation in media and has started a storytelling movement.

Conclusions

We need more than a Eure-American perspective when narrating Native American lifestyle and culture.

Native Media Facts

References

Luther, C. A., Lepre, C. R., & Clark, N. (2018). Diversity in U.S. Mass Media. Wiley. Merskin, D. (1998). Sending up signals: A survey of Native American media use and representation in the mass media. Howard Journal of Communication, 9, 333–345. Riding In, James. 2006. "American Indians in Popular Culture: A Pawnee's Experiences and Views." In Images of Color, Images of Crime, 3rd ed., editied by Coramae Richey Mann, Marjorie S. Zatz, and Nancy Rodriguez, 16-30. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing.