Movies and tv have portrayed native americans as?

Answer 1

The portrayal of native Americans in the media has changed over time, but for the period 1920 to 1970 there was a definite racial prejudice, especially in Hollywood films. This may have reflected a much wider prejudice. One famous American director was asked why he never used genuine natives to play the leading characters in his western movies - he replied that "audiences dio not want to see ugly people up there on the screen".

White American actors, Mexicans and others were regularly cast in the speaking roles of native Americans, with Navajos generally taking all the supporting roles (even when they were portraying Sioux, Cheyenne, Comanche or anything else) - the women's hairstyles are a give-away.

In some portrayals, such as "Last of the Mohicans" and "Drums along the Mohawk" native Americans are seen as bloodthirsty savages. In others, such as "Cheyenne Autumn" they are downtrodden, peace-loving victims of white aggression.

Neither portrayal is accurate.

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s more "accurate" portrayals were produced, but even these are far from the truth. Dances with Wolves is full of detail errors, some of them glaring, yet it was billed as being "completely accurate".

At least genuine native American actors and actresses are now being given lead roles and speaking parts - even if they have no knowledge of their own tribe's traditions and appearance; a typical example is that they forget to remove their eyebrows, as almost all historic native Americans did. Such traditional things are today sadly forgotten.