Making the White Man's Indian : Native Americans and Hollywood Movies
Editorial Reviews
Review
“The literature includes dozens of books on the Hollywood Western, and perhaps a dozen just on the representation of Native Americans in Hollywood film....[t]he writing and research are scrupulous and engaging. Highly recommended. Lower-/upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers.”–
“[D]raws on behind-the-scenes material such as correspondence, evolving scripts, studio publicity materials, reactions from film critics and Native American groups, and records of the self-censorship organization, to cast new light on the portrayal of Native Americans in US films.”–
Book Description
The image in Hollywood movies of savage Indians attacking white settlers represents only one side of a very complicated picture. In fact sympathetic portrayals of Native Americans stood alongside those of hostile Indians in the silent films of D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, and flourished during the early 1930s with Hollywood's cycle of pro-Indian adventures. Decades later, the stereotype became even more complicated, as films depicted the savagery of whites (The Searchers) in contrast to the more "peaceful" Indian (Broken Arrow). By 1990 the release of Dances with Wolves appeared to have recycled the romantic and savage portrayals embedded in early cinema. In this new study, author Angela Aleiss traces the history of Native Americans on the silver screen, and breaks new ground by drawing on primary sources such as studio correspondence, script treatments, trade newspapers, industry censorship files, and filmmakers' interviews to reveal how and why Hollywood created its Indian characters. Behind-the-scenes anecdotes of filmmakers and Native Americans, as well as rare archival photographs, supplement the discussion, which often shows a stark contrast between depiction and reality.
Making the White Man's Indian : Native Americans and Hollywood Movies
Making the White Man's Indian : Native Americans and Hollywood Movies,Angela Aleiss,Praeger Publishers,027598396X,Communication,Film & Video - General,Film & Video - History & Criticism,Indians in motion pictures,Language,Language Arts & Disciplines,Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy,Motion pictures,Pop Arts / Pop Culture,United States,Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication
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