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Native Americans in film

The portrayal of Native Americans in films has been a systemic problem since the inception of the industry, employing harmful stereotypes that range from violent barbarians to noble and peaceful savages. A variety of images appeared from the early to mid 1930s, and by the late 1930s negative images briefly dominated Westerns. In 1950, the watershed movie Broken Arrow appeared that many credit as the first postwar Western to depict Native Americans sympathetically. Starting in the 1990s, Native American filmmakers have attempted to make independent films that work to represent the depth and complexity of indigenous peoples as people and provide a realistic account of their culture. However, much work remains to both include Native American stories in mainstream media and to cast indigenous actors for their parts in movies instead of their white counterparts, which speaks to the pervasive trend of whitewashing in Hollywood.

Whitewashing in Native American films

Whitewashing in film refers to the historic phenomenon stemming from the early 1900s where white actors have been cast for roles not meant for them. Instead of hiring someone that fits the intended race/ethnicity of the character, a white person is traditionally given that role. This is not unique to one racial or minority group; from Black, to Asian, and to Native American, many marginalised groups in America have felt the effects of whitewashing in the film industry.

Whitewashing is two-pronged in effect, for not only does it impede Native American representation in film, but it also forces them into stereotypical roles. The tropes of the savage Native American or the Native American at the mercy of white people have long been recycled for years. This allows Hollywood, a predominantly white industry from top to bottom, to continue to gatekeep access to coveted film roles. In 2017, roughly 70% of the characters in the top Hollywood releases for that year were white. That year, roughly 60% of the US population was white, showing a disproportionate representation of white people in Hollywood. This also reinforces many of the stereotypes many people possess regarding Native Americans, because there hasn't been a significant culture change as yet regarding how Native Americans are portrayed in mainstream American media. Furthermore, white actors have never faced a shortage of roles available to them in Hollywood, while Native Americans and other marginalized groups continue to experience this.

Early Native Americans in film

Dark Cloud, also known as Elijah Tahamont, was an Algonquin chief born in St. Francis Indian Village, Quebec, Canada who lived from 1861-1918. He starred in films such as What Am I Bid? (1919), The Woman Untamed (1920), The Birth of a Nation (1915) and The Dishonoured Metal (1914).

Red Wing was born in 1884 to a Winnebago mother and French Canadian/Sauk father on the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska. Early in her career, she starred in many small film roles. She was best known for starring in one of Hollywood's first Western films, The Squaw Man (1914). She was married to James Young Deer, another indigenous actor and director.

Edwin Carewe, also known as Jay John Fox, was born in Gainesville, Texas, in 1883 to a white father and Chickasaw mother. An actor early in his career, Carewe started directing Hollywood films in 1914 during the silent era. Some of his films include Ramona (1928), Evangeline (1929), Resurrection (1927), and Joanna (1925).

Luther Standing Bear, also known as Ota K'Te (Plenty Kill), was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and lived from 1868-1939. He is an Oglala Lakota writer and actor who started acting in 1912. Some of his filmography includes White Oak (1921), Cyclone of the Saddle (1935), and Union Pacific (1939).

James Young Deer was born James Young Johnson in Washington D.C. in 1876. He hails from the Nanticoke people of Delaware, and worked both as a director and actor. Some of his films include The Stranger (1920), The Great Secret (1917), and Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats (1924). From 1911-1914, James Young Deer was Head of Production/general manager for the Pathé Frères West Coast Studio located in Edendale, California. He was married to Native American actress Red Wing and passed away in 1946.

Early years

According to Beverly R. Singer, "Despite the fact that a diversity of indigenous peoples had a legal and historical significance in the formation of every new country founded in the Western Hemisphere, in the United States and Canada the term 'Indians' became a hegemonic designation implying that they were all the same in regards to culture, behavior, language, and social organization. Some critics viewed 'Indians' as savage and uncivilized in early films while others argued these movies showed a wide range of depictions of Native people from noble to sympathetic.

Early films featuring Native characters varied in their depictions. Some of these characters were often shown wearing leather clothing with feathers in their hair or with elaborate feather headdresses. Authors have argued that Native communities were often depicted as cruel societies that sought out constant warfare and vengeance against white characters. But while some individual Native characters appeared as drunkards,cruel, or unintelligent, others were friends or allies to white settlers. A few successful Indian/white marriages did occur in film during these early years. Other depictions were generalized stereotypes and used largely for aesthetic purposes and many tribes were represented. Feather headdresses were culturally and historically correct for approximately two dozen Plains tribes, and those of the American southwest were often wearing traditional clothing.

Modern Films with Native American Characters

Directed by Anthony Mann, the 1950 Western "Winchester '73" tells the story of a stolen Winchester rifle and the efforts to retrieve it. One of the main characters in the film is a Native American, played by the well-known white Hollywood actor Rock Hudson. Hudson was prominent during the 50s and 60s during Hollywood's Golden Age.

"The Outsider" is a 1961 biopic film directed by Delbert Mann about the life of Ira Hayes, a Native American World War II veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps. Hayes was part of the group that raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima. Although Hayes was Native American, he is played by Tony Curtis, a white actor with Hungarian roots.

Peter Tewksbury's 1968 comedy Western film "Stay Away, Joe" sees Elvis Presley play Joe Lightcloud, a Navajo man. The film is based on the book of the same name by Dan Cushman, and is about Lightcloud's efforts along with his father to prove to their local congressman that they can raise cattle on their reservation.

"The Last Airbender" is a 2010 film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is based on the anime series with Asian and Native American characters, but the film features several white actors in prominent roles.

Johnny Depp was cast as Tonto in the 2013 film "The Lone Ranger", directed by Gore Verbinski. Although Depp is white, the Comanche Nation formally adopted him and gave him an honorary title and membership in 2012.

In "Aloha" (2015) directed by Cameron Crowe, actress Emma Stone, one of the highest paid and most prominent actresses in the film industry, plays the protagonist who has a Native American parent.

"Pan", a 2015 film directed by Joe Wright, casted Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily, the Native American princess from Peter Pan.

Prominent Native American Actors

Wes Studi, born in 1947 in Oklahoma, is a Cherokee actor and professional horse trainer known for starring in over 80 films. Some of his work includes Dances with Wolves (1990), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), and Avatar (2009). He is credited with bringing versatile and masterful performances into Hollywood which have helped to dismantle some of the stereotypes surrounding Native Americans within the industry. In 2019, Studi received the Governors Award, an honorary award that commemorates the lifetime performance of an actor each year. Studi is just the second actor to receive an award for performances in film, following Ben Johnson in 1972.

Born in South Dakota, Russell Means was an Oglala Lakota Sioux Native American who lived from 1939-2012. Means was the first director of the American Indian Movement, which was originally created to fight poverty and police brutality amongst American indigenous communities. He fought for the rights of indigenous people worldwide, and is known for giving a televised speech in 2000 where he said he prefers the label 'Indian' to 'Native American' because everyone born in the United States should be considered a Native American. He also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1987 as a member of the Libertarian party. He has starred in films such as The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994) and Pocahontas (1995).

Will Sampson, from Oklahoma, was a member of the Creek Nation that lived from 1933-1987. He received his big acting break with the role "Chief" Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), one of only three movies to win the Big Five Academy Awards. Sampson was also known for starring in films such as The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Orca (1977), and The White Buffalo (1977). After passing away in 1987, he was buried on the reservation that he grew up on.

Julia Jones, born in 1981, is an actress from Boston, Massachusetts. She comes from a multiracial background, having Choctaw and Chickasaw ancestry along with English and African-American roots. She has starred in films such as Black Cloud (2004), Jonah Hex (2010), and The Twilight Saga (2010-2012), along with the TV series Westworld (2018) and The Mandalorian (2019). Jones, who has successfully landed roles in several major films, has used her voice and platform to speak out about the lack of Native American representation in cinema, and has called for greater inclusion of Native American actors in these spaces.

Floyd Westerman, who also went by 'Red Crow', was a Dakota Sioux actor, activist and musician born in 1936 on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in Roberts County, South Dakota. He starred in Dances with Wolves (1990), Dharma & Greg (1997), and Hidalgo (1994). Outside of film, Westerman has used his musical talents to bring greater awareness to issues facing indigenous people in the United States. He collaborated with artists such as Sting, Willie Nelson, and Don Henley to achieve such goals. He was also an ambassador for the International Indian Treaty Council, a multinational organization striving for the self-determination and autonomy of indigenous peoples across the world. He passed away in 2007.

Documentaries

• Broken Rainbow (1985): Broken Rainbow details the forced relocation of the members of the Navajo tribe from Black Mesa, Arizona after the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act. Many Navajo families were separated during this period of displacement in the U.S. government's attempt to ameliorate perceived issues between the Hopi and Navajo tribes. This documentary underscores several issues that indigenous communities across the United States face today; the growing desire to acquire indigenous lands for capitalist ventures. At stake are mining rights, land boundaries, and extraction for uranium, gas, oil, and other raw materials. Directed by Victoria Mudd, it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1986. The cast includes the voice narrations of Martin Sheen, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Burgess Meredith, and others.
• Imagining Indians (1992): Imagining Indians is a 1992 documentary film produced and directed by Native American filmmaker, Victor Masayesva, Jr. (Hopi). The documentary attempts to reveal the misrepresentation of Indigenous culture and tradition in Classical Hollywood films through interviews with different Native actors and extras from various tribes throughout the United States. It stars Shirley Atene, Karmen Clifford, Marvin Clifford, and others. The cast is entirely Native American, pulling indigenous people from the Amazon, Montana, Arizona, and other places. It is considered one of Masayesva's more provocative pieces of cinema, as it delves into the complexities surrounding white perception of Native American culture and identity. The film also touches upon the invasive nature of Hollywood in terms of filming on reservations. Director Masayesva said that The Dark Wind (1991) intruded on his village to film when he was younger, and he felt the duty to share stories like these with the outside world.
• The Canary Effect (2006): The Canary Effect is an examination of the effects of the United States and its policies on Indigenous communities. Some of these policies include forced schooling of children outside Native American communities, mass killings, forced female sterilisation, and more. It was directed by Robin Davey, a British musician, and Yellow Thunder Woman, who hails from the Yankton Sioux and Rosebud Sioux reservations of South Dakota. Both of them are members of the LA pop group The Bastard Fairies. The film first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and in 2006 it won the Stanley Kubrick Award at the Traverse City Film Festival in Michigan. The cast includes Charles Abourezk and Ward Churchill, author, former professor, and one of the leaders of the American Indian Movement of Colorado since the 1980s.
• Reel Injun (2009): Reel Injun is a 2009 Canadian documentary film directed by Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond that explores the portrayal of Native Americans in film. Reel Injun is illustrated with excerpts from classic and contemporary portrayals of Native people in Hollywood movies and interviews with filmmakers, actors and film historians, while director Diamond travels across the United States to visit iconic locations in motion picture as well as American Indian history. The documentary chronicles the journey of Native Americans in film over roughly a century, with particular attention on the transition from the silent era of Hollywood to today. It utilises clips from different eras of film, and Diamond meets with famous filmmakers such as Clint Eastwood to learn more about the transformation of the Native American image onscreen. Other cameos include Robbie Robertson (soundtrack composer), Graham Greene (Native American actor), Wes Studi (Native American actor), Jim Jarmusch (filmmaker), and Chris Eyre (filmmaker). Diamond heads to famous locations such as Monument Valley, where many Westerns were filmed, and South Dakota's Black Hills, the home of several notable Native Americans.
• Inventing the Indian (2012): Inventing the Indian is a 2012 BBC documentary, initially broadcast on 28 October 2012, that explores the stereotypical view of Native Americans in the United States in cinema and literature. Directed by Chris Cottam, the documentary is presented by Rich Hall, a British comedian. The cast also includes Dave Bald Eagle, Ailema Benally, and Milton Bianis. Hall attempts to dismantle some of the pervasive stereotypes that beleaguer the Native American community to this day by heading to indigenous areas in Arizona, South Dakota, and other places as well. He examines the way Native Americans have been portrayed on screen in movies such as Soldier Blue and A Man Called Horse, while also looking at literary representations of indigenous peoples, in books like The Last of the Mohicans and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.