Reel Injun: Injustices towards Native North Americans

Reel Injun Injustices towards autochthonic due north the StatesnsIn this documentary, Reel Injun, by Neil Diamond, the director explores how indigenous north Americans were tempered and shown in media from the early 20th century to the present. The documentary explores the disconfirming stereotypes and mis intercession inbred northerly Americans faced. The t completelyy of negative depictions and inaccurate stereotypes about inbreds in put down played a significant government agency in the hatred towards autochthonic People, and reinforced the stigmatized views that mainstream beau monde already had towards them. As a result, their confidence had been undo and their self-identity lost, as their ideas of who they truly were as commonwealth had been abandoned. This documentary is an exploration of how the characterisations and treatment of inborns, not only in take in, hardly also in rattling conduct, progressed over time.Neil Diamond begins his film by exploring t he origins of indigen stereotyping in movies. In early films, immanents were always portrayed with more of a positive degree envision as opposed to a negative one. This was shown in films such as The Silent Enemy, where respect was given for the way of immanent tribes and showed Natives as courtly bestials, who were brave and courageous warriors that were in sync with nature. The movie featured palpable Native actors such as Chief Buffalo Child abundant Lance, who played as a hunter in the film, and was considered one of the just about noble Natives at the time. Although the film consisted of positive stereotypes, these same stereotypes were ones that portrayed Native North Americans as less than human, in other words, as inferior citizens. Even though Natives continued to succumb to the motives of the White man, The Silent Enemy, showed them as gentle individuals that continued to show respect for others, neer surrendering or retention a grudge, but rather, wanting to live in a steady coexistence with White plurality. However, the film did not become a box- removeice success society was uninterested in films that showed the ways Natives lived their lives, and were more fixated on comedic movies, beautiful go to bed stories, and swear out packed adventure stories. People wanted to get forward from their own lives, and wanted to jump into something that made them feel happy no one wanted to pay for a film that evoked infliction and showed the mistreatment of Natives, when they could pay for a movie that made them feel entertained. Before films veered off into depicting Natives as barbaric savages, one could say that this movie had a major impact on the analysis of Natives throughout history.Following these positive stereotypical movies, wattern films became the norm. A more pronounced negative portrayal of Native North Americans arose, and people loved seeing the Natives become mastermind practice for beef mans. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Great Depression had taken a toll on people they were looking for an enemy, and it just so happened that Natives were their ragdolls for anger. Native people began to become severely disrespected and inaccurately depicted in films. Directors were sack so far that they began to show Natives speaking a sort of Tonto speech, where slope is played backwards, making Native people look equal uneducated, groundless and most importantly, brutal savages as opposed to the noble savages they were once shown as. possibly the cock-a-hoopgest movie to ever destroy a total cultures way of life and reduce it to a mere thought, would be Stage bus. Released in 1939, the film shows a group of White travelers and their journey across the Wild West towards New Mexico. The travelers were very alarmful of being violently ambushed by savage Natives, who be made out to be unethical and merciless. The film stars cowboy actor John Wayne, a very patriotic American that makes Native people not only his practice targets, but makes them seem like ruthless, brutal savages who have no regard for human life and be out to get the Americans. The film was so discriminatory towards Native North Americans that it made the Natives themselves think that they should distance themselves from their own culture, not only for fear of being targeted, but because they had started to believe in these falsely concocted stereotypes. Stage Coach along with many other films at the time, caused a lot of Native North Americans to lose their sense of identity, and because of this, turned them towards substance abuse and kindle fights with their societal counterparts. Nonetheless, the assassination of Native character done by Hollywood, provided the al-Qaida for the aggressive behaviors of Natives in this time of heightened socio-economic issues.However, after a few decades of negative depiction in film, Natives were starting to be portrayed positively again. The mid-seventies for Natives was what o ne could c both a sort of Renaissance period, as it was a major turning point in the portrayal of Native North Americans. This period started with The Occupation of Alcatraz, in 1969, where around one-hundred Native people industrious Alcatraz island in protest to the government and their land treaties. Alcatraz was always originally taboo Native land, and protestors wanted to buy the land back for the same amount they had been offered for it, which was just a few dollars. The occupation became infamous and people from all over the world took notice, especially the man who later became The Voice of Alcatraz, Lakota militant John Trudell. Trudell had started a radio show that explained the reason for the protest and describing other issues Native people faced in America and the world. He is cognise as one of the most influential people involved in the whole escapade, and his presence brought an energetic spark to the peoples voices. Although the occupation of Alcatraz eventually d id collapse, it is still widely regarded as a symbol of Native North Americans desires for whiz and authority in a White America. Following the attention that Alcatraz gained, two significant things happened, the American Indian Movement (AIM) which aimed to fight back against all the false identities, stereotypes and mistreatment Natives faced in film and in real life, arose as well as the release of Billy Jack in 1971. In essence, Billy Jack was a representation of a Native action hero, who used violence to enact justice. The character was half-Indian, and would fight anyone who disrespected Native people or the law. He was basically an embodiment of not only hope, but all the angst and anger the 70s brought for Native people, and was retaliating for all the negative stereotypes Native people faced by doing what they could not, that is, fight against the oppressors.Reel Injun also mentioned a battle that took place in South Dakota, more specifically, at weakened Knee, where hun dreds of Natives were slaughtered. The government was retaliating for the Battle of the Little BigHorn in the late nineteenth century, and their goal was to fight against the Native Americans who had taken a town under its control, in hopes of having the government honor its previously agreed upon terrestrial treaties and rights that had went undelivered for so long. Despite the push of the United States government, the Natives continued to fight back and never surrendered, which conduct to the deaths of many men, women and children. During this conflict, in 1973, American actor Marlon Brando, famous for his role in The Godfather, had a Native activist named Sacheen Littlefeather boycott the Oscar ceremony by refusing Marlons Oscar Statuette on his behalf. This was done in hopes to protest the widespread calumny of Native North Americans in Hollywood film. Her speech in bird-scarer of the unrestricted addressed the injustices Natives faced not only on the big screen, but in rea l life, more specifically throughout the verdant and the massacre occurring at Wounded Knee. People saw this speech from this hipster as inspirational, and her message was welcomed for the most part, by applause and open arms, which led to a newfound appreciation for Native people. Suddenly, being Native was the thing, as Americans liked the idea of the free and spiritual hippie and drew similarities with Native and hippie culture.Throughout these eighty years or so, the widespread propaganda of Native North Americans in Hollywood film was an up and down struggle. As described by Neil Diamond, the director of Reel Injun, Natives were first portrayed as the humble and noble savages, very attached with nature and respectful in their coexistence with the White American. In fact, the Natives were the ones that helped these men adjust into their lives in North America in the first place, yet in later years, culturally ruinous films such as Stage Coach described them as brutal savages who showed no mercy and were as ruthless as possible when distortion these White folk. Later of course, this notion came full circle as the public took notice through the constant lobbying and pushing efforts of not only Native activists like John Trudell and Sacheen Littlefeather, but Hollywood actors like Marlon Brando as well. American people learned that Natives are more than their traditional regalia, with feathers and face-paint, rather they are real human beings, and that all human beings are different and merit to be treated equally.