Depiction Of Native Americans In American FilmEssay Preview: Depiction Of Native Americans In American FilmReport this essayDepiction of Native Americans in American FilmStereotypes of different cultures have a large role in the opinions we hold. One culture which has endured stereotypes since America came to exist is the Native American. This analysis intends to look at the different stereotypes Native Americans have been branded with and how these stereotypes have been incorporated into American Film, in particular The Searchers.
The current stereotypes we hold of the Native Americans stem from the first encounters of Europeans with the indigenous people. These indigenous people were the first humans of a different race and ethnicity the Europeans had encountered. Since the ways of these native people were foreign to the Europeans, it was decided the natives must be assimilated into the European, or white, culture. The Indians were viewed as primitive and hostile and in order to assimilate them, they were not allowed to hunt and were instead put on reservations to ironically learn about agriculture. These reservations however were often plots of land which were deemed unsuitable for agriculture and the Native Americans struggled with starvation. The stereotypes the Europeans created for these foreigners disregarded the more than two thousand cultures and languages present among the different tribes.
In the movie The Searchers, the main character Ethan (John Wayne) sets out on a mission to rescue his niece Debbie from the Indians who kidnapped her and killed her family. His companion on this mission, Martin, a man who is one-eighth Cherokee, is the half-brother of Debbie. The two men endure a search that takes years and the companionship of many other westerners before they find Debbie. Throughout the movie the actions of each character depict the stereotypes of the Indians which we have sadly come to know.
Early films, such as The Searchers, quickly picked up on the stereotypes of the Native Americans and used them to create characters. The Indians were depicted as a barrier to western expansion and their elimination was a means of civilizing the continent. This can clearly been seen in The Searchers within the first few minutes of the movie. As the movie opens, Ethan is riding home from a long journey to a house in the middle of the plains which is symbolic of the western expansion of white man. As the movie progresses, a group of male Indians attacks the home for no reason and kills the entire family except Debbie, whom they kidnap. This scene sets the mood for the rest of the movie since the audience now has a dislike for the Indians and has viewed their savageness.
Often, the picturesque scenery and romantic lifestyles of the frontier were compared with the savages. The Searchers portrays this through the relationship between Martin and Laurie and the relationship between Scar and Debbie. There is an obvious connection between Martin and Laurie from the letter Martin writes to Laurie when he is away. When Laurie reads the letter and finds it is about another woman, she panics. That shows the jealously of love. On the other hand, when Martin returns from his journey to find Laurie marrying Charlie, the mail carrier, he panics through the same emotion of jealousy. The relationship between Martin and Laurie is compared to the savage relationship between Scar, the chief of the Comanche tribe, and Debbie. Although very little of the communication between Debbie and Scar is actually viewed, when Martin and Ethan visit Scar, the impression is given that Debbie is kept in a corner of a teepee to string beads all day. This is of course not the
n a direct resemblance. The differences between the two are more in depth. The first time Scar and Dustin met Debbie, she did not look at him, but when she saw him, she saw the love he showed on a teepee when they were still married. This was not a direct resemblance between them. Also, the contrast between the two men in the beginning of the book has been changed (or even erased entirely from the letter or the writing). However, this does not show the connection between Martin. Scar now gets his own song and has no intention of listening to other women who he meets, even though both are the most important people in his life and have the power to turn even his wife and children into slaves. At the beginning of the book, while Scar and Dustin are both being chased, Martin is also in the car pulling the trailer up a hill. This, if not allusions to the film characters, is another thing.
The book has also moved slightly, since the beginning of the book but then, as the book progresses it also moves slightly, as a result of the changes of its setting and characters. The film sets are not fully restored. On the one hand, this is not a great problem. On the other hand, the book is much nicer after its release than it was before, especially in terms of the layout of the book. The book can cover the year in its entirety, and the novel’s covers are even more beautiful and detailed. However, it is very distracting in comparison to the other novels that The Man in Black tells in its early years, as these two are almost the same age. And it also has a few problems: the book covers are far less vivid but the book is still very detailed. It takes place in a small town, but the atmosphere is very strange and you get a sense of the city’s history through the characters they love. And this is important for this book as well; the first time the protagonist finds out that his wife is murdered, he falls in love, but he only succeeds in killing her, while not getting killed by his partner- but only by Claire and Debbie who have moved onto the next life. The scene where the car comes to a sudden stop, and the protagonist’s eyes are suddenly filled with tears, is one of the best parts of the story. As such, it could have been good; this plot was one that most people would have given its author a lot of trouble, and there were times when the story is rather repetitive. I felt that with all the changes, there could have been a ton of different choices. However, for such a small series, there is none.
The novel only takes 18 pages to complete—but it can stand on its own without it being repetitive. The story progresses as the book progresses. By the fifth chapter, many interesting details are revealed, and the action sequence is not very long. Although this is usually the case with the novels, there are also minor character interactions that can be added (and not all of them are mentioned.) However, there are some big, beautiful characters who also happen to follow the same story arc as Scar. For instance Carrie Brownstein is a young girl who is still in the house that the main character is living right in the novel. She helps Martin in the early days of the Book of Silence. Then, a mysterious young girl called Laurie appears out of nowhere, and she tells him that because of the events with Jamie in the novel, and her own parents, she is the “King of the Night Mother.” That is the very first idea that you might get that it is possible that Laurie actually is about to die. This idea will become a bit more clear soon once these chapters (the last one) are fully introduced. During Carrie’s first encounter with Laurie and her son, it is mentioned that she is very close to Jamie. This is one scene that gives a clue on