A Narrative Unexplored: Native American Representation or Lack Thereof in the Film Industry
With social justice and racial inequality currently holding the media’s attention, there has been an outpour of support from companies and organizations who pledge to change and create more awareness. These kinds of movements might help keep the movie industries accountable for at least having a token diverse character in their movie, but one minority group that I’ve noticed is repeatedly left out of the conversation is Native Americans. The structure for this article will be a little bit different than usual because instead of focusing on a single piece of media, I want to use multiple to highlight issues I see within the mainstream film industry regarding Native American representation. These issues range from exclusion, stereotyping, whitewashing, and assimilation.
First off, I would like to talk about the exclusion of Native American actors/actresses and their experiences from the film industry. According to Ott and Mack (2020), exclusion is “the process by which various cultural groups are symbolically annihilated…through under-representation in the media” (p. 161). In my opinion, I think that Native Americans are not being accurately and fairly represented in the film industry. I think it’s really rare to see movies in the mainstream industry that solely feature Native Americans and their experiences.
Yes, there are popular movies like The Lone Ranger, The Last of the Mohicans, and The Revenant, but the roles that the Native American characters play are harmful stereotypes of Native American cultures and tribes. The roles are simplified to create this side character that aides the protagonist, but that can be really hurtful for Native Americans to only see themselves represented in the media as side characters. In these kinds of movies, Native Americans are represented as savages, dangerous, and uncivilized. These stereotypes are sadly very influential in shaping people’s opinions and knowledge of Native Americans, so there needs to be better representation of their different and unique cultures and histories.
Another way Native Americans are misrepresented is by whitewashing. For example, in The Lone Ranger, Johnny Depp’s character was a member of the Comanche Nation, and this created a lot of backlash because he doesn’t have any documented Native ancestry. He was adopted by a member of the Comanche Nation as an honorary son, but this did not make him a member of any tribe.
In addition to whitewashing, assimilation is also an issue that affects accurate Native American representation. This is where minorities are portrayed positively but without their cultural identities (Ott & Mack, 2020). For example, in the Netflix Original Series Julie and the Phantoms, a supporting character, Willie, is played by the Native American actor Booboo Stewart. From what I’ve seen of the show, I don’t think his character’s plotline touches on his identity as a Native American man in the United States, so I see this as applying to the concept of assimilation as defined above. Especially because he’s a side character, I think it’s really hard to create an incentive for script writers or whoever to create depth for these characters, but seeing as he is a minority that’s not playing into stereotypes, I think it was a missed opportunity to delve into his unique experiences.
I think that we need to normalize minorities and Native Americans as the main characters for any kind of story. They deserve complex storylines that aren’t just related to historical events and ones that don’t erase their identity. As with increasing diversity and racial equality in anything, there is always change to be demanded and more we can do as a society to support these movements. As critical consumers of media, we need to keep the film industry accountable for their actions and make sure they change to be more inclusive.
