1982 So how can things be changed? "Money. Power. Control of studios. These things are very difficult to come by. You need more sensitive, knowledgeable people writing, producing, directing, distributing."

Indian Image Debunked 

UNM Festival Attacks Celluloid Stereotype of Native American 

By Tom Jacobs

1982 Feb 15, Albuquerque Journal 

      Phil Lucas was standing in the Seattle airport waiting for his luggage when a little blond boy, perhaps 8 years old, walked up to him.

      "Are you an Indian?" the boy asked.

      "Yes," Lucas replied.
      "Do you have an arrow?"

      "No," he said.
      "Do you kill people?"

      "No," Lucas said. The boy then turned around and walked away.

      Lucas paused and shook his head after recounting the story.

      "It's still happening today," he said.

      Lucas expressed no animosity toward the youngster. After all, virtually everything the child knows about Indians he probably learned from the movies. And everyone knows that, in the movies, Indians kill people.

      That stereotype was examined, debated, debunked and deplored last week during the "American Indian Image on Film" festival, which took place on and around the University of New Mexico Campus. The six-day event was sponsored by the UNM Native American Studies program and coordinated by its director, Ted Jojola. 

      Speaker after speaker derided the Hollywood image of the Native American as cliched, wrongheaded, inaccurate and usually offensive as well.

      "There is no such thing as a (purely) entertainment film," said Lucas, a filmmaker who put together a five-part series on Indians and the movies for PBS "Every film you see teaches you something. There's always an underlying message."

      In most Westerns, he added, "That message is the inherent superiority of the white race.

      "History is written by the scribes of the conquerors - and the descendants of the scribes of the conquerors are the filmmakers." 

      "When D.W. Griffith made 'Birth of a Nation' he set (the cause of equality for blacks) back years," said actor and director Robert Redford. " "I think the same thing has happened to Indians. From very early on, they were portrayed as villains. All those stereotypical images have carried on far too long."

      "On celluloid... we've been characterized as bloodthirsty, mysterious, un-American savages," added KOAT-TV reporter Conroy Chino. 

      Traditionally, Indians have been used by filmmakers not as characters, but rather as ways to advance the plot. The hero must prove his courage? He can fight off the Indians. A suspenseful scene is needed here? We'll stage an Indian attack.

      "The mindset of Hollywood is to use the Indians as a kind of dramatic device," Redford said. That being the case, there was obviously no need to give Indians individual personalities. A single "type" -- sneaky, vicious and  cunning - would do just fine.

      Such stereotyping actually began even before the art of film was developed. In the late 19th century, most white Americans learned of the Indian by reading dime Western novels. "They sold at a rate of something like three million a month" during the 1890's, according to Lucas.

      Though extraordinarily popular, few of these were historically accurate, and many of not most were written by authors totally unfamiliar with the West and Indian life. These novels served as the basis for the first Western film scrips. The misconceptions of print became the misconceptions of film.

      Some of those misconceptions have become so ingrained in our minds that people take them for fact. A few examples given by speakers during the festival:

• Most Americans probably think that Indians have a ceremony in which they cut themselves, let their blood mingle with the blood of another, and become "blood brothers." That practice actually began in a secret society in Europe. Screenwriters transferred it to the Indian culture, probably because it seemed strange and romantic.
• Most Americans probably think that Indian women are called "squaws." Actually, most consider the term derogatory and offensive.
• Most Americans probably think that scalping is part of the Indian culture. Actually it was first brought to this continent by the British.
• Most Americans probably think of the Apaches as a war like tribe. Actually, according to Lucas, "the Apaches were farmers. I have an 8 by 10 glossy of Geronimo standing in front of his pumpkin patch with his family.

      "A majority of American tribes are matriarchal," Lucas added. "Today the chiefs of 67 tribes in the U.S. are women. Indian women have always had the right to vote, have always been a part of the political aspect of the tribe. Do you get that impression from film?"

      "You couldn't have that kind of gross distortion to black people," he said. "They have larger numbers. Can you imagine Al Jolson performing (in blackface) today? But it's OK that non-Indians can put on war paint and feathers and be Indians (in movies). No one thinks anything of it."

      The portrayals of Indians by whites - including blue-eyed Chuck Connors, who played Geronimo in 1962 - irked many of the speakers. Chino noted that so many Italians and Hispanics have portrayed Indians in films that an accurate name for a movie Indian character might be "Giovanni Running Bear Chavez."

      He has personal knowledge of one such incident. He said that he read the script for "Tell them Willie Boy is Here," loved it and expressed an interest in it. He was then offered the role of the Indian character.

      The actor thought that was a ludicrous idea. He said that if an Indian actor could be found for that role, he would play the film's other major role, the sheriff.

      The studio's executives told Redford (though today he doesn't believe them) that they couldn't find an Indian actor for the role, though they went through a massive search for one. So Robert Blake eventually starred with Redford in the film. 

      That wasn't Redford's only disappointment with the film, however. He said that, in the script, the Indian character was full of "innocence, joy and youth." In the film, though, those qualities were lost, and the character became another stereotype. The producers were apparently unwilling to show something different.

      Indians were portrayed sympathetically in a number of silent films. But once sound came in, the stereotypes prevailed. 

      Then, in 1950, the film "Broken Arrow" was released. "What a breakthrough it was!" remarked educator Gretchen Bataille. James Stewart starred as a courageous white scout who tried to understand the Indian culture and who eventually made peace between the Indians and the white settlers.

      There were problems, to be sure -- the Indian chief Cochise was portrayed by a white man, Jeff Chandler, and the "blood brothers" ceremony was depicted. But, for once, the Indians were not portrayed as savages.

      Since then -- particularly in the 1970's - a number of films have portrayed the Indians in a positive light. In some of these, Indian actors and actresses, such as Chief Dan George in "Little Big Man" and Geraldine Keams in "The Outlaw Josey Wales," actually portrayed Indian characters.

      These were far outnumbered, however, by films that showed the traditional, stereotyped portrait of Native American. Besides, as Lucas noted, "So many films we think of as pro-Indian or anti-Indian are actually pro-caricature or anti-caricature. They don't deal with the Indians as people."

      Lucas said that the only film he knows of that does that is "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," which starred Jack Nicholson and Will Sampson.

      "Cuckoo's Nest was so wonderful because he (Sampson) played a human being -- someone with wit and charm," he said. "That role could have been played by anyone. How many people have recently seen on TV or in the movies a role where an Indian played a doctor or lawyer."

      An interesting sidelight was explored Thursday night, when German producer-director George Marischka discussed the image of the American Indian in the films of his homeland. He said that image is also a stereotype - but a much more positive, romanticized one.

      Like their American counterparts, German Westerns have their roots in 19th-century fiction - in their case, the fiction of Karl May. In May's novels and the films spawned by them, American Indians are portrayed as "justice-loving, upright, peace-loving - a combination of all ideals." This image "created a deep-rooted sympathy (for Indians) with the Germans," Marischka said.

      So how can things be changed? Ms Bataille listed the necessary ingredients. "Money. Power. Control of studios. These things are very difficult to come by. You need more sensitive, knowledgeable people writing, producing, directing, distributing." 

      Redford believes that things are slowly changing for the better; he said that if "Willie Boy" were made today, an Indian would [be] play the lead. He added that, at his Sundance Institute for Film and Video in Utah, independent filmmakers -- including New Mexican Larry Littlebird, a Native American - are being given financial and technical help.

      "What it's going to take (to change the Indian image on film) is a success," he said bluntly. If a film that accurately portrays Indian culture starring Indian actors makes money, then others will follow.    

1982 Feb 15, Albuquerque Journal