This podcast explores the inaccurate and dehumanizing depictions of Indigenous people in Hollywood films. It discusses the role of the US government in shaping narratives, the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes, and the power of storytelling for Indigenous people. The chapter also touches on monuments as historical documents, the need for truthful storytelling and reconciliation, the impact of realizing Santa Claus isn't real, and plans to explore the trope of Indian burial grounds in a future episode.
Read more
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Storytelling is a powerful tool used by both colonizers and the oppressed, with indigenous communities using storytelling to challenge the narrative imposed upon them.
Hollywood has perpetuated stereotypes about indigenous people, reducing them to reductive tropes and erasing their diverse experiences and cultures.
Indigenous storytelling is crucial in reclaiming narratives and challenging harmful representations perpetuated by Hollywood, allowing for the expression of diverse experiences, cultures and histories.
The process of reconciliation and addressing the legacies of colonialism relies on indigenous storytelling to challenge dominant narratives, promote truth-telling, and envision a future beyond oppression and destruction.
Deep dives
The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful tool used by both colonizers and the oppressed. It is a key method employed by colonizers to legitimize their claims to the land and to justify their oppressive actions towards indigenous people. In contrast, storytelling can be a counter weapon, used by indigenous communities to reclaim their rightful place and challenge the narrative imposed upon them. By telling their own stories, indigenous people can humanize themselves and their experiences, combating the dehumanizing effects of colonialism. Storytelling allows for the expression of diverse perspectives and can help dismantle the harmful narratives perpetuated by Hollywood and other mainstream media.
The Role of Hollywood in Misrepresenting Indigenous People
Hollywood has played a significant role in perpetuating stereotypes about indigenous people. From the early days of cinema, indigenous people have been reduced to reductive tropes, such as the violent or noble savage. These depictions have sanitized the genocide and ongoing abuses experienced by indigenous communities and have served to undermine their claims to their own land and rights. Films have often framed the perspective of white settlers and have confined indigenous stories to the limited confines of the Western genre, reinforcing harmful narratives and erasing the diverse experiences and cultures of indigenous people.
The Evolution of Native Depictions in Hollywood
While there have been some attempts to challenge and subvert stereotypes in Hollywood, the basic frameworks and tropes of indigenous representation in Western films have remained largely unchanged. Even as revisionist Westerns emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, the dominant narrative of manifest destiny, settlers taming the West, and the subjugation of indigenous people persisted. More recent films have attempted to address these issues, but many still fall into the trap of perpetuating the same stereotypes and erasing the complexities of indigenous cultures and histories.
The Importance of Indigenous Storytelling
Indigenous storytelling is crucial in reclaiming narratives and challenging harmful representations perpetuated by Hollywood. By centering indigenous voices and perspectives, storytelling becomes a powerful means of humanizing and empowering indigenous communities. It allows for the expression of diverse experiences, cultures, and histories, challenging the monolithic narratives imposed by mainstream media. Through narrative sovereignty, indigenous people can reclaim their rightful place and reshape the understanding of their past, present, and future.
The Consequences of Reinforced Stereotypes
Reinforced stereotypes and dehumanization of indigenous people have had severe consequences, perpetuating deliberate racist policies and causing significant harm. These stereotypes have not only affected the portrayal of indigenous people in media, but have also led to the marginalization and oppression of these communities. The negative outcomes include issues such as lack of clean drinking water, high rates of incarceration, disproportionate number of missing and murdered indigenous women, and high suicide rates, all of which are indicative of the dehumanization and systemic discrimination faced by indigenous people.
The Importance of Truthful and Inclusive Storytelling
The storytelling landscape is changing with the democratization of production and streaming platforms. Indigenous storytelling is becoming more prominent, enabling indigenous communities to tell their own stories and be seen in the present and future, not just in the historical context. This shift challenges the traditional portrayals of indigenous people and provides an opportunity for greater representation and understanding. By telling their stories, indigenous communities seek to reclaim their narrative sovereignty and educate others about their histories, languages, and cultures, promoting a deeper appreciation and respect for indigenous peoples.
The Need for Reconciliation and Rejection of Colonial Mindsets
The process of reconciliation and addressing the legacies of colonialism is crucial for the survival and well-being of both colonial nations like the United States and Canada, and indigenous communities. Colonial states need to confront their own histories, myths, and narratives in order to truly understand and live in harmony with the lands they occupy. Indigenous storytelling plays a significant role in this process, as it challenges the dominant narratives, promotes truth-telling, and helps societies envision a future that goes beyond the current systems of oppression and destruction. It is through inclusive and truthful storytelling that deeper understandings and meaningful reconciliations can be achieved.
Soldiers from the US Cavalry defeat the Plains Indians, securing new territory for their burgeoning empire. A group of settlers fends off an armed Indigenous tribe on horseback in their intrepid effort to conquer new lands. A Civil War hero decides to head for the frontier in its waning days, forging an undying friendship with the Native people there.
Each of these summaries describes a film made within the last hundred years that explores dynamics between white settlers and Indigenous people in North America in what we now know as the United States, and sometimes Canada. The problem, of course, is that these films, and so many others like them, don’t — to say the least — present this history accurately. Instead, since Hollywood’s inception, the viewing public has been primarily fed a diet of reductive, dehumanizing, and paternalistic depictions of Indigenous people.
But why have stories involving Indigenous people so frequently involved the perspectives of white settlers? Why are the vast majority of these stories confined to the genre of the Western, replete with shootouts and stagecoaches? What role does the U.S. government play when it comes to the stories we’re told about Indigenous people, how has the historically simplistic portrayal of Native people benefited the interests of the United States and Canada? And how — above all — was the expansion of US empire westward and, later, across the globe, inextricably linked to the Hollywood project of romanticized Western ideals.
On this episode, we examine the history of Indigenous depictions in Hollywood, looking at the ways the entertainment industry has sanitized the genocide and subsequent enduring abuses of Indigenous people, recycled centuries-old “noble savage” tropes, and argue that Indian dehumanizations wasn’t just an accidental byproduct of white supremacy, but was essential and central to the establishment of America’s sense of self and moral purpose.
Our guest is Anishinaabe writer, broadcaster and arts leader Jesse Wente.
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
