Analysis Of Reel Injun By Neil Diamond

The Transcontinental Railroad played a significant role in the settlement of the American West. As of May 10th, 1869, this railroad became the area’s newest and fastest mode of transportation. Its first obligation was to bring settlers in at very low

When you think of the typical Native American, also known as Indigenous, a stereotypical image probably comes to mind. You think of a sulky, half-naked male dressed in animal skin and a tall feathery hat, dancing around a fire. You might picture a slim, attractive female with smooth red skin and long black hair. These are the images fed to us by the media. The media created this generic version of an indigenous person and everyone has been running with it ever since. Indigenous people, are rarely represented in the media. They typically don’t appear in film and when they do, they are negatively stereotyped. These negative stereotypes are deeply embedded in American life and most Americans cannot even perceive Indigenous people as real people.

Native Americans have been stereotyped for centuries, and will still be, due to how pop culture portrays them. It may seem odd, that one would see an Indian at a salon, or playing football at first, but it is a transaction to the integration into American culture. Indians have for the most part, been treated as second class citizens, and were boosted to become more “white”. They were used by scammers, represented in early moving pictures as savage men and traded around by recruiters. Although these unfortunate detours happened to Native Americans, it paved a path for further development. Their quality of life transformed, as they had easier modes of transportation, many young men grew to be educated and masters of their sports, and changes in how whites viewed them in

Movies have become an ingrained part of American society. Ever since the first motion picture cameras were made in 1890, the film industry has had a steady growth in overall popularity. Stereotypes have a variety of effects on people and have been around long before movies. Misrepresentation in films has been around for the last 50 years for Native Americans, but the effect has been much more impactful. All of the past actions and portrayals have had a lasting effect on Native Americans throughout the country. With the importance of films/tv in the world today, stereotypes shown have made a negative impact on Native Americans everywhere.

The voices of Indigenous children are unheard and purposely ignored. This is portrayed through the literature of Birdie by Tracey Lindberg and Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. Despite both apologies from Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau, the government system to protect First Nations children appears to have detrimental effects on the life of a child. This is proven by young children turning to drugs in order to satisfy their growing pain, family members who abuse their children because they consume high amounts of alcohol, which has a negative impact on the child, and discriminatory behaviour by surrounding communities.

Another reason explaining why there are many misconceptions about Native Americans has to do with the fact that they tend to be more isolated than other groups, and for this reason, knowledge about Native Americans that outsiders have is likely not to come from direct experience (Fleming, 2006). Much of the information about Native Americans is derived from popular culture. By relying on stereotypes to describe Native Americans some individuals have a belief that Native Americans are drunks, receive free money from the government, and are wealthy due to revenues from casino earnings. Another stereotype of Native Americans is that they are one with nature, deeply religious, and wise in the ways of

The first television series on the NBC network starred a Native American as a law enforcer of white law and order. Now, Native Americans were viewed as civilized men. More films were made that promoted Native Americans. Though the positive stereotypes were introduced, it still didn’t warrant problems. In the 1971 Advertising Council’s Keep America Beautiful public service announcement is sincere, it still confines the Native American chief to the past, as he is representing a by-gone era and a by-gone people. As with other stereotypes with other cultures, the Native American stereotype needs to be addressed by the

Once European men stepped foot onto what is now known as North America, the lives of the Native Americans were forever changed. The Indians suffered centuries of torment and ridicule from the settlers in America. Despite the reservations made for the Natives, there are still cultural issues occurring within America. In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the tragic lives of Native Americans in modern society are depicted in a collection of short stories taking place in the Spokane Reservation in Washington state. Throughout the collection, a prominent and reoccurring melancholic theme of racism against Native Americans and their struggle to cope with such behavior from their counterpart in this modern day and age is shown.

The final concern in which needs to be addressed is the fact that these negative stereotypes of Native Americans make it very dangerous for them because of the rise of crime rates against the Natives. The rates for crimes against the Natives has increased and puts many of them in danger. These crimes are classified as hate crimes because of the fact that these crimes are done in hatred of them as a people and not a personal cause. According to Department of Justice analysis, "American Indians are more likely than people of other races to experience violence at the hands of someone of a different race." These factors only show that we need to take serious actions soon in order to prevent this violence to continue before its too

Science journalist, Charles C. Mann, had successfully achieved his argumentative purpose about the “Coming of Age in the Dawnland.” Mann’s overall purpose of writing this argumentative was to show readers that there’s more to than just being called or being stereotyped as a savage- a cynical being. These beings are stereotyped into being called Indians, or Native Americans (as they are shorthand names), but they would rather be identified by their own tribe name.

This study addressed several important questions, including the following: How do you feel about Native American representations in popular media (cinema, television, magazines, etc.)? How have these representations affected your perception of your ancestry? How do you think these representations will affect the future of your people? How do these representations differ from your traditions? Have your traditions changed over the last few decades with all the changes in pop culture? Can you give me a few examples of some of these representations that stand out to you (films, TV shows, etc.)? Overall, do you think Native American representation has improved over time? “The study followed a realist ethnography form of ethnographic design where the researcher reports on what is observed or heard from participants and produces participant views through edited quotations” (Hart,

During this time period, Native Americans were being treated so poorly. They were very misunderstood, and white men didn 't even try to understand them. All they cared about was forcing the Indians off of "their" land. This is unfair in so many ways. One being that the Natives were actually there first. An example of their mistreatment would be the "Ghost Dance". This was a dancing ritual that promised the Indians a new world "free from whites", where they could truly be free. However, this innoccent dance was very wronly interpreted. The white men thought that it was a war threat. So, they hunted down the Indian man who created it, and killed him. This sparked up something deep inside the Native Americans, and a battle was started at Wounded

While we read a handful of chapters in Black Elk Speaks, one chapter in particular caught my attention more than the rest. Chapter 21, “The Messiah” was a rather captivating one, in not only its content, but also the unfolding of the previous two chapters that leads up to the content in that of chapter 21. The aspect of chapter 21 that are most captivating to me is the realization of everything that is taking place out west, while Black Elk isn’t present. While these chapters not only give us insight to the Wasichus’ movement west and the treatment to which they displayed towards the Black Hill people, we are also exposed to the individual struggle to which Black Elk himself is overcoming. For his in particular, he’s not only an individual who is suffering from

In Chapter eight of Byron Williston’s Environmental Ethics for Canadians First Nation’s perspectives are explored. The case study titled “Language, Land and the Residential Schools” begins by speaking of a public apology from former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He apologizes for the treatment of “Indians” in “Indian Residential Schools”. He highlights the initial agenda of these schools as he says that the “school system [was] to remove and isolate [Aboriginal] children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them[…]” (Williston 244). By doing this, colonial Canadians assumed that aboriginal cultural and spiritual beliefs were invalid in relation to European beliefs (244). The problem with ridding the First Nations Peoples of their languages, as Williston points out is to “deprive them of the sense of place that has defined them for thousands of years” (245). The private schooling system was an attack on First Nations identities, and their identity is rooted in “a respect for nature and its processes” (245).

When you pick a documentary, what’s the first thing you notice: color, the image and the bold letters on the cover? They are usually no more than three words just burning on the cover. But we never consider from where the author or authors came up with them, or what purpose do they hold. In the documentary Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, the title holds a significant meaning. It represents the movement of how Hollywood has portrayed Arabs through the decades. This is very important understand because it has lead society to significantly change the way it view Arabs. Nevertheless, there’s more to the documentary then just its title. The documentary attempts to show why the view of Arabs has changed, and what events have contributed to that change and how it affects Arabs today.