Essay On Native American Stereotypes

Stereotypes are qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation. When I think of Native Americans the first image that comes in my mind is their ethnicity, and appearance. As I remember I was always seeing Native Americans in movies, books .etc. in the same appearance. For instance, to me the visual image that I imagine of Native Americans is that they have long black hair; dark skin, masculine bodies, and they’re wearing handmade clothes that are decorated with beads. As I was watching James Luna’s video of “take a picture with a real Indian”, it was interesting the way everyone was acting by seeing the same person in different appearance. And I got shocked how people were thinking a Native American should look like. However, stereotypes are propagated in the mass media. Obviously, I didn’t just think that’s the way Native Americans should look like, the idea came from the day when I was a kid and I started to watch Pocahontas Disney cartoon. It’s interesting how the mass media manages kids mind by just producing a cartoon. When I got older I stated to see them in the movies and on the cover

However, they are not the way people are imagining them. It’s just the stereotype of people’s belief that real Native Americans are the ones they always saw in the mass media. Trade, another artwork that challenged my conceptions was by Jaune Quick to see Smith. She is a political artist, who made a stereotypical image of Native Americans with collaged. She painted a canoe on the center of the canvas and above it she hanged of Native-themed toys and souvenirs, especially from sports teams with Native American mascots. Smith agreements these cheap goods in exchange for the lands that were lost, and reversing the historic trade of land for