The Hollywood Indian: Still On A Scholarly Frontier?

Film & History, Vol. XXIII, No's. 1-4, 19931 The Hollywood Indian: Still On A Scholarly Frontier? Peter C. Rollins The quincentenary of Columbus in 1992 set into motion a reconsideration of the place of the Native American in our historical memory. A recent eruption of interest (and controversy) has focused on a proposed Disney Historical Theme Park in Haymarket Virginia. A local newspaper for Manassas, Virginia, speculated on how the Native American might be included in a controversial Disney version of history. In doing so, he gave ample evidence of the distance Americans still need to travel along the path of understanding : The theme park concept probably never penetrated the thick skulls or shadowy minds of the prehistoric men who once dragged their knuckles across what is now present-day Haymarket. Certainly, no caveman ever grunted Disney. According to some local historians, the Walt Disney Co. regards the legacy of those primal progenitors with equal indifference. The local writer ridiculed the notion that Disney might consider the Native American site as important. Within the context of discussion of the park by cultural experts, this kind of troglodytic attitude received ardent condemnation; indeed, the electronic bulletin board of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association (H-PCAACA at H-PCAACA@uicvm.uic.edu) lit up. Wilkie Leith, a student at George Mason University, found it difficult to curb her anger and asked for confirmation from the list: My intention here is to see if others find this issue outrageous. I will fax the entire article to anyone wishing to read it. In the meantime, is anyone interested in a full-scale protest against both the paper and Disney? Or am I just—overreacting? At the opposite extreme of the spectrum of attitudes toward Native Americans is the kind of project being advertised by Readers Digest in a mailing of August, 1994. While promoting a "FIVE MILLION DOLLAR GRAND PRIZE" in a special sweepstakes, the powerful media giant on Readers Digest Road offered a volume entitled "Through Indian Eyes." No author, editor, or creator was cited in connection with the book offer. Instead, the brochure promised the following cornucopia of romanticism: As you will see, it is a bittersweet story filled to the brimming with a love of nature and the land... The Indian sees time not as an elusive river that flows Peter C. Rollins is Regents Professor of English and American/Film Studies at Oklahoma State University 2 Rollins / Introduction relentlessly in one direction, but as a deep and eternal lake on which past and present mingle. . . .What was it like riding with Plains hunters in pursuit of buffalo? Watching the coming of the Iron Horse and the pandemonium of the Gold Rush? Fighting the good battle, answering the call of Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo? And what must it have been like to dream the lost dream of a land before the strangers came? Here empathy for a lost cause spills over into sentimentality and revives most of the romantic notions of a "passing West." (Students of American history will remember that this kind of romanticism was once directed against Native Americans. Indeed, Andrew Jackson used just such a portrait to justify his "Trail of Tears" approach to preserving Adamic Native Americans from the "infection" of civilization.) While contemporary ignorance and stereotypes in popular culture certainly deserve condemnation, those of us who study the legacy of visual media need to go further down the trail. And the trail leads west to Los Angeles where the Hollywood Indian was molded into a commodity to draw audiences. This collection of essays attempts to examine Hollywood's commercial image, what we call "the Hollywood Indian" — its construction, its aesthetics, its major productions, and its impact. We asked Ted Jojola, Director of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque) , to survey very recent cinematic productions and to give us his impressions. He reports that the Native American community is disappointed with the meager attempts to portray life as actually lived by his people. The community is especially outraged that familiar non-Indian actors (for example, Racquel Welch as the lead character in The Legend of Walks Far Woman [1984]) take...