Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 21 No. 3 (2023)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/1794/28956
Cover Art by Rowan Glass

Browse

Browsing Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 21 No. 3 (2023) by Author "Farrenkopf, Tom"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Indigenous Voices Reshaping Cinema: Native American Representation in Dances with Wolves (1990) and Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021)
    (University of Oregon, 2023) Farrenkopf, Tom
    In 2015, film critic Angela Aleiss wrote that “Dances with Wolves created a watershed... no Western has had such a powerful impact.” More than thirty years have passed since the release of the film Dances with Wolves in 1990, and since then, there have been significant shifts in public opinion and government policies regarding Indigenous rights and representation. Sports franchises are parting ways with former idols, and the US government has allocated substantial financial resources for providing healthcare to Indigenous communities, among other endeavors. Against this shifting cultural backdrop, the present research project seeks to investigate how, if at all, the representation of Native Americans in the American film industry has changed since 1990. To address this inquiry, I adopt a comparative analysis approach, drawing on the films Dances with Wolves and Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021). The two key areas of examination are the on-screen portrayal of stereotypical character types and the off-screen employment practices of production companies. Scholars and activists have argued that the cinematic representation of Native Americans has traditionally been confined to that of stereotypical characters, which has been deemed harmful to the Native American population's perceived identity. While both films employ such character types, the filmmakers of "Montford" utilize narrative techniques to mitigate, subvert, and identify these representations. With respect to hiring practices, a small increase in the number of Native Americans employed in roles involving creative control occurred over time. Overall, the most noteworthy and observable transformation within the American film industry has been the substantial rise in the number of film production companies owned and operated by Native Americans.