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Native Apparitions: Critical Perspectives on Hollywood’s Indians
In Cherokee, the term for motion picture is a-da-yv-la-ti or a-da-yu-la-ti , meaning “something that appears.” In essence, motion pictures are machine-produced apparitions. While the Cherokee language recognizes that movies are not reality, Western audiences may on some level assume that film portrayals offer sincere depictions of imagined possibilities, creating a logic where what is projected must in part be true, stereotype or not.
Native Apparitions offers a critical intervention and response to Hollywood’s representations of Native peoples in film, from historical works by director John Ford to more contemporary works, such as Apocalypto and Avatar . But more than a critique of stereotypes, this book is a timely call for scholarly activism engaged in Indigenous media sovereignty. The collection clusters around three retrospective analysis, individual film analysis, and Native- and industry-centered testimonials and interviews, which highlight indigenous knowledge and cultural context, thus offering a complex and multilayered dialogic and polyphonic response to Hollywood’s representations.
Using an American Indian studies framework, Native Apparitions deftly illustrates the connection between Hollywood’s representations of Native peoples and broader sociopolitical and historical contexts connected to colonialism, racism, and the Western worldview. Most importantly, it shows the impact of racializing stereotypes on Native peoples, and the resilience of Native peoples in resisting, transcending, and reframing Hollywood’s Indian tropes.
CONTRIBUTORS
Chadwick Allen
Richard Allen
Joanna Hearne
Tom Holm
Jan-Christopher Horak
Jacqueline Land
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
M. Elise Marubbio
Steve Pavlik
Rose Roberts
Myrton Running Wolf
Richard M. Wheelock
Native Apparitions offers a critical intervention and response to Hollywood’s representations of Native peoples in film, from historical works by director John Ford to more contemporary works, such as Apocalypto and Avatar . But more than a critique of stereotypes, this book is a timely call for scholarly activism engaged in Indigenous media sovereignty. The collection clusters around three retrospective analysis, individual film analysis, and Native- and industry-centered testimonials and interviews, which highlight indigenous knowledge and cultural context, thus offering a complex and multilayered dialogic and polyphonic response to Hollywood’s representations.
Using an American Indian studies framework, Native Apparitions deftly illustrates the connection between Hollywood’s representations of Native peoples and broader sociopolitical and historical contexts connected to colonialism, racism, and the Western worldview. Most importantly, it shows the impact of racializing stereotypes on Native peoples, and the resilience of Native peoples in resisting, transcending, and reframing Hollywood’s Indian tropes.
CONTRIBUTORS
Chadwick Allen
Richard Allen
Joanna Hearne
Tom Holm
Jan-Christopher Horak
Jacqueline Land
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
M. Elise Marubbio
Steve Pavlik
Rose Roberts
Myrton Running Wolf
Richard M. Wheelock
248 pages, Paperback
Published November 7, 2017
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 5, 2017
Note:
I received this book for free from the University of Arizona Press in order to review it for the Canadian Review of American Studies, a peer-reviewed journal. Since that review is pending publication, I'm offering a shorter review here.
This is a wonderful collection of essays on American Indian representations in Hollywood's cinema. The collection includes several well-known voices in the field of media studies, as well as those working in other areas. Thus, there is a good balance, as well as various discussions on different films.
I was particularly fond of Tom Holm's essay on the representation of Indigenous warrior identities and masculinity in military films. His discussion includes several well known actors (Adam Beach, in particular) and films (Flags of Our Fathers and Windtalkers) as well as some films we might not think about initially (I really enjoyed the inclusion of Predator the 1980s film with Arnold Schwarzenegger). It was a well-rounded essay.
Another essay focuses on the viewing experience of watching Avatar versus then analyzing the film and pointing out the remaining faults. This came from a very personal standpoint and was much appreciated.
All in all, a great addition to Indigenous film studies!
I received this book for free from the University of Arizona Press in order to review it for the Canadian Review of American Studies, a peer-reviewed journal. Since that review is pending publication, I'm offering a shorter review here.
This is a wonderful collection of essays on American Indian representations in Hollywood's cinema. The collection includes several well-known voices in the field of media studies, as well as those working in other areas. Thus, there is a good balance, as well as various discussions on different films.
I was particularly fond of Tom Holm's essay on the representation of Indigenous warrior identities and masculinity in military films. His discussion includes several well known actors (Adam Beach, in particular) and films (Flags of Our Fathers and Windtalkers) as well as some films we might not think about initially (I really enjoyed the inclusion of Predator the 1980s film with Arnold Schwarzenegger). It was a well-rounded essay.
Another essay focuses on the viewing experience of watching Avatar versus then analyzing the film and pointing out the remaining faults. This came from a very personal standpoint and was much appreciated.
All in all, a great addition to Indigenous film studies!
May 12, 2020
A book compiled of various essays published by the University of Arizona. A diverse set of authors that critique various themes of representation of Native American peoples film including independent film and popular Hollywood film. Some of the main themes included women's sexualization, men in service, myth vs reality, culture representation, and racism.
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September 21, 2018791.43652 N278 2017
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews