Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film [Hardcover]

Peter C. Rollins (Editor), John E. O'Connor (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998

Offering both in-depth analyses of specific films and overviews of the industry's output, Hollywood's Indian provides insightful characterizations of the depiction of the Native Americans in film. This updated edition includes a new chapter on Smoke Signals , the groundbreaking independent film written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre. Taken as a whole the essays explore the many ways in which these portrayals have made an impact on our collective cultural life.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A welcome contribution to the lively and timely debate on the representation of ethnic minorities in the media." -- Zeitscrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik

"Important and ground breaking work." -- Bookman News

"Offers an engaging and timely update to previous critical anthologies." -- H-Net Book Review

"The essays provide valuable ways to think about the meaning and impact of Hollywood's portrayal of American Indian characters." -- Great Plains Quarterly

"The value of this collection resides in the concentrated attention it gives to the portrayal of Native Americans on film." -- Journal of American Ethnic History --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"Illustrates the widely varying trends and depictions of the American Indian in films"—from the foreword by Wilcomb E. Washburn

"Hollywood's representation of Indians is a subject which up till now has generated a lot more heat than light. This welcome new collection of essays covers a lot of ground . . . including a valuable piece on Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans and earlier versions of Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales," a surprisingly and convincingly sympathetic essay on Dances with Wolves, and an informative account of Pocahontas."—Edward Buscombe

"The essays are useful, enabling readers to construct a cinematic chronology of the Hollywood Indian and to comprehend the larger cultural forces at work interpreting the Indian-white past on screen."--Choice

"Will become the standard source for reference for an important subject, not only in American contemporary popular culture, but for evolving attitudes in a new century."--Film and History

"Raises interesting issues and challenges readers to consider the complex realities of American Indian cultures and Indian/non-Indian relations that major motion pictures often fail to communicate."--American Graduate

"The essays add to the growing literature on films about American Indians, and individually, they provide interesting insights into the process of movie-making and viewing."--North Carolina Historical Review

"The essays are solid pieces that place the films in a proper historical and artistic context."--Journal of American History

“An engaging and timely update to previous critical anthologies.”—Journal of American Culture

“Rollins and O’Connor have skillfully blended a variety of thoughtful veiwpoints.”—Chronicles of Oklahoma

“A collection of quality essays, put together by two of the leading experts in this particular topic area.”—Communication Booknotes Quarterly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky; First Edition edition (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813120446
• ISBN-13: 978-0813120447
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,328,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Brookline, MA and educated at Dartmouth (2yrs), Harvard (2yrs); after a 3-year tour as an infantry officer in the US Marines, back to Harvard for a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization.

Taught at Oklahoma State University for 37 yrs, attaining the rank of Regents Professor. Toward end of teaching career, courses focused on motion pictures and their impact on society.

Publications can be summarized as "film and history studies," most of which were published by the UP of Kentucky, although the epic was The Columbia Companion to American History in Film.

Hollywood as Historian, Hollywood's West, Hollywood's White House, etc. Full details on publications are at petercrollins.com where there are click points for full details and purchase.

Editor of Film & History for 12 years. Most indebted to John E. O'Connor, my mentor in this effort and co-editor in so many of the book projects.

Filmmaking was an option and I made documentaries about Will Rogers, the Vietnam war, World War II. (See America Reflected for details on these projects.) I was a strong advocate of "the historian as filmmaker" movement in this country, an effort which was overtaken by journalistic efforts on the History Channel and PBS.

America Reflected is my most recent effort and contains materials on Will Rogers, Benjamin Whorf, war on film, and canonical figures such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, John James Audubon, Frederick Henry Hedge, Amy Lowell, and others. America Reflected is my capstone book, an attempt to put the best of my writings on the library shelves.

My life has been a wonderful gift.