Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies [Hardcover]

Angela Aleiss (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 027598396X | ISBN-13: 978-0275983963 | Publication Date: May 30, 2005

The image in Hollywood movies of savage Indians attacking white settlers represents only one side of a very complicated picture. In fact sympathetic portrayals of Native Americans stood alongside those of hostile Indians in the silent films of D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, and flourished during the early 1930s with Hollywood's cycle of pro-Indian adventures. Decades later, the stereotype became even more complicated, as films depicted the savagery of whites (The Searchers) in contrast to the more "peaceful" Indian (Broken Arrow). By 1990 the release of Dances with Wolves appeared to have recycled the romantic and savage portrayals embedded in early cinema. In this new study, author Angela Aleiss traces the history of Native Americans on the silver screen, and breaks new ground by drawing on primary sources such as studio correspondence, script treatments, trade newspapers, industry censorship files, and filmmakers' interviews to reveal how and why Hollywood created its Indian characters. Behind-the-scenes anecdotes of filmmakers and Native Americans, as well as rare archival photographs, supplement the discussion, which often shows a stark contrast between depiction and reality. The book traces chronologically the development of the Native American's screen image while also examining many forgotten or "lost" Western films. Each chapter will feature black and white stills from the films discussed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The literature includes dozens of books on the Hollywood Western, and perhaps a dozen just on the representation of Native Americans in Hollywood film....[t]he writing and research are scrupulous and engaging. Highly recommended. Lower-/upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers.”–Choice

“Making the White Man's Indian reminds us that films were made to make money and that they reflected whatever niche Indians occupied in the American attitude toward Indians and minorities at the time the films were made. Professor Aleiss explains why Hollywood representation of Indians has swung back and forth between the Indian-as-savage and the Indian-as-noble and sympathetic. Portraying Indians as people is not new....Hollywood may shape images but it responds in a cultural context. Her reviews of many obscure or forgotten films are a bonus....[b]elongs in the mainstream of current interpretations of Indian representations.”–NDO North Dakota Quarterly

“While Aleiss's book is a serious study, it is lively and very readable, full of little-known facts and anecdotes that add interest to its analysis....[M]aking the White Man's Indian is a useful addition for most libraries.”–Multicultural Review

“[D]raws on behind-the-scenes material such as correspondence, evolving scripts, studio publicity materials, reactions from film critics and Native American groups, and records of the self-censorship organization, to cast new light on the portrayal of Native Americans in US films.”–Reference & Research Book News/Art Book News Annual

“Aleiss is to be commended for providing a clear-eyed, level-headed and marvelously researched film history that explores the tangled and too frequently shameful treatment of Native Americans on the nation's screens over the past century. She takes the American film industry, warts and all, for what it is as a commercial enterprise largely under the aegis of corporate capitalism. She has illuminated a problematic page of American film history with clarity and brio.”–Andrew Sarris, Film Critic New York Observer

Book Description

Looks at the history of depictions and treatment of Native Americans in movies from the silent era through the present day.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (May 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 027598396X
• ISBN-13: 978-0275983963
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,251,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A history of Hollywood and the Indians, April 12, 2010

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Ervan G. Garrison - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies (Paperback)

"Making the White Man's Indian..." as a title, borrows from Fergus M. Bordewich's 1998 book title "Killing the White Man's Indian" which he borrowed from a historical quote. Aleiss does a very scholarly but readable review of Hollywood's fascination with American Indians. There are only one or two books of this genre available to college film classes so this is a very welcome addition. It is one of the better, if not the best, of such books. Aleiss knows Hollywood better than her literary predecessors and it shows in her use of box office data. It's one thing to say Hollywood's interest in Indians, as a film subject, has ebbed-and-flowed and quite another to give real economic detail for this. Hollywood studios make movies on topics that sell or they try another topic. In the early days of movies the Indian was a "cool" topic until people quit buying tickets. When big box offices returned with the "Duke-type" aka "John Wayne" westerns and their portrayal of "western Indians" the genre was hot again. Aleiss points out that Indian movies that star Indian actors have been around longer than contemporary memory would suggest and this is a real contribution on her part. She mixes in a lot of good "back story". This reviewer learned a lot about James Young Deer and questions about his own heritage that other writers had missed or had not reported. His escapades with his female actors were discussed as one reason Hollywood cooled toward his work. Such details are what make "Making the White Man's Indian..." both fun-to-read and scholarly at the same time - a difficult task for any history book.