Last of the Mohicans
Eric Ehlow
NAMS 338
Research Paper
December 1, 2014
Stereotypes and Stereotyping of Native Americans in The Last of the Mohicans
Native Americans were part of this country long before our founding forefathers. They were the people that Christopher Columbus found inhabiting this land. There is even evidence to show that they have been on the American continents for thousands and even tens of thousands of years. Yet, somehow the European powers dominated these people, forcing them from their land to make it “ours.” In the early part of the twentieth century, a new industry began to develop; we call it the film industry. Along with the industry came movies that were made and are still made for the amusement of a mass audience. Some flaws did come with this industry, and among them was the depiction of Native Americans. “Anonymity is a feature of the Indian portrayed in film…many do not have names or speaking parts” (Bataille and Hicks 10). Native Americans often speak with a broken dialect or “baby” English. They are not able to fully understand or express complete thoughts in the English language. This makes them appear to the audience as a lesser character. The second role of Native Americans in film is that of a sidekick or crony of some white hero, like Tonto in The Lone Ranger (1938). In these films “The Native American The Native American was placed into one of the following four roles: the first isthe comedic Indian, the jester of the frontier court. This Indian spoke in simple is clearly secondary in importance” and was never the hero (Crowdus 297). The two most significant roles of the Native American are the bloodthirsty savages and their counterparts the “noble” savages.
These two opposite characteristics were adopted from the “images and stereotypes which had already been popularized in fiction and in art was only a continuation of a practice which had already been institutionalized in the root of culture” (Bataille and Hicks 9).
NAMS 338
Research Paper
December 1, 2014
Stereotypes and Stereotyping of Native Americans in The Last of the Mohicans
Native Americans were part of this country long before our founding forefathers. They were the people that Christopher Columbus found inhabiting this land. There is even evidence to show that they have been on the American continents for thousands and even tens of thousands of years. Yet, somehow the European powers dominated these people, forcing them from their land to make it “ours.” In the early part of the twentieth century, a new industry began to develop; we call it the film industry. Along with the industry came movies that were made and are still made for the amusement of a mass audience. Some flaws did come with this industry, and among them was the depiction of Native Americans. “Anonymity is a feature of the Indian portrayed in film…many do not have names or speaking parts” (Bataille and Hicks 10). Native Americans often speak with a broken dialect or “baby” English. They are not able to fully understand or express complete thoughts in the English language. This makes them appear to the audience as a lesser character. The second role of Native Americans in film is that of a sidekick or crony of some white hero, like Tonto in The Lone Ranger (1938). In these films “The Native American The Native American was placed into one of the following four roles: the first isthe comedic Indian, the jester of the frontier court. This Indian spoke in simple is clearly secondary in importance” and was never the hero (Crowdus 297). The two most significant roles of the Native American are the bloodthirsty savages and their counterparts the “noble” savages.
These two opposite characteristics were adopted from the “images and stereotypes which had already been popularized in fiction and in art was only a continuation of a practice which had already been institutionalized in the root of culture” (Bataille and Hicks 9).
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