Re: The Portrayal of American Indians in Popular Media

I'd challenge your guess on the basis of what one considers "available". They didn't even let Bruce Lee play the lead in "Kung Fu" because by their reasoning, he was too "ethnic". And the role was his creation to start with....

So, my guess would be there are a lot more 'available' actors that ain't white than we ever get to see, because there is a fear that it won't be marketable. A real pain in the ass, the paternalism of it.

Look at your local newscasters..... I just wonder.

Don't forget Hollywood is in the 'looks' industry. You must be handsome/beautiful to be the lead actor/actress or authentic in secondary roles but never better looking than the lead. Movie-goers like the the leads to be eye candy.

I picked up a RoyRogers DVD for like $4.99 and one of the movies is Hands Across the Border of something like that, man was that a bad one - white people playing hispanics.

bookmarking

Jay Silverheels was probably better looking than Clayton Moore. Why else would he wear a mask? Joking aside, Mr. Moore mostly played baddies before becoming 'Kemo Sabe' same as Sean Connery before becoming '007'. His looks were not of the claasical 'pretty boy' type like Montgomery Clift, Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger but more of the ruggedly handsome type like Clark Gable which turned on women.

That's right. For all we know, 20% of all cowboys in the old West had pimples in their face and were fat. From 19th century photographs, it seems that a large majority of pioneer women were ugly. How's that for stereotyping?

Popular media sterotype, period. If they didn't, they wouldn't be popular. It is not their job to be realistic or ethical. Their job -- their only job -- is to tell stories that people want to hear. I find it naive to expect any more of them. I also find it misguided: The truth and morality of a story does not matter to it being a good story. And people shouldn't inform themselves about ethics and facts through ficticious movie plots.

Michael Pate.

An Australian actor. He made a terrific career out of portraying American Indians on film in the US. He also portrayed many other characters of various ethnic backgrounds but his American Indian portrayals stay in the mind.

Being swarthy is an advantage at times.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0665327/

Ever heard of Winnetou and Old Shatter Hand? Series of stories about a friendship between a cowbou and an Apache chief (Winnetou). Everybody involved was played by the white guys and it was filmed on Plitvicke lakes in Croatia (breathtakingly beautiful, but as removed from reality as possible).
Then again, Karl May, the author, was a German who never set foot in America. 'Mayovky' - or Westerns by Karl May are still among the most popular books for kids over here.

you are probally right on the nose with that.
Sad, but true

Snood, thank you for your understanding. By borrowing your title, this thread is far longer than any of the others on American Indians. I wasn't really looking for posts restricted to the media, I was just trying to get a greater response than has been seen in the past.

Thomas, yes, the bottom line is all that matters to producers and that isn't all wrong; plus, Hollywood is always far behind the popular culture when it comes to anything controversial. Indie films are the only ones that come near portraying the real world. The indies have enthusiastic viewers, but Hollywood needs to be sure of the acceptance of a more general audience. It isn't a noble cause, but it is the only way to maintain the staggering profits that Hollywood demands.

Hollywood has run by many simultaneous mechanisms, but certainly the bottom line is top. I know, not all is writ towards that, but much that is written to other than than doesn't get done. But some does. All is not simple. Cynicism and actual talent rising or falling and non talent rising or falling and familial connections and buddies and enemies and coke and accountancy and supreme public relations and relationships and offshoots of coteries away from all that, which turn into more thickets... all of these creep on in the petty pace.

Evil is an easy word. (Not that you called it evil, Diane.) It's more complex than that, and there is much good happening in the midst. (don't ask me for back up - just that all involved are not dull moneygrubbers.)

Also, not that I am so versed in this, I gather independents aren't so much.