Stereotypes of Aboriginal people in Media Common portrayals, misrepresentation, and racism

COMMON PORTRAYALS in TV, FILMS, NOVELS, COMICS, etc. Primitive Violent Deceptive Passive Child-like obedience Rarely about Canadian aboriginal people too! “Sexual savage”

ROMANTICIZATION/MYSTICISM INDIAN PRINCESS – Native beauty who is sympathetic enough to the white man's quest to be lured away from her group to marry into his culture and further his mission to civilize her people. But there is no such thing as princesses or royalty in aboriginal nations. NATIVE WARRIOR – is fierce and formidable and a threat to civilized society. Bare-chested and brandishing a war lance, this warrior is the epitome of the savagery. NOBLE SAVAGE – Elevated to a sphere of goodness unreachable by those in contaminated White society and usually possessing some spiritual connection to the land, the Noble Savage communes in a cloud of mysticism and places no value on material possessions.

HISTORICAL INACCURACIES Film and TV producers have never let details get in the way of a good story. Nowhere is this truer than in depictions of Aboriginal life, where artistic license is liberally applied in portraying dress, customs, livelihoods and spiritual beliefs and ceremonies. This reduction of cultural heritage and diversity (which most audiences do not even notice) is seen by critics as both a symptom of the problem (not taking Aboriginal people seriously) and an unconscious yet systematic way of perpetuating stereotypes.

STEREOTYPING BY OMISSION (leaving important stuff out) Most film depictions of Native people are set in a 50-year period in the mid-19th century. Where were Natives before the coming of the White man, and where are they now? In popular media, "Indians" apparently did not survive the transition to modern society.

SIMPLISTIC CHARACTERIZATIONS Perhaps most destructive to the image of Aboriginal people is the lack of character and personality afforded them by the media. Aboriginal people are almost always cast in supporting roles or relegated to the background, and are rarely allowed to speak or display their complexity and richness as human beings. Whatever character they do have, tends to reveal itself only in terms of their interactions with White people. Rarely is an Aboriginal portrayed as having personal strengths and weaknesses, or shown acting on his or her own values and judgments. Nor is the Native ever permitted to tell his or her own story. Most stories are conveyed through the lens of the European experience. A common device used by Hollywood to attach familiar values to Native acts has been to script a White character as narrator (Dances with Wolves). While this might seem to treat the them sympathetically, the reality is that the Aboriginal is robbed of voice.

KEEP THESE 4 STEREOTYPES IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND AS YOU WATCH POCAHONTAS: 1.Romanticism/Mysticism – appearance of Pocahontas, Personalities, Culture, Beliefs 2.Historical Inaccuracies – Did that really happen? 3.Stereotyping by Omission – When is the movie set in? 4.Simplistic Characterization – European perspective?

POCAHONTAS The "Indian Princess" stereotype is rooted in the legend of Pocahontas and is typically expressed through characters that are maidenly, demure, and deeply committed to some white man. The powerfully symbolic Indian woman, as Queen and Princess, has been with us since she came to stand for the "New World," a term that in and of itself reflects a Eurocentric value judgment.

Pocahontas, however, was no myth (Mills, 1995). The daughter of Tidewater Virginia's legendary chief Powhatan, Pocahontas (c ) was lured aboard a British ship in the Jamestown area and held captive for more than a year (see Roundtree, 1990). She was dressed in the English fashion and took religious instruction, becoming baptized as a Christian. In 1615, Pocahontas married British colonist, John Rolfe. In 1616, as part of a plan to revive support for the Virginia colony, the couple traveled to England with their infant son. There, Pocahontas met King James I and Queen Anne. Just as she and Rolfe were setting- sail back to America the following March, Pocahontas died, perhaps because of smallpox, perhaps because of the foul English weather. She was buried in an English churchyard a few miles from London on the Thames River, far from her tribal homeland of the Mattaponi people (Sharpes, 1995).

The Mattoponi speak of Pocahontas as a remarkable young woman (Almeida, 1995). Her real name was Matowa. Unfortunately, she has been unjustly portrayed in history as a supporter of the invading English settlers, thus giving her the reputation amongst American Indians as being an "apple and a sellout". The reality is that she was a strong supporter of her people, and at a young age was put into the position of acting as an interpreter and ambassador between two cultures. The importance of her political position must have been recognized by the English, since they kidnapped her and held her as a political prisoner.

Pocahontas showed the British how remarkable an Indian woman could be. Further, in a country which doted on princesses, she exemplified just what the savants were looking for- an American one (Stedman 1982). It is unlikely that the "celestial princess" concept was known to the Indians before Englishman bestowed that title upon Pocahontas. Yet the images and roles generated by a misinformed Europe continue to dominate the popular concept of who Pocahontas was. These images force young viewers to internalize white middle class standards of beauty and value, much of which denies the cultural beauty of students of color (Bonilla 1995).

Current TV networks that support ‘FUBU’ programming: CBC and APTN CBC has a number of shows produced, casted and about aboriginal lives today (i.e. The Rez, North of 60) Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) has made an entire channel of aboriginal peoples programming (i.e. Did You Know)!