The following conversation is what we here at NativeAmericanHollywood think would happen we if sat down with John Ford and planned out a scene in his movie Searchers. Afterwards, I am going to explain how guys like Chris Eyre are taking the portrayal of Indians in Hollywood back after decades of guys like Wayne and Ford making them out to be savages.
J-Dog: Hey John, I've been thinking, for this big fight scene between the settlers and the Indians, What are we gonna do? We don't have enough Indians to play the part, right?
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| Chief Sitting Bull (Lakota Sioux) |
Ford: Indians? What the hell do you mean? Run down to the pizza place, grab a couple dark Italian guys, we'll slap a head dress and some war paint on 'em and no one will ever know the difference!
J-Dog: Jeez John, is the head dress really historically accurate? We're talking about Comanche's here, they didn't wear those.
Ford: That's nonsense, look at this picture right here. Headdress, Indian, BOOM, Indians definitely wore them.
J-Dog: But John, like I just said, that's not a Comanche, Sitting Bull was a Lakota Sioux, COMPLETELY different tribe.
Ford: Well lets not be ridiculous here, do you think anyone is going to really care whether or not "Chief RedBuffaloEagle" or whatever his name is factually accurate?! All he's gotta do is give a couple war cry's and come charging at Wayne so he can be the hero and kill him.
J-Dog: I don't understand... why are they attacking Wayne again?
Ford: Well duh, its because he is a white guy and that's what Indians do, they ride around attacking white guys and killing women and children.
J-Dog: John, did you ever think that maybe Indians aren't a bunch of savages? I know this guy, Chris Eyre, he's this awesome Native filmmaker, he shows Indians as real people, like you and me!
Ford: What? Injuns? Working a camera? I don't believe it, they can barely remember their lines! And besides, we have documentaries or whatever those National Geographic nerds do to show what Indian society is really like.
J-Dog: I'm just saying maybe people would like to see the Indians as real people, yanno they still don't run around in war paint and buckskin, they wear jeans and tee shirts like you and I.
Ford: Listen, kid, I like that you want to save the world or whatever with your whole politically correct nonsense,but this is Hollywood kid. Nobody is gunna pay to see some injuns hanging around on the reservation. We have a job, put asses in seats, and I'll tell ya, America loves watching Johnny boy on the big screen hunting down savages.
J-Dog: But this is legitimately damaging to an entire population of people. This is flat out racism in movies. That would be like if all white-guys were dressed up as Cowboys with a six shooter on their hip.
Ford: No, no, no, no. Do you know how upset people would get if we type cast ALL white people into the same role? That's ridiculous.
Sooo now that we're back in the 21st century, lets talk about guys like Chris Eyre and what they're doing to change this perception created by people like John Ford.
So Moose and I were talking about what made Smoke Signals such a successful movie. Now we've seen dozens of Native films, both documentaries and fictions, yet Smoke Signals was our favorite. We decided that the reason we loved Smoke Signals soooo much was because it broke the mold we had of Indians. We saw Indians out in the real world, travelling on a bus (thats right! a real bus, with wheels and engine and everything) going across on a cross country journey in jeans and boots not in headdresses and moccasins. When we watched this movie we saw people going on a personal adventure, we didn't just see Indians. Eyre is making films that show us what Indians are really like today and he's doing it in an entertaining way.
Huge props to Chris Eyre for re-writing a manipulated history through entertaining film!
-J-Dog & Moose
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