(Pictured: Native American director Chris Eyre)(SOURCE: Beveryly Singer, p. 61) When Chris Eyre sat in the director's chair for 'Smoke Signals' in 1998, he was the first Native American to direct a major release feature film since Edwin Carewe's brief career ended in the 1920s. 'Smoke Signals', distributed by Miramax, premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Filmmaker's Trophy and the Audience Award. The elite film audiences there who voted for the Native American film, and the support for the film by a major distributor, have helped to reposition Native American participation in filmmaking.
Native Americans directing FEATURE films??? I never thought I'd see the day! Historically, Native Americans have always been in the background and have never gotten lead roles or directing jobs. This generally lead to Native Americans being portrayed in an extremely stereotypical way. Why did this happen, you might ask? Well that is the question. My good friends Rollins and O'connor explain in their book, “For too long, Hollywood filmmakers have created and disseminated stereotypical and frequently racist images of American Indians. Because American Indian people have had extremely limited access to Hollywood as writers, producers, or directors, those distorted images have gone largely unchecked.” (Rollins and O’Connor p. 206).
This makes perfect sense right? I mean, if Natives aren't even given a chance, how can accurate portrayals be conveyed? How will anyone know what their movies will be like? The fact that non Natives were the people making movies about Native Americans and not the Native people themselves is a large reason why they were being falsely represented in film. To make matters worse, it was hard for Native filmmakers to break into the business and their proposals were often rejected because funding organizations felt that they lacked experience and assumed that they would focus on making films about their own people.
Yet, it is only through participation in filmmaking that Natives can help create a mutual understanding and garner respect for themselves and their culture, right? RIGHT? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!!
You guys, this is HUGE news! Chris Eyre has made history here! He had the opportunity to create a massively popular Hollywood feature film, and it was extremely well received!
But let's think back for a minute... One of the first films featuring Native Americans that any of us saw was the classic John Wayne film The Searchers. I'm sure almost all of you have seen it or at least heard of it. Anyway. This film was all about cowboys killing Indians, and only featured Indians as crazy bad guys.
Now I don't know about all of you but I'm pretty sure every Indian is NOT a kidnapper, a cold-blooded killer, or a savage murder. Agreed? Good.
My point being, of course, is that with this opportunity, Chris Eyre will be able to able to positively influence the perception of Indians in Hollywood.
Yeah. Let that soak in for a minute. A powerful statement right there.
OK ready?
As a Native American director, Eyre will be able to accurately portray Natives, instead of just buying into the typical Indian stereotypes. This film has the potential to be huge.
We are extremely excited to see this film and have only heard great things.
STAY TUNED for our follow up post and reaction to the film.
Smoke Signals ladies and gentlemen. Directed by Chris Eyre. Go see it.
-Moose and J-dog
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