Indigenous women in media

Representations of North American Indigenous Women in Film 

In this wiki I will be examining the portrayals of North American indigenous women in film over the last 100 years. Film has been used to perpetuate harmful stereotypes regarding indigenous women as well as adhering to one-dimensional stock characters. As diversity in film increases, and more indigenous content makers are able to share their own stories, these representations are changing and becoming more dynamic and empowering to indigenous peoples. 

Brief History 

The representation of indigenous people for entertainment purposes began with “Wild West Shows”. These were vaudeville performances depicting historic battles or  conflicts between indigenous peoples and cowboys on the American Frontier. These performances existed from 1870-1920 and often featured a displays of supposedly indigenous culture (such as a ‘war dance’ or ‘buffalo hunt’). These performances highlighted indigenous peoples as exotic, violent or savage spectacles. Performances also homogenized indigenous culture, paying little attention to individual customs of different peoples and ignoring cultural context. Many symbols thought to be relevant to all indigenous peoples (such as living in teepees, wearing feathered regalia and hunting buffalo) originated from misinformation gleaned from these fictionalized shows.

In the 1910’s Hollywood directors hired indigenous peoples for stock characters in films such as “The Battle of Elderbusch Gulch” (1913) (which depicted indigenous people in a very negative light) and “The Squaw Man” (1914). The Squaw Man is of particular importance as it featured an indigenous woman Lillian Margaret St. Cyr in a leading role (which would often be given to women of European backgrounds at the time) although her father was played by a white actor. Throughout the 1940’s indigenous people were featured in films but often in smaller or secondary roles, while ‘chief’ or other leading roles were given to non-indigenous actors. During the 1960’s and 70’s as indigenous peoples fought for greater rights, roles were more nuanced but many portrayals still fell into stereotypical roles. While modern films have shown improvement, issues still remain.

Red-Face

The practice of “redface” or featuring non-indigenous actresses portraying indigenous characters has been prevalent throughout Hollywood’s history. These films remove valuable opportunities from the indigenous actors and work to erase indigenous identity. Recent examples of redface include Rooney Mara’s depiction of Tiger-Lily in the 2015 film “Pan” . 

Common Tropes Associated with Indigenous Women in Film 

Much like the virgin/whore dichotomy seen in western works, indigenous women are also viewed in a binary fashion in many film. Indigenous women are often portrayed within the Princess/Squaw* stereotype in tv and film with cultural background appearing to be synonymous with sexuality. This binary mirrors roles assigned to European women as the roles of indigenous women were often very different from that of their white counterparts and were therefore assigned to indigenous women as a form of colonial oppression.

The Princess 

The “Indian princess”* is a role in which a young, beautiful and high status indigenous women betrays her family to aid a white man who she has fallen in love with. This role is very similar to the “helpful princess” trope seen in greek myth and parallels the ‘othered’ nature of this role. The princess looses her identity as an indigenous person and becomes part of white-society (sometimes referred to as becoming ‘civilized’ and is rewarded for aiding the white-protagonist. Both Pocahontas in the Disney film and Tiger-Lily in Peter pan are examples of this trope. 

These depiction  can be further understood as extensions of popular beliefs surrounding indigenous women at certain times in history. Conquering or possessing an indigenous women (particularly of high status) is symbolic of colonizing north America more generally. In a more literal sense, Canadian-indigenous  women lost status in marriage to a non-status men due to the Indian Act as the government attempted to assimilate indigenous peoples. Through reductive measures such as these, and the perpetuation of “the princess” trope, indigenous women are told to give up their past for white society and that doing so is a positive or desirable action. 

Elise Marubbio further explores  this stereotype with her discussion of The Celluloid maiden who she describes as a character who dies in her attempt to aid white men in films. However, it could also be said that through her rejection of her culture, the princess’s indigenous identity dies in both cases. 

The Non-Princess 

In contrast with the idealized princess trope, women who do not reject indigenous culture were portrayed in a less flattering light. In film, these women appear as old wives (highlighting their infertility) or as promiscuous and undesirable. They are shown as unfeminine (often doing manual labour) and to be pitied. This character can be seen in the film Little Big Man (1970). Although this film does attempt to work against negative stereotypes, one-dimensional portals of women still exist. Jack Crabb’s wife Sunshine is shown as sexually available that his is humorous in the film.

Modern Indigenous Film 

Today, depictions of indigenous women are becoming more dynamic and complex as more female, indigenous film-makers have their work produced. The Native Women in Film festival (founded in 1996) celebrates these artists and support women and girls to tell their stories. The group was founded by Joanelle Romero was nominated for an Academy award for her short film. She  is the first and only indigenous women to be nominated for this category and wished that more of her peer’s voices could be heard.

Films such as Empire of Dirt (2013) and Rhymes For Young Ghouls() also feature indigenous women in empowering and dynamic roles, pushing through the binary stereotypes of the past. 

* I acknowledge that ‘Indian’  and ‘squaw’ are outdated and offensive terms to many. I have used these words when speaking about specific tropes associated with these terms in which the offensive nature of the language parallels the exploitive nature of the trope.