ABSTRACT
THE CINEMATIC DEPICTION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN AMERICA IS OBJECTIVELY racist at all levels. This observation encompasses not only the more than 2,000 Hollywood movies featuring or at least touching upon such subject matters over the years, but the even greater number of titles made for television.1 In this, film is linked closely to literature of both the fictional and ostensibly nonfictional varieties, upon which most scripts are based. It is thus both fair and accurate to observe that all modes of projecting images and attendant conceptualizations of native people to the “mainstream” public fit the same mold.2 Moreover, it is readily observable that within the confines of this mold are included only the narrowest and most negative range of graphic/thematic possibilities.3
