Dressing In Feathers: The Construction Of The Indian In American Popular Culture

by S. Elizabeth Bird

One hundred members of NatChat, an electronic mail discussion group concerned with Native American issues, responded to the recent Disney release Pocahontas by calling on parents to boycott the movie, citing its historical inaccuracies and saying that “Disney has let us down in a cruel, irresponsible manner.” Their anger was rooted in the fact that, although Disney claimed that the film’s portrayal of American Indians would be “authentic,” the Pocahontas story their movie told was really white cultural myth. The actual histories of the characters were replaced by mythic narratives depicting the crucial moments when aid was given to the white settlers. As reconstructed, the story serves to reassert for whites their right to be here, easing any lingering guilt about the displacement of the native inhabitants.To understand current imagery, it is essential to understand the history of its making, and these essays mesh to create a powerful, interconnected account of image creation over the past 150 years. The contributors, who represent a range of disciplines and specialties, reveal the distortions and fabrications white culture has imposed on significant historical and current events, as represented by treasured artifacts, such as photographic images taken of Sitting Bull following his surrender, the national monument at the battlefield of Little Bighorn, nineteenth-century advertising, the television phenomenon Northern Exposure, and the film Dances with Wolves.Well illustrated, this volume demonstrates the complacency of white culture in its representation of its troubled relationship with American Indians.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 1996

About the author

S.E. (Elizabeth) Bird is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Florida.

Reviews

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it!!!
I won't say too much here, because I don't want to spoil the fun for anyone, but if you are interested in the depiction of Native Americans in film and literature you gonna love this.
What is good and sad about this book is that the issues described are still existent and prevalent and readers will probably notice that if they have some knowledge of this topic. To give an example:
The Twilight books/movies show its werewolves characters in many ways according to the romance novel stereotype of the Native American, as well as that they don't really show Native Americns but rather "White man's indian."

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent text for upper-level undergraduates, or for grad students. Focuses on the portrayal of Native Americans, not only on TV and in film, but also at museums, in plays, and in many other cultural outlets. Although each chapter has a different author, they are all well-written. And despite that some draw from postmodern theory, it adds to, rather than burdens, the argumentation. My only gripe is that few of the authors are Indian.

[Kim Adamache · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read revolving the topic of stereotypes of Native Americans and how they have been take in popular culture.