Natives on the Big Screen:

The Commodification of Indigenous Culture

Through FIlm

Aidan Robert E. Grey

Santa Clara Pueblo

Copy of Aidan Grey - SHP Formal Proposal Template - Google Slides.webm

cancerroadtrip.com, 2022

"Sharing One Skin" Research Log 1

Jeannette Armstrong’s piece, titled “Sharing One Skin,” is about Indigenous identity and community. The four aspects of your identity are your spiritual self, your thinking intellectual self, your emotional self, and your physical self. Each aspect is connected to the land and to your culture. They are all integral to your place on this Earth and to your own spiritual balance. Your community is what grounds you in these aspects. Your physical self is what exists beyond your skin. It is what allows you to survive and interact between our bodies and the world around us. Your physical self is the external. The emotional self is what connects you to the larger world around you. Your emotions are where your land and community come together to become one, inseparable part of you. It is the heart of your entire being. Your thinking intellectual self is your motivation. The motivation that duvets you to make decisions and to become more in tune with who you are and your relationship with the world around you. The spiritual self is the accumulation of all three other parts. Your spirit is your true self and “the living source of our life,” as Armstrong says.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander

and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San

Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

legendsofamerica.com, 2022

"How Places Names Impact The Way We see The Landscape" Research log 1

In B. Toastie's article “How Place Names Impact The Way We See Landscape” they outline how the names and history of sacred land impact indigenous people across the U.S.. The land holds a great significance in many if not all indigenous cultures in the United States. It is what ties us to our ancestry, culture, and people. It is what indigenous people thrived on for centuries before the colonization of America. It is what the community that holds us all together is built upon. Without the land we are all lost; disconnected from our ways and people. The land is that which binds us together as a people. And thus the names that we give to our land have great value. They are there to honor the dead, honor the spirits, and to honor our history. When those very specific and very important names are changed we lose a piece of ourselves. A piece of your identity is lost in that moment, and you are no longer whole. Changing these names also removes us from our history. If say, for example, a landscape is named to honor a tribal leader and that name is changed then a piece of history is lost. It has been fragmented and torn apart.

Toastie, B. “How place names impact the way we see landscape.” High Country News:

Know the West, 1 May 2022,

https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.5/people-places-how-place-names-impact-the-way

-we-see-landscape. Accessed 1 September 2022.

ya-native.com, 2022

"Introduction to Native American/Indigenous Film." Research Log 2

"Introduction to Native American/Indigenous Film." by M. Elise Marrubio was a very good source to learn about the modern Native film movement and the history of Natives in film. The Native film movement has been a tool to advance the scope of Native stories that are being told. Its roots began in the late 60’s and early 70’s during the Civil Rights and Indian Rights movements. Film has been a tool to regain control over the stories of Native people and as a means to deal with the historical trauma and oppression Indigenous people have faced across the globe. Cinema can be the microphone to people who otherwise would not have their voices heard.

Marubbio, M. Elise. "Introduction to Native American/indigenous film." Post Script, vol. 29, no. 3, summer 2010, pp. 3+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A247034905/ITOF?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=5fa4b465. Accessed 12 Oct. 2022

IMDB.com, 2022

"The White Man's Indian: Stereotypes in Film and Beyond." Research Log 2

"The White Man's Indian: Stereotypes in Film and Beyond." Charalambos Vrasidas gives a great overview of the stereotypes of Indigenous people in both film and beyond. It begins before the creation of film itself with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. The stereotypes created here would persist all throughout the rest of cinematic history. Then it is onto the silent era. A majority of the films focusing on Native characters, in this era and beyond, are westerns so a lot of these movies used Natives as a tool. They used already accepted and popular views of Native people to create an easy antagonist in their stories of cowboys and outlaws. Then the timeline jumps ahead a bit to the 40s and 50s to showcase how little has changed. It isn’t until the 60s and 70s that more common and sympathetic images of Natives appeared. The article also touches on the mythologizing of the western genre that took place in the western films of the 20th century.

Vrasidas, Charalambos. “The White Man's Indian: Stereotypes in Film and Beyond.” ERIC.ED, Jan. 1997, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED408950.pdf.

The Oklahoma News Report, 2022

"Native American Film & Media Depiction." Research log 2

In this news segment a local Oklahoma news source they touch on both contemporary and historical representations of Native people in film and television. As for the contemporary they mention shows like Reservation Dogs and Rutherford Falls and the recently released Predator franchise sequel Prey. They don’t mention many specific older films that have Indigenous characters, but there is footage of Pocahontas, The Searchers, and the Kirk Douglas western The Indian Fighter. All of these films play into the stereotypes that were expressly created by filmmakers for the purposes of making a profit. They also dehumanized Native people to a certain extent and aren’t exactly authentic.

Oklahomanews. Native American Film & Media Depiction. YouTube, YouTube, 24 Aug. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFQGve0Tqw0. Accessed 13 Oct. 2022.

(CBC News. June 20, 2018)

“Influential filmmakers React to State of Indigenous Film in Canada." Research Log 3.

“Influential filmmakers React to State of Indigenous Film in Canada” is a video by the CBC where three Indigenous filmmakers sit down and have a discussion about the state of Indigenous film in Canada. All three filmmakers agreed that Indigenous filmmakers should be the ones making films about Indigenous people. They mention the film “Dances With Wolves” and how that representation wasn’t great and had a white character saving a tribe, but it was so much better than what came before that people flocked to it. It is also mentioned that the authorship of film is dictated by those who make it, not necessarily by those in front of the screen. Money and the institutional ceilings are also barriers that stop new and small filmmakers from making their art. It requires a lot of money to make movies and without a lot of funding it is hard to get anything done. Prior industry connections are also a contributing factor to why it is so hard to get Indigenous films made. Indigenous Outsiders simply don’t have the connections or the resources that others may possess.

CBCTheNational, director. Influential Filmmakers React to State of Indigenous Film in Canada. YouTube, YouTube, 20 June 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peRTgZbuE0s. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.

(SFU. June 1,2019)

“Skoden Indigenous Film Festival Launches Fourth Year at SFU." Research Log 3

“Skoden Indigenous Film Festival Launches Fourth Year at SFU,” by Karissa Ketter is a short but informative source on the current state of Indigenous people in film. SFU is a university in Vancouver, British Columbia and this film festival is one that has been held there for a few years now. The participants are all Indigenous and the films they make are all Indigenous stories. The topics that the films touch upon range from the effects of colonization, and international trauma, to reclaiming culture, and experimental films and music videos. The people who run the festival said that “Skoden acts as an avenue to educate and activate a dialogue about reconciliation,” it is the avenue in which Indigenous people get to tell their own stories and change the image of them that has been crafted by others. There are also challenges unique to Native filmmakers that other artists might not face. Many indigenous people in the United States live in rural areas and their access to the resources needed can be limited. There are also systemic boundaries in the industry itself such as racism, white supremacy, and tokenism, but the creativity and adaptability shown by the filmmakers is apparent in their work. They make do with what they have and work around their limitations to create films that are true to their own artistic sensibilities. Creating opportunities for Indigenous filmmakers to share their stories is one of the biggest parts of film festivals like this because without them very few are going to see these films.

"Skoden Indigenous Film Festival launches fourth year at

SFU." UWIRE Text, 28 Mar. 2022, p. 1. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A698541014/ITOF?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=35aac689. Accessed 19 Nov. 2022.

(Bukach, David. “Amber Midthunder as Naru and Crew on the Set of Prey.” 2022)

"Indigenous Filmworkers in Alberta Excited about Industry's Shift in Representation." Research Log 3

“Indigenous film workers in Alberta Excited about Industry's Shift in Representation,” is an article published by CBC news. CBC stands for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation so they interviewed Indigenous filmworkers in Albert Canada for this piece. Members of the cast and crew for the film “Prey” were interviewed and they were excited about the route the industry is taking. Films about Indigenous people, like “Prey,” should have a lot of involvement from Indigenous artists. About 95% of the cast for the film was Indigenous and sow as the producer of the movie. It was also the biggest premier for a movie on Hulu ever. This movie really put Native people front and center both behind and in front of the camera. The recent FX series “Under the Banner of Heaven,” which was also shot in Canada, also had Native cast and crew. Chase Cardinal, who is Cree, worked on both projects and he said that they were both positive experiences but he did mention the possibility of tokenization. He said that “I think there is a lot of tokenization that still goes on and it's tricky. The motivation behind hiring and bringing people on has to be coming from a good place of actually wanting Indigenous peoples' input," and this is definitely something that has to be considered going forward. Choices have to be made in good faith and with good intentions.

"Indigenous film workers in Alberta excited about industry's shift in representation." The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 11 Aug. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A713615044/ITOF?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=ffa4880f. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.

Action Plan: Spreading awareness of Indigenous Depiction on Film

Part 1: On November 11th 2022 I gave a presentation in the library on the history of indigenous people in film, and the contemporary issues Native people face on film. I briefly went over the history of Native people in film and discussed how it changed. I wanted to display the how more modern projects depict Indigenous people compared to the older ones.

(Grey, Aidan. History. 2022)

(Grey, Aidan. Watching. 2022)

(Grey, Aidan. Presentation Begins. 2022)

Action plan: The Most Famous Western and it’s Indian Problem

Part 2: On March 1st I screened John Ford’s The Searchers to those attending my action plan. I chose this action because this film is considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Western ever. It holds an important place in film history and apart of it’s legacy is its depiction of the Indigenous characters.

(Grey, Aidan. Film Introduction. 2023.)

(Grey, Aidan. Silhouettes. 2023)

(Grey, Aidan. Spectators of the screen. 2023)

(Teaser-Trailer.com. September, 2016.)

“From Moana to Vaiana: Voicing the French and Tahitian Dubbed Versions of Disney's Moana” Research Log 4

“From Moana to Vaiana: Voicing the French and Tahitian Dubbed Versions of Disney's Moana” is an article by Colleen Montgomery about the dubbing process that went into Disney’s Moana and the commodification of Polynesian culture for the movie. Moana was dubbed into 45 different languages for the global market but for the original English release care was taken to make sure that the voice actors in the film were of Polynesian descent. The motives behind this decision could be debated. Some would say it is to give credence to the depiction and commodification of Polynesian culture to help justify the film. While others could argue that it is a genuine attempt by Disney to create strong representation of Indigenous characters. The controversy comes from the fact that people dubbing these Indigenous characters are not Indigenous themselves. Those dubbing the film for Tahiti spoke French with the dialect that is specific to the region. In France they changed the name of the film to Vaiana and spoke in the French language that is heard across france. Interestingly, in Quebec there was conflict over the fact that the French spoken had no Quebec accents. They also changed the name of the film back to Moana. Another point of controversy was the fact that the film commits a "narrative and aesthetic hybridization of the linguistic, cultural and topological diversity of Pacific nations and peoples," says film scholar Kirsten Moana.

Montgomery, Colleen. "From Moana to Vaiana: Voicing the French and Tahitian Dubbed Versions of Disney's Moana." American Music, vol. 39, no. 2, summer 2021, pp. 237+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A699737898/ITOF?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=2977c1b1. Accessed 13 Feb. 2023.

(IMDB.com. September, 2020.)

“Confinement, Care, and Commodification in Mati Diop's In My Room" Research Log 4

“Confinement, Care, and Commodification in Mati Diop's In My Room” is an article by Brittany Murray about the short film by Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop. This article examines the relationship between the artist and the financier and the contents of the short film itself. Diop’s film was financed by a French fashion house as a part of their series of short films made by women. Famous French New Wave filmmaker Agnes Varda is one of the many women who has participated in this series. “To meet the demands of commerce, the film releases are timed to coincide with the brand's seasonal collections,” says Murray. This film now operates in the weird place between purely product and art. It was funded with the explicit intention of being used as a marketing device but Diop does something more with it. She elevates it further beyond commercial products. The film also was created during the first year of the pandemic and reflects a lot of the fears people felt while in isolation. It touches on caring for others, and the elderly, during this time and its effect on you. Murray draws parallels to another famous director inspired by the French New Wave, Chantal Akerman. Diop’s film is similar to Akermans final film No Home Movie. They similarly are both set within the homes of the filmmakers and cover dealing with care for the elderly.

Murray, Brittany. "Confinement, Care, and Commodification in Mati Diop's In My Room." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, vol. 24, no. 1, Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A723635910/AONE?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=66f594c1. Accessed 14 Feb. 2023.

(IMDB.com. October 1992)

“‘Candyman’ reflects deeply on racial commodification” Research Log 4

“‘Candyman’ reflects deeply on racial commodification” is an article by Jason Fuhrman. It analyzes Nia DaCosta’s 2021 sequel to the 1992 original horror film and its reflection on the racial commodification in black communities. Fuhrman breaks down the connections between this film and the original it was a sequel to. The main character of DaCosta’s film looks back on the history of the Candyman myth. He discovers the origins of this man and takes inspiration for his own art. His arc resembles the arc of the main character from the original film as he becomes obsessed with the Candyman until it consumes him and his art. His obsession drives him to further research the history of black injustice in Cabrini Green, the long since torn down projects that the original film took place in, and creates a series of increasingly disturbing paintings. His paintings are then derided by a white critic as “didactic, knee-jerk clichés about the ambient violence of the gentrification cycle.” Fuhrman connects the film's change in attitude to the fact that the filmmakers behind this project are now black. The original director, Bernard Rose, was white and so was the author of the story the film was based on, Clive Barker.

Fuhrman, Jason. “‘Candyman’ Reflects Deeply on Racial Commodification.” Tone Madison, Tone Madison, 1 Sept. 2021, https://tonemadison.com/articles/candyman-deeply-reflects-on-racial-commodification-and-the-endless-cycle-of-institutional-violence-against-black-people/.