Native American Representation in the Media

Presenter: Angelica Campos

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor: Jeffrey Reeder

Department: Native American Studies

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1SuDDzXMiDnE3jOX0ynEIXG4kCWbCijfB

Abstract:
My project is about the stereotypes of Native Americans in the media. Through films and more, Native Americans are either portrayed as bloodthirsty savages or romanticized as having medicinal powers. With the movie Pocahontas, many kids are exposed early on to his false idea of American Indians using a sad story and making it a jolly children’s movie. Many Hollywood films have roles for Indians where they die for a racist audience that assume the demise of Native American culture is something that Europeans are not responsible for. The inaccurate and negative media depictions of Native Americans can have psychological consequences and influence how Native people see themselves.