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Hollywood Indian Western Obituary
Introduction
Hollywood Indian Western was a genre that, in times of its flourishing, pleased the audience with images of brave Americans who conquered America. In 1939, a film Stagecoach with the notion of Indian leader Geronimo, was produced: while Geronimo is not portrayed explicitly, he is constantly present in the movies plot (Aleiss 112).
Discussion
In the 1950s, there were many films, and American Indians were primarily portrayed in two roles. They were either those who accepted the Western culture and helped White people or ruthless enemies who should be eliminated (Aleiss 116). Indians, however, were unwilling to assimilate and surrender unconditionally to Western culture. This one-sided limited view eventually became the reason for the Indian Westerns aging and dying. While living successfully for more than three decades, it started to fade out in the 1970s, as it seemed that all its tropes were already created and shown (Aleiss 137). Its death may be considered painful, as there were attempts to review the genre for another bunch of decades.
In the 1990s, it was a brief success, despite the genre was already a grandfather. Dances with Wolves was a 1990 successful film where Indians were portrayed mainly from a positive side, but it still was controversial (Aleiss 138). In 2010, Meeks Cutoff may be considered the last breath of the Indian West. It was based on a well-known historical plot of the 1840s about the guide Stephen Meek, and it was mostly unsuccessful. I think that the genre is empty now, and it is the reason for this failure and that no new movies are filmed now. This death, however, does not mean that there are no descendants: independent Indian films are possible, and some examples already exist (Aleiss 150).
Conclusion
Still, those films have nothing to do with the traditional Western Indian, where Indians have only two choices: to cooperate with Western people or die. In the future, probably, Indian people will probably write their own stories in new genres, which one may consider the Western Indians racially conscious children.
Work Cited
Aleiss, Angela. Making the White Mans Indian. Greenwood, 2005.
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