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Black Robe: Stereotypes Of Native Americans

700 Words3 Pages

Throughout the films I have watched in class this semester, American Indian history has been inaccurately conveyed and much of the time the history conveyed affects how Americans perceive American Indians in today's society. In the contrasting films I have viewed, the history of American Indians creates stereotypes of American Indians, relaying to Americans that these stereotypes are the true perceptions of American Indians living in America. American Indians have adapted throughout the centuries and do not live the same lifestyles they did in the 1600s as I have learned throughout watching different films. Part of this is due to Hollywood productions that have had a huge impact on the way Americans perceive American Indians. Due to the stereotypes …show more content…

The film takes place in Quebec, Canada, portraying an accurate location for this film that was set in the 1600s near the Great Lakes in Quebec (Kilpatrick, 1999). The film was produced by Canadians and Australians, which already lead me to believe that the history was going to be tampered with. Due to the fact that the producers were from Australia, the history of the film was going to be inaccurate because Australia is a much different country and continent then Canada. The geographical features and even the country's government contrasts Canadian land features and political system. Also, because they are not of the American Indian ethnicity, the producers have no real background in their lives of the way American Indians live and their culture and history. Although they producer may have studied and gotten involved with certain American Indian tribes, it does not contribute to centuries of culture in this ethnicity or how American Indians live day to day. Black Robe is about a Jesuit priest who wants to help the American Indians by saving their souls (Kilpatrick, 1999). Most of the movie is from his perspective and it gave me the perspective that the American Indians are emotionally soft humans, and that I should pity them. One example in the movie that portrays this idea is at the beginning of Black Robe when the American Indians believe the clock is alive (Beresford, 1991). As an American watching this, my thoughts lead me to believe that the American Indian is not very intelligent, but that is not the case. During this period of time, American Indians were amazing navigators and could speak multiple languages, contradicting the theory that they had low mental capacities portrayed through their actions in the film (Kilpatrick, 1999). Another stereotype portrayed in this film was the American Indians' shaved heads and over exaggerated makeup. Both of these stereotypes

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