Stereotypes Of Native Americans In The Movie Smoke Signals

Current American society is constantly affected by events from the past, but sometimes what society thinks is in the past is not so far behind. It is heavily seen in articles, poems, movies, novels, and more that the way Native Americans were treated historically continually plays a part in current American society. Due to the racism and stereotypes carried throughout American society the Native American cultural circle is constantly under fire, and will never truly be repaired.
Everything has the ability to become broken, to form cracks and chips, but in the case of the Native American cultural circle, it was shattered. A whole people was decimated and still trying to recover from events that occurred years in the past. However, it is not

The movie Smoke Signals portrays the many stereotypes Native Americans face. Victor, a Native American makes a joke of how they must remain stoic, “you gotta look like you just came back from killing a buffalo” (Smoke Signals). This may be a joke, but many Americans still view Native Americans as outlanders prancing across the prairie living in teepees and skinning buffalo. Once aware that someone is Native American people tend to make snap judgements based on the stereotypes seen for that particular race. A woman of Native American descent often faces these misconceptions when people learn of her heritage, as if everything about her revolves around the fact that she is Native American. They believe “that’s where you got those high cheekbones...hair down to there?” (Burns 65). People no longer see a person as a person but a racial stereotype, “‘you know. Long black hair, braids, feathers, beads” (Pyrillis). Not only are stereotypes floating around society, but incredible bouts of racism. Even in the 21st century people verbally attack Native Americans.

Some things do not change, they simply remain static, such is the situation with many people who simply refuse to see Native Americans as equals. As difficult a fact as it is to accept, some people are simply racist and unwilling to open their minds to the idea that those who were considered inferior in history are as equal as a white person. No one is able to sway their opinion, not even family. In the case of Earl in True Diary he is so stubborn about his beliefs that he threatens to “disown her...and kick her out of my house” only because of her association with Junior (Alexie 109). Even though many people similar to this exist in society, not everyone is opposed to change. People are capable of little changes that have an incredibly large ripple effect. True Diary portrays many characters that are capable of these changes, but the one showcased is Roger. From first seeing Junior as, “‘Chief’ or ‘Tonto’ or ‘Squaw Boy’” Roger soon sees Junior as someone he can respect (Alexie 64). It isn’t a perfect change, he may be “of kind heart...and a little bit racist”, but he has made a change and opened his eyes to the changing world (Alexie 129). This conveys even more so that extreme changes will not happen overnight. Native Americans will not be accepted rapidly