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Kailea Fink

Cooper P. 6

AP Lang and Comp

12 May 2018

Reflection Essay: Truth Behind The Change

Dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin. These are the descriptors most people imagine when they

think of the typical Native American. Genetically this is true, but over time and throughout our

changing society, Native American people are as modern as any other person on this Earth. The

way Native Americans see themselves has been shaped by this dominant eurocentric culture.

European ways of life and standards have also negatively affected how portrayal in media results

in the way Native Americans are viewed falsely in reality. On the other hand, their culture is not

affected by conformity to European standards. They keep up with modern trends but that isn’t

how the media portrays them, and even though they are reflecting more European standards,

Native Americans preserve their own traditions.

European beauty standards have affected Native Americans, but not necessarily in a

negative way. Originally, this was my question for my IBL project, and after doing research my

group and I discovered that plastic surgery rates in the Native American population has gone up

to about 105.5%. In our presentation we had stated that the pressure to be blonde and skinny was

negatively pressuring Native Americans to conform to this image and it was leading to the loss

of the cultural look. Our view on this topic was changed when we visited New Mexico and

talked to one of the Native American women that was teaching us about pottery. We asked her

what her opinion was on the matter. Dominique didn’t think that Native Americans getting
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plastic surgery and dying their hair was a bad thing. She herself dyes her hair, wears colored

contacts, and is about to surgically change her nose. She believed that anyone of any background

should be able to adjust themselves the way they want to in order to make them feel good and

comfortable with themselves. For Dominique, it wasn’t about preserving the typical Native

American look because she didn’t think that they should be stereotypical. In her eyes, Native

Americans today are modern but traditional. They can do whatever anybody else is doing but

they continue to make traditional pottery and preserve their culture that way, rather than with

their looks.

Because of the way Native Americans are seen through stereotypes, popular culture

movies often use them to portray Indian characters. This integration of stereotypes into famous

movies negatively affects the way Native Americans are seen by other cultures in society today.

For example, the Pocahontas Paradox picks apart Disney’s portrayal of the “Indian Princess” and

exposes all of the inaccurate facts and the underlying racism. This can be seen in the song

“Savages, Savages”, when phrases like “barely even human”, “disgusting race”, and “filthy little

heathens,” (Pewewardy) are used by the Jamestown settlers to describe the Natives. These

descriptors are meant to allude to a primitive and inferior being, and because this song is

included in a mainstream children’s movie, kids think this information is accurate. The ideas in

the movie are then taken out of context and put into real life situations.

However, in ​The Mission​ film, the Guarani Indians are seen as inferior to the control of

Spain and Portugal. Seen as helpless and uneducated, the Guarani are trying to save their land

and freedom. In the movie, Jesuits that are trying to convert the Guarani to Christianity, gain

their trust and help them fight against the oppressive Portuguese. These depictions of the Guarani
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Indians are allowed and seen as okay because supposedly the movie is “based on true historical

events”, which isn’t entirely correct. In Adrian Mather’s film review, he states that “The events

surrounding the San Carlos mission and the struggle of Gabriel and Rodrigo are factual

occurrences,” but the details aren’t completely accurate. When violence broke out, “none [of the

Jesuits] stayed to fight with their converts,” (Mather) and the Guarani fought oppression

independently. The extent of Spain’s assistance for defence was training the Natives to protect

themselves against Portuguese expeditions and often the Guarani were sent to defend Spain’s

interests (Herzog). Jesuits were shown helping in the film in order to make the Indians look

desperate for assistance and leadership when in reality, when the conflict got ugly, the Guarani

were left alone. This historical inaccuracy contributes to how Native Americans are seen today;

along with primitive and inferior, they are seen as helpless people.

Throughout the pressure to conform and careless depictions, Native American culture

thrives and traditions are kept. Pottery is one of the main practices that is largely known for

being a tradition. This is something that Dominique was taught and she continues to make even

though she’s modern. While in New Mexico, Dominique and her mother taught the AGS Juniors

how to craft art out of clay they dug from the ground. She told us that after the clay is taken from

the Earth, the potters throw cornmeal over the ground because their tribe believes it’s only okay

to take from Mother Earth if they give something back. That custom has been passed down

through generations in her family to keep balance with the environment. Dominique and her

mother now sell their pottery to people from all over the country and this cycle shows how the

present day effects the distribution of the pottery, but not it’s history or handmade process.
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Another first hand experience that provided evidence of preservation of culture

was visiting the school on the To’hajiilee reservation. Within the first ten minutes of being at the

school, we were exposed to different customs that they continue to teach to the kids.We were

greeted by younger kids that performed a traditional spring dance for us. The children are taught

to speak their native Navajo language as well as Englishー modern yet traditional. The students

are being taught English in order to be able to effectively communicate with non-native speakers,

but to keep their roots intact they also learn Navajo. The winner of the Miss To’hajiilee

competition introduced herself with a formal Navajo introduction. Miss To’hajiilee told us that to

win her title, she wore her traditional dress and sang a traditional song and gave a speech about

the hardships she has lived through. In contrast, any competition for a title in our community

would include a talent portion, the swimsuit portion, and basically the contestant just walking

around the stage getting judged for her looks. The To’hajiilee community doesn’t feel the need to

exploit the people, they take a more sentimental and historical turn on the competition. The

chaos of the modern world doesn’t eliminate historical traditions on the To’hajiilee reservation.

Native Americans today don’t just preserve their culture, they teach about it and provide

insight to those willing to learn. This cultural diffusion happens in the obvious ways through

educational platforms, museums, and historical tours (like the one we took through the Acoma

Pueblo), but it can also occur subtly through the media. Instead of popular culture media

negatively affecting Native Americans, it can be used to better display their lifestyle. For

example, the movie ​Smoke Signals​ has a cast of mainly Native Americans portraying a family on

a reservation in Arizona. There are obvious stereotypes, but the way the film is written, each

inaccuracy is debunked. Being alcoholic is a widely known generalization of Native Americans

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and in the film, Victor’s father deals with that issue. A nonfiction essay on stereotypes in this

film points out that his father is the only character in the film battling alcoholism, therefore it is

addressed as a problem and not the typical behavior of every person on the reservation. A

physical stereotype of Native Americans is that they’re seen as stoic warriors that kill animals.

Victor himself tells his cousin that he needs to look more like an Indian, like he just killed a

buffalo. Thomas, his cousin then throws out a contradiction that their tribe “were fisherman,”

(​Smoke Signals​) and it debunks another common misconception. Small details like this are

sprinkled throughout the movie to show that the Native Americans can get in front of the

stereotype and share it with less informed people.

After years of colonization, assimilation, conversion, and oppression, negative effects of

European control can be seen from the Native American people as a whole. Appearances are

changing because new advancements make it possible, and European beauty standards make it

popular. A new nose doesn’t necessarily attribute physical desires as a defeat by white people. In

contrast, white people do contribute to casual racism and negative stereotypes against Native

Americans through visual media. This media can also be used to inform an audience about the

truth behind Native American culture and how it hasn’t been completely dismissed over time.
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Works Cited

Anna. “Smoke Signals: Refuting and Demystifying Stereotypes.” ​DeviantArt​, 26 June 2015,

gathering-aldrea.deviantart.com/art/Smoke-Signals-and-Stereotypes-Non-fiction-Essay-5

42261524. Accessed 13 May 2018.

Herzog, Tamar. “Guaranis and Jesuits.” ​ReVista Harvard Review of Latin America​, 2015,

revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/guaranis-and-jesuits. Accessed 13 May 2018.

Mather, Adrian. “The Mission.” ​School of Management | University of St Andrews​,

www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~histweb/scothist/brown_k/film/closed/reviews/mission.html.

Accessed 13 May 2018.

The Mission. ​Dir.Roland Joffe. Performances by Jermey. Irons, Robert De Niro. WarnerBrothers.

1986.

Pewewardy, Cornel. “The Pocahontas Paradox: A Cautionary Tale For Educators.” Journal of

Navajo Education, University of Kansas, School of Education, Fall/Winter 1996/97,

http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/pewe/writing/Pocahontas.html. Accessed 21 April

2018.

Smoke Signals​. Directed by Chris Eyre. Performances by Adam Beach, Evan Adams.

ShadowCatcher Entertainment. 1998.

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