Hollywood, Pretendians, and Cultural Appropriation: Ep 23 of Crash Course Native American History

“Cowboys and Indians.”

It’s a beloved trope of Westerns,

which go all the way back to the dawn of American cinema.

In the 1890s, Thomas Edison used his newfangled kinetoscope to film Buffalo Bill’s Wild

West Show,

a sort of traveling rodeo that reenacted battles between American settlers and Native Americans.

These depictions were far from accurate, but in a lot of ways,

they’re… still with us.

Why are these stereotypes so hard to shake?

Hi!

I'm Che Jim, and welcome to Crash Course Native American history.

In its day, Buffalo Bill spun tales about “savage warriors” who were out for

blood,

and “Noble” Tribal Leaders who belonged to a cartoonish, mythical past.

And these racist stereotypes made their way into the American Western movie.

Which was a problem for a lot of reasons.

Not least because for many Americans, the first and sometimes only

time they saw Indigenous people was onscreen.

And these flattened, phony caricatures discouraged them from seeing Native people, well, as people.

Didn’t I smash you already?

For decades, Native American movie roles tended to fall into a few main tropes:

drunken Indians, aggressive warriors, magical healers, sage elders, and Indian princesses.

Quick fact check?

Indian princesses aren’t even a thing.

Despite how many of them reach out to me on Instagram… Take the Oscar-nominated

film “Stagecoach.”

It’s a John Wayne Western from the 1930s,

and one of the main plot points is the constant threat of attack from

the “bloodthirsty Apache”.

Also, I just have to say

that the Spanish came up with the name “Apache.”

The tribe call themselves “Indé,” meaning “person” or “people.”

Anyway, there were a lot of these films.

Like a ton.

Hollywood has made more than 4,000 movies about Native people.

And while Native folks did get cast in a lot of these movies,

they were typically relegated to uncredited, background roles and paid a lot less.

Meanwhile, the higher-paying Native roles went to white people in redface.

That term is used to describe non-Native people impersonating Native Americans,

whether they use makeup to alter their complexion or not.

But it also refers to this longstanding casting bias in Hollywood.

And that bias went all the way down to costumes and props.

Without Native folks on set to advise on cultural practices,

you wind up with everyone in feathered headdresses and buckskin

which is traditional clothing … for the Plains Indians.

But isn’t for hundreds of other tribes.

So it effectively flattened the massive diversity of Native cultures into one smooshed-together tribe.

Not to mention that for many tribes, including Plains Indians,

feathers and warbonnets have deep spiritual significance and aren’t meant for everyday wear.

Or, um, Coachella.

So yeah, the history of Native Americans in film was characterized by this terrible

catch-22,

where either Native actors got cast in demeaning roles that stereotyped their identity,

or non-Native actors got their jobs.

Which brings us to a man who, at the height of his fame,

was dubbed “America’s Favorite Indian.”

Iron Eyes Cody.

His OG name was Espera “Oscar” de Corti,

and he was born in 1904 in Louisiana.

He wasn’t native at all.

His parents were both Italian immigrants.

And 20th-century America wasn’t a friendly place for them.

Folks from places like Ireland

and Italy faced a lot of racial prejudice

because they weren’t considered “white” at the time.

Which isn’t to say that’s why Oscar decided to pose

as Native American,

but it’s context worth mentioning.

In the 1920s, Oscar

and his two brothers moved to Hollywood to pursue film careers,

and they anglicized their last name to Cody a common practice at the time.

At some point, Oscar started claiming

that his father was Cherokee

and his mother was Cree,

and that he grew up on a reservation in Oklahoma.

Over the years, he slowly rose to fame,

appearing in over 100 Westerns and popular TV shows.

Intentionally or not, he became Hollywood’s — and America’s — symbol of Native identity.

But Iron Eyes Cody was actually a “pretendian”

someone who falsely claims Native American identity.

And there’s a long history of pretendians in the US

not just in Hollywood, but also in academia and politics.

Take Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

For years, she publicly referenced her Cherokee heritage.

After much criticism, she released the results of a DNA test

that proved she did have a Native American ancestor – about 10 generations ago.

But as the Cherokee Nation pointed out in a statement,

a drop of blood is not what makes someone Native.

"Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation

or any tribal nation,

even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong," said Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin,

Jr. at the time.

By the way, there’s much more on tribal identity in episode 4.

In any case, pretendians can cause real harm.

They often take up resources

that could otherwise be accessed by actual Native Americans…

while profiting off of historical

and ongoing trauma… while also misrepresenting us.

For example, non-Indigenous folks can get preferential treatment for scholarships

and jobs by simply checking a box on an application— even sometimes going

so far as to become well-respected “Indigenous” scholars who position themselves

as authorities on Native issues,

when in reality they have no claim to Indigenous heritage or culture.

But the whole concept of pretendians is also complicated.

There’s a danger to policing Native identity,

which might discourage people who are genuinely trying to reconnect to their Indigenous heritage

after years of being violently disconnected from it.

And it’s up to each individual tribe to decide who belongs to them;

and no broader governing body can do that job.

No social media mob, either.

Because this type of belonging isn’t just a role call,

it’s a relationship.

Like Colville journalist Dina Gilio-Whitaker said in an interview,

“It’s not just about … your right to claim

or to reconnect to

that tribal identity,

it’s about what your responsibilities are to it.”

Ultimately, pretendianism is a form of cultural appropriation

when members of a dominant culture adopt symbols, art,

and ideas from historically disenfranchised cultures in a way that exploits, disrespects,

or stereotypes them.

And it happens everywhere, all the time.

Think: those warbonnets at Coachella.

The sports mascots.

And the regrettable Halloween costumes.

Compared to all-out identity theft, cultural appropriation can feel kinda subtle.

Dressing up as a Native American might not seem like a big deal,

since no one actually thinks a white person in a headdress is really claiming

this heritage.

But it’s still harmful, for a lot of reasons.

For one, it separates the object from its specific cultural meaning.

Like we talked about earlier, for many tribes, warbonnets are a symbol of honor.

So wearing one to a music festival disrespects that cultural tradition.

Also, just like the Hollywood Westerns

that collapsed hundreds of distinct cultures into one stereotype,

dressing up as a Native American makes a caricature out of real, living people.

In fact, believing that Native Americans are a relic of the past can make

non-Natives think those costumes aren’t offensive.

Hi again.

Yep!

Still here.

And not only are we still here,

but the legacies of colonialism are ongoing in our communities.

As Cherokee writer and scholar Adrienne Keene points out,

donning a headdress means “contributing to the culture of power

that continues the cycle today.”

Cultural appropriation can also apply to Native inspired items, such as dreamcatchers and jewelry.

I get it, our designs are dope.

But when non-Native folks profit off those designs?

It’s not a good look.

And in fact, in some cases, it’s illegal!

Since 1990, the Indian Arts & Crafts Act has made it illegal to market

Native products as such unless they’re actually made by a Native American artist.

Which is great for both the creators and the consumers,

because an inauthentic dreamcatcher isn’t gonna do you any good.

Trust me.

Those nightmares know a real one when they see one.

Pretendianism and cultural appropriation can be messy.

And Native folks don’t always agree on where exactly the lines fall.

Which makes sense because contrary to the ol’ “Cowboys and Indians” stereotype

we’re not all the same!

But thankfully, today, there are more Natives than ever in all kinds of creative

roles.

And in Hollywood, we’re not just increasingly represented on-screen;

we’re also in the director’s chair.

Just look at the FX hit show “Reservation Dogs.”

All of the writers, directors, and actors playing Native characters are Native folks.

The show paints a funny, quirky,

and authentic portrait of what life on a reservation is like.

And then you’ve got examples of creative collaboration,

like Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated movie “Killers of the Flower Moon,” starring Lily Gladstone,

of Crash Course Film Production fame.

She has Siksikaitsitapi and Nimiipuu heritage

and grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.

Um, actually?

Hey pssst… Che?

It's pronounced Siksikaitsitapi and Nimiipuu.

But hundreds of Natives were consulted for the movie and, according to Lily,

it made a big difference.

“Our voices exist in community,” she said in an interview.

“It’s a lot to put on one person to be the voice for such

a large body,

of a very diverse group of people.”

By the way, Lily also helped me out with our episode on Indigenous Women!

So, there’s been a lot of positive change since the heyday of the Hollywood

Western.

And there’s still a long way to go.

But when Native people get to tell our own rich and diverse stories?

When we get to collaborate with each other to share our worldviews, our people,

and our sense of humor?

That’s when the real movie magic happens.

Next time, we’ll talk about traditional Indigenous knowledge

and see how ecological practices from the past might just be the way forward.

And I will see you then!

Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Native American History

which was filmed at our studio in Indianapolis,

Indiana and was made with the help of all these nice people.

If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever,

you can join our community on Patreon.