Reel Injun

The film Reel Injuns is a Hollywood film that explores the stereotypes associated with the Native American culture. 


The portrayal of Indians has always had a very stereotypical representation.  Even the modern representation has been skewed.  When people think of Indians one may picture a chanting Indian or man looking off a cliff into the wind as a symbol of a free spirit.  Emphasized in the video, the Hollywood representation over-dramaticized the view upon Indians as well.  However, movies have done this over time in order to appeal to audiences and bring in more revenue.  The more extravagant we can portray the Native Americans the more people will be interested and begin to believe a false representation of the true Indian culture.  I find this to be typical in today's modern world. More often than not a person would choose a more action packed movie or comedy over a documentary. It is just how society has made us think these days, we do what is accepted and what we have been taught to do.




Upon the opening of the film, it immediately shows the stereotypical man driving a muscle car that is “typical” of an Indian. To some degree I find super offensive, but explains the degree to which stereotypes have been used to remember history.

The famous Indian, Crazy Horse is a historical figure that greatly influenced the American Indian culture.  Ironically enough during the video it is stated that there is not an actual portrait of Crazy Horse himself.  This was due to Crazy Horse's belief that the more important issue was to remember what he stood for and what he was doing for his culture, not what he looked like.  The statue erected in South Dakota is a mere representation of what the man thought of when they thought about an Indian. Which leads me to disappointment, people who are visiting this monument get the mainstream representation of Crazy Horse which is less important than what he stood for.


This part of the film about Crazy Horse was the most interesting part to me.  This was because about 7 years ago I visited this monument in South Dakota.  Unaware of the historical importance that this statue portrayed at the time, I was amazed to see the lengths we have gone through just to remember him. Being so naive at the time I could not wrap my mind around how big this actual monument was and how exactly they were constructing it. The statue seemed to have little importance to me at the time and almost forgotten until I was reminded of it during the film. History and American Indians never have caught my interest and it was just something I put in the back of my mind, but as I continued to watch further I began to think that maybe it could be interesting.

The film overall just made me mad and made me realize the how often the American culture has skewed the historical accuracy in order to appeal to society.  And consequently how often people actually believe what they see in movies.