The film Reel Injun displays the depiction of Native Americans in film over the past century, from fantasy figures, to being stereotyped, to real human beings.   It started in the 1920’s during the silent era, where Native Americans were portrayed as fantasy or spirits, not as real people; “a romanticized, brave, and stoic figure with a close connection to the land”(Diamond).  People would watch film of Native American dances on the streets of New York during this time and think of it as fictional.  Although Native Americans were depicted in a positive way, they were not seen as real life society members.  Next came the great depression years where Native Americans were portrayed as Savages.  This created a rise in western films featuring the all-saving “cowboy.”  John Ford was flagship cowboy that would kill all of the savage Indians and save the day.  “...And he wouldn't look. He wouldn't watch. And we'd come out of those theaters after the, uh, cavalry had rescued the white people, and all of a sudden we'd hear, "There's those Indians," and we'd start fighting. We had to fight them white kids. Every Saturday we knew we was gonna get in a fight”(Russell Means).  Many Native Americans watched these films and could see how stereotyped and how wrong these films were.  These films told the overall population, which had no prior knowledge about Native Americans, that Native Americans were evil.  This is why there were so many fights between white people and Indians, because of misunderstanding of each other’s culture.  Many western films would display all Indians wearing a headdress, living in tipis, and being very skilled at riding horses and shooting buffalo.  This caused people portray all Native Americans around the nation like the plain Indians. Native Americans became colonialized: the act of taking one group of people’s culture and assimilating that way of life to other groups.  This whipped out the culture and the history behind all other groups of Native Americans.  “We're too busy trying to protect the idea of a Native American or an Indian - but we're not Indians and we're not Native Americans. We're older than both concepts. We're the people. We're the human beings”(Trudell).  This quote is a perfect example of how the people native to America were colonialized and given the name “Indian” even though they are human too, just like the white settlers.  Native Americans were perceived as fictional, spirited people and then as savages.  It wasn’t until the 1960’s when the “Groovy Injun” came forward.

The Groovy Injun gave birth to hippie culture, of wearing headbands and being free spirited.

  Hippies took the image of the plain Indians, just like the savage era.  They colonialized Native American culture to a point where people thought all Indians were hippies.  “[In the 60s] People asked me, what are you, are you a hippie? And I said no, I’m an Indian, what’s a hippie?”(Sacheen LIttlefeather).  Hippies integrated into the fantasy/spirited view of Native Americans and became the mainstream culture.  1960’s were also time for peace, love and civil rights.  The large movement of African Americans fighting for equal rights caused Native Americans to fight back as well.  The hold up at Wounded Knee in 1973 was a stance for equal treatment among Native Americans.  However, it wasn’t until Sacheen Littlefeather’s speech of the mistreatment of Native Americans during the Academy Awards that gave hope and motivation to Indians across the country.  “We don’t believe we’re going to get out of [Wounded Knee] alive and the moral is down low and Marlon Brando and Sacheen Littlefeather totally uplifted our lives”(Russell Means). The speech and Marlon Brando’s refusal of the Academy award has never been done before and it set fire to the media.  The Hollywood Indian was finally changing to be a complete character, a real human being.  In the 1990’s, films like Dances with Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans gave Native Americans deeper roles and personalities.  These films became box office hits.  The new portrayal of the Indian allowed for Native Americans to write and direct their own films.  Films like Smoke Signals were directed by Native Americans and showed an accurate representation of past or current Indians.  After almost a century, Native Americans became round characters in film.  “We're creative natives. And we're... and we're like the Energizer Bunny. The mightiest nation in the world tried to exterminate us, anglicize us, Christianize us, Americanize us, but we just keep going and going. And I think that Energizer Bunny must be Indian. He's got that little water drum he plays. And I always say, "Next time you have a powwow, have the... the Energizer Bunny lead the grand entry, and after a few rounds then we can get together and EAT him", because we never waste anything”(Charlie Hill).  This quote shows that Native Americans were determined and would not stop fighting until they received accurate representation of their culture; they have come along way to be real like society members.