Native American Culture In The Movie 'Smoke Signals'

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Professor Johnson N. American Religious Traditions 13 September 2007 Native American Culture Throughout the history of America, Native Americans and their involvement in the expansion of the western hemisphere have been represented in widely contrasting lights. Most of the time these natives have been misrepresented as instigating much of the war and fighting that occurred between the Native American culture and the foreigners attempting to settle in the land. Lately this false image has been corrected through movies like Smoke Signals and accurate authors writing about Native American culture such as Sam Gill, Joel Martin, and Robert Berkhoffer. The movie Smoke Signals gives explicit examples of issues discussed in many of Sam Gill’s, Joel Martin’s, and Robert Berkhoffer’s literature concerning Native Americans such as the significance of storytelling in the Native American culture, stereotyping, and the Native American sense of self and identity. Gill explains that story telling plays a significant role in Native American culture by stressing ideas of moral standards and wise choices as well as romanticizing people and events to make their significance emotionally real, which is impossible for writing to attain. These points are shown in the…show more content…
Through time and effort, the continuous effect of accurately portraying Native Americans has greatly improved the image of America’s true ancestry. The cultures have slowly rejuvenated from the damage they were put through during colonization. Although not the dominant way to live, Native American society is now greatly embraced and encouraged in most circumstances in today’s society. With the media on its side, Native American society will continue to grow, and, maybe one day,

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