What Hollywood Gets Wrong About Native America 

In college I took my Saudi friend to a showing of smoke signals and she was blown away. She thought we were extinct. I shocked her even more with the revelation that I'm Blackfeet...it was a good day to be indigenous.

The fact there's a movie justifying trail of tears is... gross.

I, a WHITE girl, grew up on/near the reservation. My dad had been adopted by his white uncle, who was married to a native woman, so we were raised with native cousins. When I went to a fancy college in Minnesota full of mostly privileged kids from Minneapolis it was fascinating to watch Smoke Signals for class and I was the only one who was laughing at some of the jokes. I'd never felt so out of place watching a movie that made me feel so at home. Our part of the world rarely sees the big screen.

I saw Smoke Signals sitting all alone on a shelf, I rented it: laughed and cried and ultimately paid the non return fine to keep it. I still have it on my shelf, inside the plastic protective sleeve. As an American of African heritage, I see, understand and empathize with many of the struggles of First Nations people. But I also thank God for our people's resilience, hope and optimism. No one can oppress you forever if you don't bend your back! Keep telling our stories PBS. Don't ever give in, your unflinching dedication to the truth is the thin line between freedom and Authoritarianism.

I think Tai missed the biggest future blockbuster: Tai-tanic

As a white dude who enjoys history, I loved hearing the director of "Prey" (Dan Trachtenberg) talk about how the costume department decided to forgo complete historical accuracy in favor of letting the cast each bring in elements of their own peoples traditions. It is a cool touch and good to hear the the "popcorn flick" could take so much care.

denying native people roles because they cut their hair is gross. especially once you learn in some cultures cutting hair is a grief thing.

While Killers of the Flower Moon is by no means perfect, I love that fact that in every scene with Lily Gladstone they were able to hold their own and even outshine DiCaprio and De Niro two of the most well known (and highly paid) actors in Hollywood.

I watched a horror film called Slash/Back about a group of Inuit teens fighting an alien invasion. It's directed by Nyla Innuksuk and is super campy and fun, I recommend checking it out!

How many times have you seen Smoke Signals? When Arnold asks Victor who his favorite Indian is and he says "Nobody", Gary Farmer, three years before Smoke Signals came out, played an Indian named Nobody in the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man. Can you beat that?

I mean when the word Tonto in Spanish translates to a word for dumb so it’s double offensive

the gags about Yellowstone in Rutherford Falls were *chef's kiss*

A movie with all native actors or mostly native actors about the Mississippian civilization or another of the great mound builder civilizations might be good.

Since you’re pitching films with authentic Native rep how about a film about something my grandma always wanted to do but couldnt: A Yaqui’s Search for the Loch Ness Monster. She was a cool Indian lady in life & apparently had like a fascination with the Loch Ness Monster. She never left California but I feel like if she had the chance, she’dve tried. And imagine how dope itd be if it was real, was found, and it was by an old Indian lady?

"Avatar, Space Pocahontas" 😄

Diné, here! Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to put these videos together. I recently was involved in a racist Instagram attack, after I spoke up about the depictions of my tribe's cultural beliefs, with the most notable being the proliferation of the "skinwalker" mythos. Similarly to Sasq'ets (Sasquatch), native ancestral beliefs are being bastardized for the entertainment of non-native people, which spreads misinformation, creates further cultural erasure, and whitewashes history against our favor or wishes. What used to be sacred, or a spiritual teaching tool, has been commodified into Pokémon. Needless to say, it was a nasty attack, as a lot of non-natives have taken personal ownership of our identities. Or, as one person put it, "[Natives] lost, we can bastardize what we want." I'd appreciate it, if your team considered making a video about this topic, as your platform allows a wider range of viewers. Much obliged, and thank you again for this series. Ahéhee'!

I rented Smoke Signals having no idea what it was about. The "how do we forgive our fathers" bit totally broke me. A truly amazing movie.

Im an old white woman who was raised in an abusive household by an alcoholic father. I watched Smoke Signals, more thanbonce. I laughed. I cried. I got it. Marginalized people are everywhere.

John Trudell (the radio guy) said: 500 years ago, we hadn't heard the word "Indian", and now we're trying desperately to live up to it. Inuit, Anishnaabe, they mean "people".

As always, great information. I am a white dude who grew up in a very white, very small town called Pocahontas (yeah really) whose mascot was, of course, an Indian. I grew up on my parents westerns, and while I don't think I ever had a truly NEGATIVE view towards Native Americans, I really didn't get the true situation, at least not until I got to college and met a Native American from Cherokee, NC. He didn't really rant about it, he was not a hugely political person, even though I was, but it was through many of the small things he said and did that made me step back and realize how messed up everything really was. Part of a general awakening to reality that I underwent in those years. Insane how messed up these movies are, as well as much of the other media. I'm so glad things seem to maybe (mostly) be getting better, even if slowly.

Smoke signals helped me forgive a small part of my families alcohol problems. We’re of settler descent but Thomas’ monologue at the end of the film helped me think about alcoholism differently within my own family setting. A very good film, nostalgic in the resilience and humor in the face of poverty and not having much. ❤

A Million Ways to Tai in the West

I LOVE Smoke Signals. Have watched it over and over and over, for the humor, the moving through pain, the struggle with alcoholism (as in my own family), and the beauty of healing. Also bought Skins, with Eric Schweig and Graham Greene. That was a hard watch, but also inspiring for the strength, resiliency, and humor.

Thank you all for making this. This was a great video. I’m African American and a HUGE history buff and I am not happy with the erasure or white washing of Indigenous and Native American stories and representation in American history and cinema.

Saw Dances With Wolves when it was released and thought it was good. It showed Native Indians in a more sympathetic light. Okay, you can rightly tear a strip off me for being a naïf White man that had never heard of the White Saviour narrative. I deserve it. But remember that having been fed nothing but Hollywood westerns while growing up in the 60s and 70s, there was bugger all else to go on. Any road, this old dog hopes he can learn new tricks and have a better understanding of the misrepresentation of the indigenous peoples of America. Thanks for the video.

Bro, I was in Bemidji Minnesota for two years and spent most of that time in group homes and treatment centers with tons of Ojibwe and Lakota kids. We used to quote Smoke Signals nonstop, every day. One of the group homes I lived in this girl named Deanne, would wake us up every single morning by shouting “HEYYY VICTOOORRR” to wake us up and start the day on a positive note. Thank God for this movie

"Tai, Robot" really got me lol, and so did the following ones

I'm not Native. Smoke Signals blew me away emotionally with the poem at the end, How Do We Forgive Our Fathers? Yes, an indigenous-produced/written/directed/starring film, dealing with the issues of rez life, but also touching on a universal theme. So rare in Hollywood, and done so well in Smoke Signals. I speak Navajo/ Dine Bizaad (doo hozhoon da). I have vocabularies in Keresan, Inupiaq, Han Tsisas, Hochungra, and Umaanhaan. With more than 600 ethnic groups, I can't even say I've gone so far as to scratch the surface. From an extremely limited experience, I can firmly say that not all Native cultures are alike, and not all Natives within that culture are alike. It's easy to gloss over nuance of history and culture, and by so doing, arrive at stereotype. It's much harder to address each person and ask, What is your ethnic identity, and what does it mean to you? Just a bit more about Smoke Signals: I wept at the end of the movie, then I hunted up that poem.

Jokes aside about "All Tai-et On The Western Front," there's actually a fantastic graphic novel by Chag Lowry (and illustrated by Rahsan Ekedal) about little-regarded indigenous veterans of WWI, called Soldiers Unknown. When it was published, there were some rumblings of it getting a movie adaptation, but I haven't heard anything since. But it's an underrated gem if you're interested in WWI and its effects on future generations and culture.

John Waynes Teeth.

I can only hope there will be a day when people stop saying things to us like "you don't look native / you're lying about being native" just because Hollywood put out this image of what we should look like instead of what we actually look like.

It might actually be interesting to see a Lone Ranger reboot that, in addition to not having Johnny Depp doing his most aggressively offensive redface schtick, recontextualized the titular ranger as less white savior and more actually being a tool that the local native folk use to interface with the settler culture and justice system. As an often norm-passing white male who has existed in queer/punk/POC spaces and social groups, I've had glimpses of that dynamic, e.g., being the designated cop-talker.

There was a movie about Indians fighting Vikings during the X century. I think is the only movie in which the Indians were the good guys and the whites the bad (except the protagonist). Also, is the only one when the Indians win.

I saw smoke signals last years for the first time it’s great.

There's two ways of seeing "who's your favorite Indian?" Response from young Victor "Nobody". There's the obvious which is a literal nobody then there's Nobody from Deadman which ironically is played by Gary Farmer. I watched smoke signals too much. Lol. I was disappointed with the New World.

There was that bar scene in Fallout that pokes fun of the accuracy of indigenous characters portrayed in early Hollywood that I thought was pretty funny

The movie, "Windtalkers" was such a disappointment. Nicholas Cage had a bigger role than the actual Navajo codetalkers being depicted with the important role, during World War II, of interpreting the allies's code based on their language. Most of the film was about Cage's character's moral quandary of protecting the code at all costs, even if it meant killing codetalkers that got captured.

Engagement for the engagement god!

Smoke Signals is my husband and I’s FAVORITE movie. We once saw an IMDb review that said “this has ruined all other movies for me. I’ll be watching something else and just be thinking, I could be watching Smoke Signals instead”.

Exactly!! Real representation is letting people tell their own stories, not forcing diversity in already existing IPs. Great video, Thanx!!!

Rutherford Falls was soooo good and I was devastated when it was cancelled.

Indians are people too with everything good and bad that comes with it. Like we all are.

SG̲aawaay Ḵ'uuna (Edge of the Knife, 2018) is a movie all in Haida. Stepping away from movies, it's been really cool seeing indigenous groups all over the world making video games in their native languages. Kisima Ingitchuna (Never Alone), Skábma - Snowfall, Tchia, Rievssat... I hope it continues!

Smoke Signals was great, but don't forget Dance Me Outside with much of the same cast. It was really good too.

I know so little about actual indigenous cultures of US, and how they have been appropriated for centuries. Thank you for this video!

I actually saw Smoke Signals in the theater - and even went back to see it again with friends. One of my favorite movies.

Oh this is gonna be about Smoke Signals? Respectfully, I gotta close the video and go watch Smoke Signals. I've been meaning to do that for I don't know how long now.

Thank you for an informative piece. Calling out the role of faulty stereotypes and how they are perpetuated by filmmakers will hopefully open their eyes and minds at least a little bit so that they can accept perspectives of those who have the most knowledge and experience, Indigenous people themselves.

I remember Smoke Signals as a movie we watched in Social Studies class in high school, and I thought it was an interesting look into a world I hadn't seen before, but also a good movie.

Hellywood didn't create those movies to get it right!

Well, as an old white nerd, at least I have ONE bit of this video I can feel deeply: good dad jokes at the end! [Rest, still working on.]

this person needs funding, yesterday, and millions of it.

Smoke singles is a realistic approach to a native American writer and actor. Need more of them in Hollywood for sure. ❤ it keep doing what you are doing ! You are making a difference.. Especially with me .

I, white German Autistic, watched Smoke Signals for the first time two days ago and I was pleasantly suprised to see such an awesome autistic coded character.💜

YES! So happy to see this ❤

I'm a screenwriter and I've been working on a Western pilot for a long time, and it's taking so long because I'm consistently unsatisfied with how I'm writing my native characters. On the one hand, obviously, I don't have the lived experience to write about it effectively. But on the other hand, I also want to write it so that if it gets sold i can hire native writers who can join the writing team and help to better craft the stories to be authentic.

I love Smoke Signals! I'm old enough to remember when it came out on video and I used to rent it all the time.

Smoke Signals and Dance Me Outside were my favourites back in the day.

Pfft Avatar wasn't space Pocahontas, it was space Ferngully... Which was Australian Pocahontas tyvm

I appreciate this video doing a breakdown of some of the broader trends-- "mindless savage" and "magical indigenous" definitely coexist as stereotypes, but they had different times in the limelight based on the political motivations of people using this rhetoric. I think it's even more interesting how they were applied to different groups at the same time depending on whether they were allies with white people at the time (often against other indigenous groups, for endlessly complicated reasons).

This is my favorite series on the channel. More of this.

Thank you. I subscribed. I will be 65 on Memorial Day. I grew up being told I was part Cherokee and my mother's bastard by my dad's best buddy. Nope. I am Dad's kid and he himself contributed along with mom all my excellent Indigenous looks and features. My parents only thought they were white folks. They sure looked it, but were misinformed. Good thing I am not the Cherokee man's kid, Turns out he is related to my mom. His grandma is one of my mom's aunts. I type out on DNA tests at for sure 4 percent and possibly up to 8 percent Indigenous. Which means I probably have a lot of Indigenous grandma's and grandpa's. Most of them I cannot verify or trace. Most of my Indigenous ancestry is from the Powhatan tribal groups including Patawomeck. I was shocked when I read the results of my research. I thought no way. Yes, way., Met a distant relative and they got records in the family archives. I am from Oklahoma. There a common thing to call an Indigenous person who acts white is an apple. What do you call a white person with an Indigenous heritage that finds out and embraces that part of themselves and is Indigenous at their core? I got immersed in Indigenous culture when I got married to an Indigenous young man I was introduced to as a teenager. My mom thought he was such a nice boy. Then when we got married, he became not nice. I am proud of my heritage and try to absorb more native culture. My ex husband's cousin is the author of The Way to Rainy Mountain. The woman who was his inspiration for "Gray" is my mother-in-law. She did not age well. Crazy family, But I love them all. Even her. Being Indigenous and knowing I was at least part and growing up and being raised in white society it is hard to be true to my roots. My best friend as an adult for years was a Sioux woman who lived on the Rez. She had some tales to tell, I can tell you. Irene Janis, Have a good one and keep it up.

As an indian, the whole stories of Native Turtle Islanders are really heart wrenching. It really could have been us as Sanatanis (Uzbekistani colonizers named us Hindus lol, Navajo moment) but we somehow survived. I hope one day Turtle Islanders can reclaim their lands. You guys should always keep your animist religion, culture and traditions alive. Check out this movie: Swatantra Veer Savarkar, Kerala Story (shows how colonization still continues), Kashmir Files Check out books: J Sai Deepak (2 books; India that is Bharat & India Bharat and Pakistan), and Vikram Sampath (Bravehearts of Bharat, Waiting for Shiva). I really pray for the Turtle Islanders every day to Suryadev. Amrikani still try culturally appropriating us lol.

Excellent!! How about Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner?

I was excited to show my mom Smoke Signals because I thought it would be a way to connect about our heritage, but after the film she said it was too sad and didn't want to see things like that. this has been a consistent theme. I think she wants to hang on to her patriotism for the United States and doesn't want to see or read things that might challenge that. 🙃

When I was in high school my teacher told me about the film smoke signals and every played it for the class . But I think what was the most special for me was Marvel's Echo which it's the first time I can recall watching a show or movie that portrays my people the Choctaw tribe and also show elements of our culture.

I am so happy you used Thomas's victor for the introduction!!

I'd love to read more Native American superheroes written by natives. Both of the Big 2 have plenty I just don't know of any storylines written by native writers

I need to see this guy react to Ghosts. It's a TV show that airs on CBS and is a remake of a British series. The show is set in the Hudson River Valley and one of the characters, Sassapis is a member of the Lenape Nation.

Is there an indigenous peoples' equivalent of Afro-futurism... Sioux-Fi? Oh come on, you get to have Tai-Hard! lol Seriously is there any speculative fiction by Native American authors? No Tai-Fighters please! lol

This is the second video I've seen with this host in particular, and with all due respect PBS doesn't deserve you. All jokes aside, I enjoy the videos.

I was with you wholeheartedly until your movie pitches at the end. Sadly, the names just don't trip off the tongue, and I can't give you my millions and millions to make any of those movies. I love this series desperately. As a white guy from a long line of white people, I'm given the greatest possible gift: a perspective other than my own. Thank you to everyone involved. I don't really have milions. Sorry.

I love Smoke Signals! I squealed as soon as it was mentioned and my roommate looked at me like I was a crazy person. It's now one of my comfort films when I miss my dad who passed away, we loved watching it together and singing "John Wayne's Teeth" 🤣

I was always sus about "Yellowstone" due to the worst type of conservatives losing their shit over it. Seeing this indigenous actor shit on it backs up my suspicions. I hope to see more "true" indigenous representation in media and film. I live in former Ute territory. They were removed from here very late in one of the last forced removals of the 19th century. We have streets name after Ouray (a super interesting polymath Ute leader) but it feels very hollow. This is their land and was for tens of thousands of years. Its hard to enjoy it knowing I'm on stolen ground. I do my best to give thanks and remember the people who were sent down to the res in the four corners. Where life became pretty awful for them. I can't change history but I'm not going to forget it either.

I have to hear Jay Silver heels regular voice someday, however I did like Lone Ranger as a kid, but glad he stood up for better roles.

I went to college near a large reservation & even worked at the casino on the rez but still never felt like I knew anything about the tribe. I wish the university or tribe had offered more opportunities for education. I know that even if my children went to that same university they’d still lack those experiences :(

I used to own a screener vhs copy of Smoke Signals that I was given for free as a tween. It was one of my favorite movies. It was not until years later that I found out from my birth grandmother (I'm adopted) that I am Native and Spanish mixed.

Thank you for this. I hope things start to shift soon for the depiction of indigenous folks on TV and in movies. 🙏🏻

I love Smoke Signals. I am what most people call Chicano /Indigenous Mexican American. I grew up on US bases here and overseas, then in Mexican neighborhoods in West Texas. I've only seen one Rez and funny enough I learned decades later my x3 great grandma was once registered there back in 1880s. My dad lived next to Rez in Oklahoma when his step dad was stationed there. His brothers and him hung out at the Rez. My dad told me only difference between Rez Indians and Mexicans is Rez indians don't speak Spanish. Smoke Signals always felt true and you can feel the love that went into the movie. Hollywood does Mexicans dirty all the time too. Even PBS talks more bout human sacrifice that Spanish made up while ignoring genius of Mexica/Aztecs, Olmec Mayans, ect. Then they have Spanish play our mythical heroes like Zorro.

And Dances with Wolves was kind of a big deal in Canada because Graham Green got an Oscar nod for his role.

Good video, I've seen Dance me outside 1994, about native first nations people on a rez in Canada it's a good little movie, it would be interesting to see you do a review about it and see what you make of it. Ps the move is on RU-vid.

Smoke Signals is one of my favourite movies!

Great video offering a perspective that is sorely lacking in the media. I wish there was more of this and less of Yellowstone clones and knockoffs we're going to be subjected to in the coming years. It's sad that reality has to fight such an uphill battle.

I’m Pawnee and I think being the bad guys in dances with wolves was pretty cool, Wes Studi is pretty cool in it, my dad was in county with his son, or so he claims

LONG COMMENT WARNING: It'll take a while to read this. There's a definite tricky nature when it comes to indigenous representation. The aforementioned Yellowstone series with Kelsey Asbille as Monica is one of the few portrayals on this list that I think tends to draw the most attention due to the immense popularity of the show. A lot of people are giving it flack for her, but I don't think it's warranted for the following reasons: A. There are no offensive stereotypes and one episode clearly points out racism against Native Americans as a key issue. B. Kelsey, whether or not she is part Cherokee, portrays the culture accurately and decently in a positive light. C. She serves as one of the many protagonists as the wife of Kayce Dutton, making her John Dutton's daughter-in-law. D. She's beautiful and talented. E. The involved career of Kevin Costner makes it significantly more authentic and respectable, as he is attentive to detail on Native American cultures, as per his experience with Dances With Wolves (one of my favorite movies!). I apply these factors when watching Yellowstone, but another reason I admire her character is because even though there is a controversial debate on Kelsey's cherokee status, is because of the historically accurate views and portrayals of her character's cultural background. My late maternal great-great grandfather, Elijah (nice name!) Banks, is either entirely or half Cherokee, as his mother was definitely a Cherokee Native American, but his father is unknown because at the same time she married one of the members of the tribe, a horde of outlaws (yes they were white) had infiltrated her camp and she was raped (poor thing. That's my great-great-great grandmother those monsters hurt!) by one of them. Depsite the debate, he has a clear Cherokee appearance in my family's well-preserved 1916 photo of him and my Great-great grandmother with my late great uncles who were toddlers at the time. I was fortunate to have been his 3rd youngest daughter's great-grandson for 22 of my 27 years so far, when my sweet, spunky granny died in 2019. I miss her dearly. I am fortunate to say that his second youngest daughter, my great-great Aunt, is still alive, healthy and very lucid at 94 years old and she is such a sweetheart. In 1918, when the Spanish flu pandemic hit, Eli's 2nd son passed away from it, and he made a vow to give up alcohol and become a man of God. Ever since then, he's gotten baptised and became the family preacher for his wife and 11 kids (he had 15 from 1913 to 1938, but 4 either were stillborn or died of an illness before adulthood). Aside from my aforementioned great-great Aunt being alive, he also has one son who is still alive at 90 years old, but unlike my Aunt who is in near-perfect health for her age, he has Parkinson's real bad and has entered hospice (not near death, but needs round-the-clock care to deal with his moments). The fact I can talk directly to my sweet great-great Aunt today about her father in rich detail shines a light into a clear view of the past as if it were still happening. Her knowledge of her family background never ceases to amaze me, as well as a copy of her family geneaology book that shows who's related to who. It is because of these traits that I applaud certain shows like Yellowstone and Dances with Wolves for portraying the struggles that Native American cultures had to endure and how kindness and hardwork established a great friendship between a white man (Costner) and the Lakota tribe (not cherokee, but still a friendly and culturally rich Native American tribe worth mentioning). I completely understand when there's certain circumstances that prevent an authentic Native American actor from portraying such a role, but when you choose someone so far outside the role for the sake of portraying them as foolish and in a negative light is far more racist and offensive than a simple stereotype like "how," which derives from the Lakota word "háu", which, as portrayed in the media, is a greeting from one to another. Just because something is stereotypical does not always make it offensive. Stereotypes *can* be even an accurate characteristic. The problem lies in how Hollywood portrays it for entertainment. I can take a politically incorrect joke just fine as long as it's in good taste and portrays us in a way that makes us not take ourselves so seriously while being filled with joy and laughter. It's when you deliberately mock the heritage for the sake of an attack towards the culture is where it gets disgusting.

Smoke signals hold a close place in my heart.

I was really waiting for him to call out twilight

Thanks so much for this video. Films about cultures done by people of those cultures is often eye opening and well done. Now I gotta see Smoke Signals. 😊

"2 Tai 2 Furious," take my money.

I learned many things today.

Thank you for reminding me of the excellent film “Smoke Signals.” May more just films grace our conscious.

I know Apocalypticto is historically inaccurate but it’s a great film with a Mayan cast and in a Mayan language

About Mr. Silverheels' statement that "Tonto is stupid", I can't help myself to point out that, as a native Spanish speaker, that in Spanish, "tonto" does mean stupid, or dumb. Don't know if that was deliberate when they wrote that character, but weird none the less..

This needs to be shared...

There is a painful history that we must reckon with we have the potential to be the most diverse country in the world, we should take it.

Actually when you listen to the natives that were in " Dances With Wolves" they have alot of respect for Costner. He made them learn their own dead language. Authentic dress and he was adamant about making the indigenous parts as culturally correct as possible. He even made them learn to ride horses and they actually rode with the bison like their ancestors. Watch the documentary on what it took to make that movie.

Thanks for sharing your story. I've got some movies to add to my watchlist!

It's been a long journey to the birth of the Native film industry. As I recall, Dances With Wolves was one of the first steps in this direction, finally something depicting Indians at least as people instead of props. I'm not defending the movie per se, but I think we can admit it was a step forward from where popular white culture was at the time. People who have no contact with any particular culture will always get impressions from movies and television. Thank goodness for the Native film industry and for portrayals of any people that reflect reality. Of course, it's not typically a film makers' goal to educate ignorant people, so uninformed, stereotypic or superficial portrayals are likely to continue here and there until more progress is made.

love this series

Jay Silverheels is Mohawk and Seneca if im not mistaken..he also played the role of Geronimo in movies. Jay is the first American Indian on screen thaf i looked up to..even if the role was like a superhero sidekick..and cleaned up for audiences by not having things like longer hair..face paint..feathers..and just a one toned apoearance