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  • - You're Sacagawea?

  • - You have most unusual names here.

  • - Pew, pew! - [Brandy] Oh, my goodness.

  • - Hi, my name is Mary Ann Buggs,

  • I am Native American.

  • I'm a registered member of the Cahto tribe from Oklahoma

  • and I'm also Cheyenne and Arapaho.

  • - My name is Silas Cleveland. I'm from Lander, Wyoming.

  • I myself am Eastern Shoshone.

  • I am Kalder Ness from Kennebec, South Dakota.

  • - I'm Bart Ness, his dad.

  • - And I was raised on the Lower Brule Sioux tribe

  • Indian reservation, you were also raised.

  • - I'm Brandy Lewis.

  • I am an enrolled member of the Choctaw nation of Oklahoma.

  • - And today we're going to be reviewing

  • some native American characters in film and TV.

  • - Native American and indigenous representation

  • in film is quite often inaccurate.

  • And the reason for that is that oftentimes

  • the stories are being told by non-natives.

  • - I grew up watching westerns with my dad on TV.

  • I'd say, sometimes I'd say,

  • why are we watching this movie again with these people

  • who aren't really Indian,

  • we called ourselves Indian those days.

  • And he'd say, well, maybe someday we'll actually win.

  • Because we were always the ones that got killed off

  • or, you know, worse things.

  • - Our houses are fine.

  • - You think that only because you don't know any better.

  • - No, I don't think very many natives like hearing

  • these kinds of things.

  • - There's so much we can teach you.

  • We've improved the lives of savages all over the world.

  • - No, savages. - Savages?

  • - Not that you're a savage.

  • - Just my people.

  • - No, listen.

  • That's not what I meant, let me explain.

  • - Let go.

  • - No, I'm not letting you leave.

  • - That dress kills me.

  • It's such a Disneyland sort of take on

  • the historical figure of Pocahontas.

  • Savage is just a word, you know,

  • a term for people who are uncivilized.

  • - Ooh! - Like me.

  • - Well, when I say uncivilized-

  • - Native Americans, I'd say, are some of

  • the most civilized people, have been for centuries.

  • - What you mean is not like you.

  • - For many years, I resisted watching the movie Pocahontas

  • just because I knew it was going to be a bad representation.

  • - I really kind of stay away from these types.

  • I never really had our kids watch them

  • because they're not even close to the truth.

  • - I was going to say, I don't remember watching Pocahontas.

  • - Yeah.

  • - She's super hypersexualized.

  • But I liked when she reacted to him calling her a savage

  • because I think that's what a lot of people think

  • still to this day.

  • - Pocahontas, in reality, historically was a young girl.

  • She was taken and forced to marry John Smith

  • against her will, and it wasn't a beautiful love story.

  • - She had a lot of trauma in her life

  • that when I read the story a long, long time ago,

  • I really related to, because I think a lot of our people

  • are still to this day suffering from the trauma

  • they experienced, whether it's this generation

  • or past generations.

  • - Are you,

  • you're Sec - Sakagawea?

  • You're Sakagawea?

  • Ooh, Sacagawea!

  • You're Sacagawea?

  • - Even in North Dakota

  • they pronounce it three different ways.

  • - There's one of your stereotypes,

  • having a native American track someone.

  • - You're amazing.

  • - I think she was actually a great tracker, too.

  • - She was, yeah.

  • - It's really a big deal,

  • when you see Native Americans in film,

  • and Sacagawea being part of my ancestry, in my tribe,

  • That's a pretty big ordeal to me.

  • - I was struck by her outfit because that's the next thing

  • I look at is I try to figure out what tribe they are

  • by looking at their dress.

  • And it was very non Native American.

  • - It's just a stereotypical portrayal

  • of her with the braids.

  • - I bet a lot of people haven't heard of Sacagawea before,

  • and so, at least it was educational from that viewpoint,

  • I assume this is like a kids movie?

  • - Technically you're a council meeting crasher.

  • - A scene from Twilight.

  • - See, the council leaders, dad, Quil's Grandpa,

  • and Sue Clearwater.

  • - Clearwater, good name. - Took over for Harry

  • when he died.

  • - The Quileutes - Did he say Quileutes?

  • have been a small tribe from the beginning.

  • - I don't know if that's a tribe, but maybe it is,

  • there's 570 plus tribes in the United States,

  • so I don't know all of them.

  • - Shape shifters.

  • - This is a great example of oral tradition,

  • which is a very, very important part

  • of native American history,

  • of stories being passed down for generations.

  • - And now I see at the end,

  • they're near water and she's wearing,

  • the older lady is wearing shell earrings.

  • So that must be in the Pacific Northwest, I'm guessing.

  • Actually overall, I was really happy that there were

  • so many Native American actors making money.

  • - I think they did a good job, you know,

  • showing modern native Americans.

  • They dress like everybody else.

  • And not every native has a crazy name or anything.

  • They had the, Steph Clearwater,

  • I think it was on there, regular names,

  • there are many traditional last name still,

  • but not everybody's named like Pocahontas

  • or something like that.

  • - Are you a real Indian?

  • - Okay, "Indian in the Cupboard."

  • - Wolf clan, Iroquois.

  • - Iroquois, I've heard of them.

  • - As if he hadn't heard of that,

  • maybe he wouldn't really be Indian

  • because I tell people what my tribe is

  • and Cahto isn't a well known tribe and they say,

  • I've never heard of that, as if I made it up.

  • - Can you be the peacemaker?

  • - I'm a boy, my name's Omri. - The music.

  • - The great spirit can be a child?

  • - To me, I don't think the great spirit

  • would be a white child, especially.

  • - How do you know English?

  • - We know the English.

  • - The English.

  • - They suffer us to fight the French for them.

  • - I know that's true.

  • And I wonder how many people watching this film

  • actually caught that.

  • - That was not at all what I expected

  • it was going to be about, Indian in a cupboard.

  • - I think a lot of people don't realize the accuracy of his

  • comment that native Americans were employed

  • by the English to fight the French.

  • That's really important for people to know

  • the accurate part of history.

  • What I've experienced is children being told

  • what their parents think based on what they've seen

  • in old westerns.

  • And I think this would give them an alternate view,

  • much closer to the truth of my people.

  • - That is really cool that it's like some magical cupboard.

  • And the he can kind of learn about the tribe

  • or like the past.

  • - One day this ranch is going to be yours.

  • - But I don't want this ranch.

  • - What is going on?

  • Who is this woman?

  • Was she adopted, maybe?

  • - You are ungrateful and you don't deserve this.

  • - Well, you're an Indian giver.

  • - Oh, man. - How is promising someone

  • something, then taking it back named after us?

  • - This is shocking.

  • - I'm confused because why is she blonde?

  • Why does she not look one speck of Indian?

  • Yesterday I saw you try to milk a male buffalo.

  • - Whatever mom, it worked.

  • I put it in the fridge.

  • - I mean, it's actually kind of funny,

  • but definitely playing into every stereotype that exists.

  • - I would hope that the writers and the producers of this

  • particular show would talk to the two Native American

  • actors that they employed to do this.

  • - I feel like it's meant to be joking

  • about the stereotypes, actually.

  • I guess I would want non native people to know that

  • a lot of times the stereotypes that you see

  • are so overt, it's laughable.

  • - I think that the majority of the clips that I saw had

  • inaccuracies as far as portraying Native American people.

  • - I'd love to see Hollywood giving more opportunities

  • out there to different Native Americans.

  • - I really just think it's important to have

  • native people telling native stories.

  • - I think the more realistic and the more natives

  • that they bring on to these sort of movie,

  • there's so many interesting things with the Indian tribes.

  • I think a lot of people would really enjoy the watch.

  • If one of those movies made you want to learn more

  • about native American tribes,

  • you should research which ones are in your state.

  • - I hope that you, the audience don't get

  • all of your ideas about Native American people

  • from TV and movies, that you are encouraged

  • to explore native American accuracies.

  • There's a lot of books out, there are powwows

  • that happen in every major city.

  • - And if you want to learn more about actual native people?

  • Talk to them.

  • (gentle music)

- You're Sacagawea?

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