"Indian Pictures":
Film Portrayals of Native Americans in the Silent Era
representation
This film portrays Indians more in groups than as individuals (Fig. 13) and this contributes to the fact that many of the stereotypical elements of the Indian image are present – chiefs, feathers, hopping dances, Indian speak in the title cards. Far from being only negative, they poke fun at the already established cowboy-and-Indian films (Aleiss 1995, 35). The hostile Indian tribe is depicted half-naked because they “lost at strip poker” and there are also torture scenes. It is hart to tell whether this is a negative portrayal, like some academics believe (Hilger 1995, 35), or merely an ironic rendering of already established Western conventions.
The Paleface (1922)
The Paleface is a 1922 comedy directed by Buster Keaton, who also played the main character. The fact that it plays with and satirizes conventional images and story lines from Indian-themed films as well as Westerns shows how well-established both genres were in the early 1920s. A suprising aspect of the film is that it is set in 1922 and, thus, in the contemporary and not historic West, much like The Vanishing American. This is mirrored in the issue of Native American land losses in the wake of the exploitation of resources. Nevertheless, the depicted Indians do not seem to differ very much from their counterparts in the Westerns they seek to satirize.
summary
The framework of the film has the Great Western Oil Company stealing the lease of one of the Crow Feet Indians and taking unjust possession of the tribe's land, ordering them to leave. The Indians resolve to kill the first white that comes to their village, which turns out to be Buster Keaton's character. After making himself a fireproof suit and thus surviving being burnt at the stake, they make him chief and he fights against the whites and a hostile tribe with them. In the end, he even manages to get the lease back – by pure chance. He also sets eye on an Indian maiden and stays with her.
tone
Even though the Indians are the main slap-stick performers and easily tricked and made to believe in the white man's superiority, they are clearly wronged by the white oil sharks. Both the theme of exploitation of resources and the displacement are serious issues that are presented as a wrong-doing by whites of which the Indian's are victims.