My father-in-law and my late husband, both accomplished actors, wished for a time when Hollywood would make movies about real Native Americans. Now my daughter is living it.
I am 65 years old, male, of mixed European descent. When I was 6 my family visited Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota. There wasn't much to see in 1965, but the memory is very clear. When I was an adolescent I read The Light in the Forest and When The Legends Die. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dances With Wolves are two of my favorite films.
About 20 years ago I returned to the Crazy Horse monument with my wife and our son and daughter. There was a lot more to see this time. In June our daughter will marry a man whose father is Mexican and mother is Native American. Like Robert Moore commented earlier, I am ignorant when it comes to Native American culture, but I want and need to know more as we prepare to welcome our future son-in-law to our family. Thank you, Ms. Rommelmann, for sharing your story. I will add Reservation Dogs and Killers of the Flower Moon to my watch list. I will also keep my radar tuned to your future essays. I was truly moved by The Woman Who Stood Up to the Porn Industry And Won, and forwarded the feature to my state legislators with a request to introduce similar legislation in our state.
You are doing good, Ms. Rommelmann. Please keep doing what you're doing.
Going to see "Killers of the Flower Moon" this weekend; hope it's as good as the book but expect Hollywood has added the usual embellishments. The book was amazing and a real heartbreaking story about the Osage people of Oklahoma that few whites know anything about (I lived in North Texas for five years and traveled extensively in southeastern Oklahoma and never heard about the Osage). Keeping my fingers crossed.
As a child in the 60s, I was obsessed with Native Americans and read everything I could get my hands on. I still have a set of colorful books for children that describe the environments in which each tribe live(d), their food, costumes, etc. On a trip to the Wisconsin Dells, I asked the tribe there if I could live with them instead (they said to ask my parents who said no, of course). From my perspective, I do not recall Native Americans being shown in a 'cartoonish' way in films except in cases where they play villains, but that's how American films frequently portray villains. (French films seem to get at the complexity of the dark side of human nature much better than American films.)
If I remember correctly, this Native American actor from "Cuckoo's Nest" was also in "Harry and Tonto." The role he plays is vital to the story ("Harry and Tonto" is a masterpiece, btw.)
One thing that gets me about this narrative -- that Americans or Westerners in general see "others" in cartoonish ways -- is that it actually goes both ways. Even when immersed in another culture, one cannot fully inhabit it. And the conflicts 'they' experience -- even if not exactly the same -- can be understood and analogized -- what "white" person has never felt alienated in their own culture? I think that's why I was so fascinated by other cultures as a child. I didn't particularly like the one I was in, and yet must field constant presumptions as to the way I view these other cultures, or the ways in which they are "portrayed" as if the audience weren't savvy enough to realize that there's a lot more to it than a 90-minute film could capture.
My last point is that I don't quite understand this essay -- it reads like a summary without analysis.
Even after all of these years, I am still ignorant when it comes to Native American issues. For the past 40 years or so I have read tons of novels that chronicle the stories of the Sioux, Blackfoot, Osage, Cherokee, and many others, but STILL I am ignorant. Theirs is a way of living and thinking that I cannot connect with. I will watch this new movie, but at the end I will be no wiser. It is another culture, another world entirely.
Great Free Press story on the full history of Native Americans in cinema told through a personal lens. I’m glad I started subscribing for content like this. I saw “Flowers of the Killer Moon” opening weekend and I admit being wary — but this article restored the honorable purpose of shared group identity and being allowed to tell one’s own stories. Though one glaring omission, obviously, are the fact the writers are white (Eric Roth and director Martin Scorsese), as was the book’s author. Though what they did was document and convey indigenous people’s experiences like few white storytellers have.
Amazing in this FP piece is how interwoven and tightly knit the Native American creative community is — and you see it here from the baby Lily Gladstone being introduced to the writer’s daughter acting across from her in “Reservation Dogs” to what may be the first American Indian lead actress Oscar nominee. Though, please nominate Gladstone for her performance and not to fill in some diversity box. That’s the worry these days and what art and culture has set itself up for. Tokenization is a thing.
Hollywood has had a huge influence on me in terms of building sympathy with the cause of Native Americans and indigenous. But did it manipulate me at a young age? Well, most art does. And TV and movies definitely made me a liberal most of my life. I saw “Little Big Man” with Dustin Hoffman as a kid and truly got swept up in its narrative poking the eye of racist America. It was part of my “progressive” awakening through most of my young adulthood. I rewatched it in my 40s recently and found it histrionic and distorted art, emblematic of the radical turn the country was taking when it was created in the early 1970s. The director Arthur Penn years earlier made murderers Bonnie & Clyde sympathetic. “Little Big Man” seen today in the BLM era which is also built on distortions? I couldn’t buy it. It was mostly “white man bad.” It’s not that simple.
But many movies do a great job of discussing the cultural and human wreckage from the interaction between white settlers and natives. 1992’s “Last of the Mohicans” was a shining example, still an all-time favorite, and after seeing “Flowers of the Killer Moon” I would say it carries the torch well enough. It wasn’t too “woke” as some worry about, but tells an authentic story.
I, too, sorry that as we get into “land acknowledgments” and constant hand-wringing over the past with Canadian residential school burial sites (which turned out to be fake news) and talk of “genocide” we’re not actually helping indigenous people today. I believe grievance narratives never do — and they further keep communities from lifting themselves up. It can also tar Western expansionist history, which is flawed but I think truly had noble intentions. I think “white supremacy” is far more complicated than the academic and activist class framing this history.
Hell, there’s an Indian group even suing to restore the Washington Redskins name, which polls show 9 in 10 Americans had no problem with that name. Which again begs the question: Do mostly lefty artists truly tell accurately the diverse views within their communities?
Basically: Be careful of the Hollywood brainwashing. But enjoy a good and honest story. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and smart artists, no matter their bias, can still tell important stories.
Does Lily Gladstone help carry director Martin Scorsese’s film forward authentically? I think so. The tale truly is from the Osage tribe’s POV as well as the “gangsters” of this story, which are the white men. Can’t shy from that.
This film is probably as real as “Goodfellas” or “Casino” — a stylized story of human greed. Coincidentally, Robert De Niro plays the greedy gangster in all three.
I worry that we over-romanticize this dying culture struggling to survive (as are its members, facing poverty and endemic substance abuse), but we have to honor it. It’s a tough balancing act.
“Flowers of the Killer Moon” had other flaws, from the gore meant to truly suck the wind out of the audience, and maybe shame them a bit. The opaqueness of the plot doesn’t help, and I wonder why they made the choice — which I’m seeing more often these days — of having characters speak a non-english language and omit subtitles. It’s a cheap way to “immerse” the audience but makes no sense if both characters onscreen can understand one another. It confuses more then it enlightens.
Hopefully art and culture can turn a corner and present even more nuanced stories than this one. Which is still excellent. Scorsese at 80 and DiCaprio pushing 50 do it again.
3.5 out of 4 stars for “Flowers of the Killer Moon.”
(PS - I can’t believe I typed this up on my phone as my first FP comment.)
Just bought the book and can't wait to read it! Will do more research and reading INSTEAD of seeing the movie. My dad always said (in the 50's) that American Indians got treated the worst of any other group.
I find it fascinating when liberal Hollywood is exposed as a very bigoted and racist place. Yet, the hypocrites connected to it claim to be virtuous. As a member of the Deplorable's in fly-over country I definitely would be interested in seeing movies based on Native Americans, Black, Brown and Asian Americans. Did anyone notice the success of Crazy Rich Asians, Hidden Figures, The Help, Yellowstone? All out of the box creative stories not typical of the Hollywood machine. The "Harvey Weinstein's" that control what gets made, are racist bigots who have slowed the progress of women, all ethnicities both gay and strait from telling their stories. Yet they virtue signal their piety to the Progressive ideology. When those who work with them stay silent about their true nature, then these despicable people control what is being done. We Deplorable's in fly-over country see the hypocrisy and endure the nonstop berating over our bigotry and racism. I will definitely check out Reservation Dogs. I, 100% Irish, roomed with a 100% Navajo in college. I would love to see Empire of the book, Summer Moon made into a movie. Let's expose those bigots and get them out of Hollywood!
This is a very moving story--thank you. Will Sampson was a presence in my childhood because my dad took us to the movies. The article prompted me to go to the IMDB pages for Tim, Nancy, and Tafv to learn more.
My son and I saw the film last night in a packed movie theater. There were periodic gasps followed by stunned silence by what we were seeing. Scorsese's and Roth's shift from the white-savior trope to the family makes the movie even more devastating. They just need to give the movie all of the Oscars now, particularly Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro. Just extraordinary.
Growing up, Native Americans were portrayed as “savages” whooping & hopping around a fire as if high on some hallucinogen. They were preparing for the raping of white women, kidnapping of white children & scalping of white men. And then there appeared a savior, John Wayne & the U.S. Cavalry One had to be there! That was 1940’s America.
I am 65 years old, male, of mixed European descent. When I was 6 my family visited Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota. There wasn't much to see in 1965, but the memory is very clear. When I was an adolescent I read The Light in the Forest and When The Legends Die. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dances With Wolves are two of my favorite films.
About 20 years ago I returned to the Crazy Horse monument with my wife and our son and daughter. There was a lot more to see this time. In June our daughter will marry a man whose father is Mexican and mother is Native American. Like Robert Moore commented earlier, I am ignorant when it comes to Native American culture, but I want and need to know more as we prepare to welcome our future son-in-law to our family. Thank you, Ms. Rommelmann, for sharing your story. I will add Reservation Dogs and Killers of the Flower Moon to my watch list. I will also keep my radar tuned to your future essays. I was truly moved by The Woman Who Stood Up to the Porn Industry And Won, and forwarded the feature to my state legislators with a request to introduce similar legislation in our state.
You are doing good, Ms. Rommelmann. Please keep doing what you're doing.
DiCaprio and DeNiro - what could possibly go wrong? lol Let's see....."America is the root of all evil?" "Irredemable?" "A horrible, racist place?"
Pass.
Going to see "Killers of the Flower Moon" this weekend; hope it's as good as the book but expect Hollywood has added the usual embellishments. The book was amazing and a real heartbreaking story about the Osage people of Oklahoma that few whites know anything about (I lived in North Texas for five years and traveled extensively in southeastern Oklahoma and never heard about the Osage). Keeping my fingers crossed.
As a child in the 60s, I was obsessed with Native Americans and read everything I could get my hands on. I still have a set of colorful books for children that describe the environments in which each tribe live(d), their food, costumes, etc. On a trip to the Wisconsin Dells, I asked the tribe there if I could live with them instead (they said to ask my parents who said no, of course). From my perspective, I do not recall Native Americans being shown in a 'cartoonish' way in films except in cases where they play villains, but that's how American films frequently portray villains. (French films seem to get at the complexity of the dark side of human nature much better than American films.)
If I remember correctly, this Native American actor from "Cuckoo's Nest" was also in "Harry and Tonto." The role he plays is vital to the story ("Harry and Tonto" is a masterpiece, btw.)
One thing that gets me about this narrative -- that Americans or Westerners in general see "others" in cartoonish ways -- is that it actually goes both ways. Even when immersed in another culture, one cannot fully inhabit it. And the conflicts 'they' experience -- even if not exactly the same -- can be understood and analogized -- what "white" person has never felt alienated in their own culture? I think that's why I was so fascinated by other cultures as a child. I didn't particularly like the one I was in, and yet must field constant presumptions as to the way I view these other cultures, or the ways in which they are "portrayed" as if the audience weren't savvy enough to realize that there's a lot more to it than a 90-minute film could capture.
My last point is that I don't quite understand this essay -- it reads like a summary without analysis.
Even after all of these years, I am still ignorant when it comes to Native American issues. For the past 40 years or so I have read tons of novels that chronicle the stories of the Sioux, Blackfoot, Osage, Cherokee, and many others, but STILL I am ignorant. Theirs is a way of living and thinking that I cannot connect with. I will watch this new movie, but at the end I will be no wiser. It is another culture, another world entirely.
Great Free Press story on the full history of Native Americans in cinema told through a personal lens. I’m glad I started subscribing for content like this. I saw “Flowers of the Killer Moon” opening weekend and I admit being wary — but this article restored the honorable purpose of shared group identity and being allowed to tell one’s own stories. Though one glaring omission, obviously, are the fact the writers are white (Eric Roth and director Martin Scorsese), as was the book’s author. Though what they did was document and convey indigenous people’s experiences like few white storytellers have.
Amazing in this FP piece is how interwoven and tightly knit the Native American creative community is — and you see it here from the baby Lily Gladstone being introduced to the writer’s daughter acting across from her in “Reservation Dogs” to what may be the first American Indian lead actress Oscar nominee. Though, please nominate Gladstone for her performance and not to fill in some diversity box. That’s the worry these days and what art and culture has set itself up for. Tokenization is a thing.
Hollywood has had a huge influence on me in terms of building sympathy with the cause of Native Americans and indigenous. But did it manipulate me at a young age? Well, most art does. And TV and movies definitely made me a liberal most of my life. I saw “Little Big Man” with Dustin Hoffman as a kid and truly got swept up in its narrative poking the eye of racist America. It was part of my “progressive” awakening through most of my young adulthood. I rewatched it in my 40s recently and found it histrionic and distorted art, emblematic of the radical turn the country was taking when it was created in the early 1970s. The director Arthur Penn years earlier made murderers Bonnie & Clyde sympathetic. “Little Big Man” seen today in the BLM era which is also built on distortions? I couldn’t buy it. It was mostly “white man bad.” It’s not that simple.
But many movies do a great job of discussing the cultural and human wreckage from the interaction between white settlers and natives. 1992’s “Last of the Mohicans” was a shining example, still an all-time favorite, and after seeing “Flowers of the Killer Moon” I would say it carries the torch well enough. It wasn’t too “woke” as some worry about, but tells an authentic story.
I, too, sorry that as we get into “land acknowledgments” and constant hand-wringing over the past with Canadian residential school burial sites (which turned out to be fake news) and talk of “genocide” we’re not actually helping indigenous people today. I believe grievance narratives never do — and they further keep communities from lifting themselves up. It can also tar Western expansionist history, which is flawed but I think truly had noble intentions. I think “white supremacy” is far more complicated than the academic and activist class framing this history.
Hell, there’s an Indian group even suing to restore the Washington Redskins name, which polls show 9 in 10 Americans had no problem with that name. Which again begs the question: Do mostly lefty artists truly tell accurately the diverse views within their communities?
Basically: Be careful of the Hollywood brainwashing. But enjoy a good and honest story. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and smart artists, no matter their bias, can still tell important stories.
Does Lily Gladstone help carry director Martin Scorsese’s film forward authentically? I think so. The tale truly is from the Osage tribe’s POV as well as the “gangsters” of this story, which are the white men. Can’t shy from that.
This film is probably as real as “Goodfellas” or “Casino” — a stylized story of human greed. Coincidentally, Robert De Niro plays the greedy gangster in all three.
I worry that we over-romanticize this dying culture struggling to survive (as are its members, facing poverty and endemic substance abuse), but we have to honor it. It’s a tough balancing act.
“Flowers of the Killer Moon” had other flaws, from the gore meant to truly suck the wind out of the audience, and maybe shame them a bit. The opaqueness of the plot doesn’t help, and I wonder why they made the choice — which I’m seeing more often these days — of having characters speak a non-english language and omit subtitles. It’s a cheap way to “immerse” the audience but makes no sense if both characters onscreen can understand one another. It confuses more then it enlightens.
Hopefully art and culture can turn a corner and present even more nuanced stories than this one. Which is still excellent. Scorsese at 80 and DiCaprio pushing 50 do it again.
3.5 out of 4 stars for “Flowers of the Killer Moon.”
(PS - I can’t believe I typed this up on my phone as my first FP comment.)
Just bought the book and can't wait to read it! Will do more research and reading INSTEAD of seeing the movie. My dad always said (in the 50's) that American Indians got treated the worst of any other group.
I hope the best for all. Thanks for the read.
I find it fascinating when liberal Hollywood is exposed as a very bigoted and racist place. Yet, the hypocrites connected to it claim to be virtuous. As a member of the Deplorable's in fly-over country I definitely would be interested in seeing movies based on Native Americans, Black, Brown and Asian Americans. Did anyone notice the success of Crazy Rich Asians, Hidden Figures, The Help, Yellowstone? All out of the box creative stories not typical of the Hollywood machine. The "Harvey Weinstein's" that control what gets made, are racist bigots who have slowed the progress of women, all ethnicities both gay and strait from telling their stories. Yet they virtue signal their piety to the Progressive ideology. When those who work with them stay silent about their true nature, then these despicable people control what is being done. We Deplorable's in fly-over country see the hypocrisy and endure the nonstop berating over our bigotry and racism. I will definitely check out Reservation Dogs. I, 100% Irish, roomed with a 100% Navajo in college. I would love to see Empire of the book, Summer Moon made into a movie. Let's expose those bigots and get them out of Hollywood!
What an uplifting aericle- thank you for writing it!
This is a very moving story--thank you. Will Sampson was a presence in my childhood because my dad took us to the movies. The article prompted me to go to the IMDB pages for Tim, Nancy, and Tafv to learn more.
My son and I saw the film last night in a packed movie theater. There were periodic gasps followed by stunned silence by what we were seeing. Scorsese's and Roth's shift from the white-savior trope to the family makes the movie even more devastating. They just need to give the movie all of the Oscars now, particularly Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro. Just extraordinary.
Growing up, Native Americans were portrayed as “savages” whooping & hopping around a fire as if high on some hallucinogen. They were preparing for the raping of white women, kidnapping of white children & scalping of white men. And then there appeared a savior, John Wayne & the U.S. Cavalry One had to be there! That was 1940’s America.
Beautiful. Thank you
Rommelmann Rules.
Great read. I’m glad I didn’t find it until after being absolutely transfixed by the extraordinary film of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
I highly recommend reading both “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Empire of the Summer Moon”. Both excellent and neither an over simplification.