Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

[Review Of] Gretchen M. Bataille And Charles L. P. Silet, The Make-Believe Indian: Native Americans In The Movies, Helen Kathleen Walsh

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

The Make-Believe Indian is all that is implied in the title and more. The slide-tape program is a useful instructional device which goes beyond the scholarly margins of The Pretend Indians (1980) by the same authors. The program clearly depicts how most white Europeans had their "images of Indians" formed well before their arrival in the Americas. We are subsequently shown and told how these fixed images of Indians were generated through the dime novels of the nineteenth century and transferred to the silver screen by movie producers in Hollywood.