On July 4, 1898, Quanah Parker asserted, “We fear your success. Th is was a pretty country you took away from us — but you see how dry it is now. It is only good for red ants, coyotes, and cattlemen.” Although American Indians were portrayed sympathetically in silent films such as Th e Red Girl (1908), Hiawatha (1914) and Th e Vanishing American (1925), in most later Westerns these representations primarily turned savage. According to researcher Scott Simmon, they devolve along two paths, “one about war, the other about love — neither leading anywhere except Indian death.” Films highlighting Quanah Parker such as Comanche (dir. Carl Krueger, 1956) and The Searchers (dir. John Ford, 1956) illustrate this change. It is only when they are constructed by American Indian filmmakers such as Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie that representations of American Indians regain authenticity and serve as more powerful critiques of environmental degradation. In their Smoke Signals, for example, Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-a-Fire (Evan Adams) find a way to turn the hell of his reservation household into a home. Even as a child, he attempts to adapt his environment to make it more habitable, just as Thomas adapts a lifeless river into a thriving ecosystem through his dreams.
In a move toward a more sustainable view of prairie and desert ecosystems, American Indians in western fi lms from Comanche and Th e Searchers to Dances with Wolves adapt a seemingly lifeless environment into a place they can call home. Th is narrative of environmental adaptation continues even into contemporary western fi lms set on and near reservation lands and gains particular force in Eyre and Alexie’s Smoke Signals (1998).
Robin L. Murray is professor of English at Eastern Illinois University, where she teaches fi lm and literature courses and coordinates the film studies minor. Murray co-authored four books with Joseph K. Heumann: Ecology and Popular Film: Cinema on the Edge (SUNY Press, 2009), That’s All Folks?: The Ecology of the American Animated Feature (U. Nebraska Press, 2011), Gunfi ght at the Eco-Corral: Western Cinema and the Environment (U. Oklahoma Press, 2012) and Film and Everyday Ecodisasters (U. Nebraska Press, 2014). They are currently working on a manuscript exploring monstrous nature. They also maintain an ecocinema and fi lm genre blog: http://ecocinema.blogspot.com/. She earned a B.A. from Oakland University, M.A. from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Toledo.
Robin Murray, professor of English at Eastern Illinois University, takes a look at how American Indians are portrayed in film, from early silent films to later Westerns that often depict them as savages. These include films with characters or storylines inspired by the Parker story, such as “Comanche” (1956) and “The Searchers” (1956). More authentic portrayals can be found through the eyes of American Indian filmmakers, as evident in the film “Smoke Signals” (1998).
