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Comment by mbg721 | Hacker News Reader

Cahokia is shockingly big, and the idea of multiple successive societies of mound-builders is sort of ignored or taken for granted; the concept of American Indians who wouldn't fit into a John Wayne movie doesn't cross Americans' minds.

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On that point, can you name even 1 pre-columbian films that doesn’t involve a white person?

Here is a relevant wikipedia article:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_set_in_pre-Co...

I don't know many movies set in pre-Columbian America at all. The idea that this was once the largest city in North America north of Mexico and it's as unknown as it is even to people who live nearby is crazy to me.

One tragedy, on top of the mountain of others, is that their histories were passed down orally. Much of that has been destroyed.

One thing that struck me when I read about The Great Flood of 1862 [0], was that the Native Americans recognized the weather patterns for a series of atmospheric rivers and warned the settlers to relocate to the hills. (Tl;Dr: Central Valley ca was under water for months, Sacramento was abandoned) IIRC, it wasn’t until the 1990s that we had the ability to detect/”recognize” atmospheric rivers with satellites and finally gave them a name.

[edit: added link] [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1862

I’m Hacker News’ resident chud, but this is an actual issue. Natives exist only in relation to colonization. Prey, Apocalypto, and other well-made movies about first peoples ALWAYS include a white guy. Prey was egregious, could have easily only been about natives.

Maybe Atanarjuat doesn’t?

It is odd that Apocalypto included conquistadors as contact was very late in the story of the Maya:

Meanwhile, the two remaining Raiders chase Jaguar Paw towards the coast, where all three are astonished at the sight of Spanish conquistadors making their way to the shore. As the two Raiders are confounded by the Spanish ships and begin walking towards the coast, Jaguar Paw uses the distraction to flee and return to his village.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypto

Although much reduced, a significant Maya presence remained into the Postclassic period after the abandonment of the major Classic period cities; the population was particularly concentrated near permanent water sources.[78] Unlike during previous cycles of contraction in the Maya region, abandoned lands were not quickly resettled in the Postclassic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Postclassic_...

There was a good indie film a while back, On The Ice, that I believe only had native peoples in it. It's a contemporary setting, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Ice

Nobody’s old enough to remember Windwalker? A major release in 81 and subtitled.

If you actually look at the link prpi provided, there are several examples. E.g., Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (yes), Hiawatha, and Kings of the Sun; if you allow animated films, there's Pachamama and The Emperor's New Groove. More recent examples not in that list include the Canadian movies Maina (2013) and Edge of the Knife (2018).

People talk about what they know. A more relevant list probably would be how many American natives are filmmakers. I assume that they have several films without any white on it.

> concept of American Indians who wouldn't fit into a John Wayne movie doesn't cross Americans' minds

“Dances With Wolves”, nominated for 12 Academy awards and won 7. Guess you missed that one.

I actually haven't seen it, you're right, but my understanding is that it's about the Sioux in the American Western frontier, which is more in line with media stereotypes than, for instance, the Iroquois in New York or Seminoles in Florida.

Comanche were the stereotype. The memory of the Comanche empire would have been fresh in the minds of Americans (and Mexicans) in the classical hollywood era. Comanche held territory from Kansas all the way to Mexico. They literally destroyed Northern Mexico. Europeans have no idea how intense life was for anybody that had to live in and around that tribe. And this was in the 1870's (not the 1400's).

With all due respect, perhaps you should see a seminal film before making sweeping judgements of American film portrayal of Native Americas? I'm not sure what your reference to the Iroquois and Seminoles has to do with it. Certain tribes are in American awareness more than others. That happened pre-TV and modern-day media. I don't think you get to decide who Kevin Costner writes films about, but you could write your own.

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