{"id":17,"date":"2019-10-17T20:16:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T20:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nonnativewarpaint.wordpress.com\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2019-12-20T22:03:54","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T22:03:54","slug":"outdoors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/microsites.csusm.edu\/nonnativewarpaint\/outdoors\/","title":{"rendered":"The Outdoors, Battles, and Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The most common aspects of the portrayals of Native Americans in media set during the American Revolutionary War are violence perpetrated by American Indians, their involvement in battle scenes, and that almost all of these portrayals happen outdoors rather than inside a structure. The highlighting of these outdoor portrayals may seem like a weak point of contention at first glance. One must remember that some Native nations built structures so advanced that Continental Army troops sent to burn out Iroquois villages during the Sullivan Expedition were amazed at their quality, and these soldiers believed that the Iroquois were living in better conditions than they were.8<\/sup> To portray American Indians as only existing outside of buildings is to portray them as a \u201csavage\u201d people, outside of civilization, lacking civilization; the implication is that these \u201cuncivilized\u201d people only live outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few exceptions to the outdoor portrayal trait, but none of them present a majority of a Native American\u2019s portrayal indoors. One is D. W. Griffith\u2019s America <\/em>in 1924, which has extended indoor scenes with Kanien\u02bckeh\u00e1\ua789ka warriors and their British-educated leader, Joseph Brant (Riley Hatch), accompanying a British officer and waiting on his orders. Fox\u2019s 1939 Drums Along the Mohawk<\/em> has a couple short scenes with Blue Back (Chief John Big Tree), a \u201cGood Indian\u201d stereotype character, inside the home of the protagonists. Similarly, in four seasons of episodes, Turn: Washington\u2019s Spies<\/em> has some short scenes with a minor American Indian character accompanying a more central character on their indoor business. Television children\u2019s series Liberty\u2019s Kids<\/em> and feature film Sign of the Otter<\/em> both have a small amount of content where American Indians are portrayed inside their own homes. ACIII<\/em> also has short scenes in which the main character Ratonhnhak\u00e9:ton (voiced by Noah Watts) is seen or controlled by the player inside structures, but the rule is the depictions outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outdoor portrayal theme ties into related themes of violence and battles. Most of these characters are portrayed as stereotypically savage or bloodthirsty, and the most logical place for expressions of this violence during the American Revolution is in the outdoors. Out of the eight works with visual representations of American Indians, only one does not depict Native Americans inflicting violence upon other people. Liberty\u2019s Kids<\/em> uses two of its forty episodes to explore Native American issues related to the founding of the United States. Episode 31, \u201cThe Bostonians,\u201d set during the Sullivan Expedition, gives Joseph Brant, birth name Thayendanegea (voiced by Russell Charles Means) a platform to voice his grievances and concerns about the actions taken by the United States, and while he is portrayed as a powerful, stern character, neither he nor any other American Indian perform any violence in this episode.<\/p>