Bacchus 1

Jerry Bacchus
UWRT 1102
Voltz
EIP Proposal Final Draft
Topic: How does the American film industry affect how our country views minorities (E.G-Native
Americans, Arabs and African Americans)? How much impact did films have in desensitizing
Americans to the clear injustices done towards Native Americans and African Americans?

Throughout history movies have oftentimes been used to shape the thoughts of a nation.
Whether it is in Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany propaganda films have been proven to be an effective
tool in shaping how people think particularly how they view minorities. America by no means is an
exception. I recently saw the movie Captain Phillips which tells the story of a brave captain who
attempts to save his crew from an invasion by Somalian Pirates. A few days later I came across a few
guys of Somalian decent and suddenly the word pirate popped into my mind, not because they looked
malicious but because Hollywood has replaced the Black Beards and Jack Sparrows with Somalians as
the face of piracy. That is when I knew I had to do further research on how films may shape how others
may view foreigners.
First, I thought about other films or film genres that might have also impacted my views on
minorities. The initial example that came to mind was the popular Cowboys and Indians movies.
John Wayne and Clint Eastwood became real life super heroes as Cowboys who defended their town or
saved the pretty damsel in distress from the barbaric Indian savages. The only problem was these
savages were only trying to protect their land from being taken by white settlers. Using film to
rationalize cruel behavior in the name of your nation's best interest is great and all but one issue is that
the people being portrayed negatively get to see the films as well. The Native Americans have one of

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the highest suicide and depression rates in the US, this is largely due to America destroying their self
esteem as a people.
African American's experienced the same plight. Blackface movies and other films made
during the Jim Crowe era significantly damaged the African American's self esteem by painting them as
mentally inferior, dirty, lazy and untrustworthy creatures whose only use was entertainment or some
sort of aid. Seeing a group of people being portrayed like that on the silver screen does two things: it
gives the oppressor the feeling that it is okay to treat the negro as an inferior, and it gives the oppressed
the feeling that being an entertainer or aid is all that they can be; it does not allow them to dream or
have their own John Wayne or Clint Eastwood to idolize.
While today the African American is oftentimes portrayed fairly, Africans are still being cut a
raw deal. Whenever a film takes place in Africa it only shows the rural areas that are struck by poverty
unless the movie is dealing with Caucasian influenced South Africa. This always led me to believe
Africa was poor as a continent and are stuck in pre-industrial times. Some parts may fit that description
but for the most part Africa is a developed continent which honestly came as a surprise to me when I
researched Eritrea for a possible family trip. Another aspect of this topic that caught my interest was
war movies. I'm eager to research what impact war Movies like the Lone Survivor have on how people
may have own how American's views on Arabs has changed. Outfits that once made Americans think
of Aladdin and other middle eastern tales are now the garments of a terrorist.
For this paper, I'm probably going to have to look up self esteem studies such as the one where the
researcher placed two dolls in front of the African American child and the child chose the white doll as
the good doll. I'll probably need to look up specific movies that play to my topic as painting another
race as inferior or sinister. There should be a plethora of articles on how Native and African Americas
were portrayed in films during the 20th century. Since majority of the films do not explicitly say this
movie is meant to dehumanize this group of people it's probably going to be hard to find concrete

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evidence. United States history will be a resource I will have to use. Most of the time history dictates
how people are portrayed for example, Pearl Harbor and Asians, Jim Crowe era and blacks and now
9/11 and Arabs. The use of films to perpetuate stereotypes has been a topic I've noticed and thought
about from time to time but I am curious to see what I can find when I devote an entire semester to
studying it.
My target audience is the average American because this affects everyone. Anyone who has
ever seen an Arab in traditional clothing and thought whether jokingly or seriously that they might be a
terrorist is affected. Any person who played cowboys and indians but never wanted to be the lawless
Indian is affected. This is an important issue because it is so commonly accepted. This egocentric idea
that America is the best country allows for it to be common for other races and nationalities to be
degraded. Other people should care because it could be your race or nationality being put down next if
they have no been put down already.
10 questions:
1. Who was the first film writer to start the Cowboys and Indians trend?
2. What is the purpose of war movies? Is it to show what happens on the battlefield ? Glorify a
hero?
3. When was the first motion picture made?
4. Where were Jim Crowe films played? Were they just in the south or nationwide?
5. Why aren't more efforts made to show the positive side of other cultures rather than paint them
as poor or inferior?
6. Does the public let movies influence how they view certain groups?
7. How much of a role does government have in the issue?
8. Who was the prominent Indian actor in Cowboys vs. Indian movies?
9. Has the Native American nation came out to condemn cowboys vs Indian movies?

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10. How does the Italian community feel about movies such as the Godfather and other gangster
movies?