Native American Representation in "The Last of the Mohicans" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Seminar "Native American Studies", language: English, abstract: This paper focuses on the evolving policies relevant in the twentieth century and the underlying ideologies by looking at the representation of Native Americans in popular culture. Both, contemporary policy and ideology, are formative powers that influence popular culture. Then again, popular culture, especially the medium of film, is a purveyor of national ideologies, values, and trends to society. Here, it will be argued that the shifting policies on Native Americans are reflected in their representation in the cinematic productions of "The last of the Mohicans".

A diachronic analysis will help to filter out both changes and consistencies of the popular perspective on American Indians in film throughout the last century. In order to do so, four filmic versions of "The last of the Mohicans" will be examined: the 1920 silent movie, the 1936, the 1977, as well as the 1992 release. Analyzing representational tools, their functions, and the preferred reading within each movie - as coined by Stuart Hall - and a comparison between the movies will constitute the theoretical approach and will help to pinpoint ideological functions and the role of policy at the time of each of the adaptions. The focus of scene analysis will be on the depiction of violence on the one hand, and on relationship dynamics between Native Americans and Whites on the other hand.