Posted by Petra on December 01, 1997 at 23:48:45:
In Reply to: Re: Eric's Interview posted by Myrrh on December 01, 1997 at 20:31:24:
I've just read the interview and must admit that I was not too much surprised. He may misjudge the movie and make errors of fact, but as for the anger, I think that is very common among American Indians of his age and generation, most just don't let it out all the time.
Sometimes it sounds like he jumps forth and back with his sentences. That's why I think he did not mean that natives should not be cast for native roles (also, the "take us to 1992" sentence seems to be what HE wants), but that they should be cast for other roles too, for not specifically Indian roles. What do you think, does that make sense? And it's true that Indian actors are usually only cast for roles where the story requires the character to be Indian. Wes Study in Heat is the only exception I can think of right now. Other than that I don't remember seeing an Indian actor in a role that was not at least to some degree about him or her being Indian. In that respect, actors of other ethnic backgrounds have come much farther.
And, for many American Indians, movies like "Dances with Wolves" or LOTM - while judged as being a lot better than earlier movies - are still not quite what they'd love to see. One remark that I've heard several times (and Russell Means says something similar in his book) is: "Yeah, as always, the hero's got to be a white guy and even way into indian country, he manages to find himself a white woman."