Lights/Camera/Action

Yesterday our English/History bilingual course took part in a seminar held at the Filmmuseum Düsseldorf. The presenter first listed a lot of background knowledge on Natives in the USA, their history and status today before turning to the actual representation of Native Americans in popular films.

First the students compared two Karl May film versions (BRD and DDR) and discussed in how far these films transported stereotypes and even helped spreading wrong clichés. Afterwards three long scenes from the film "The Last of the Mohicans" based on the novel by J.F. Cooper were interpreted. At the end we also discussed the Natives' Lives on the reservation land in the USA today.

We learned a lot about film language and stereotypes in film and now know where all of the clichés associated with Natives stem from.

Kathrin Ortmayr