Dr Nicole Perry’s research aimed to highlight how an entire culture can create and present their own vision of another culture’s past. Germany’s fascination with Native Americans resulted in the trope of the “Indianer”, a figure based in myth and stereotype. I was extremely intrigued by how this fascination and romanticization of an indigenous culture could result in a widely popular trend and genre of the German western film.
The European made westerns that dominated the 60’s, challenged the old ideals of Hollywood westerns, exploring new themes and ideas. There is an interesting distinction between different European countries depiction of the old west. German western films highlighted their cultural fascination with the “Indianer”, specifically through the use of Winnetou. These films were made to be family films, being light-hearted and sometimes comical. Meanwhile, westerns made in Italy, called spaghetti westerns, tended to focus on depicting a stark west, challenging the conventional White hero and other tropes, and barely showed Native American characters. Despite their differences, neither presented Native Americans as villains, which could suggest they were more progressive than old Hollywood westerns. However, problems still arise due to the appropriation and cliched presentation of the culture, especially due to the fact that the Native Americans were not actually played by Native Americans.
Perry bought up the idea of culture not being stagnant, However, Germany’s depictions suggest that Native American culture should stay in this old-time fantasy narrative, not allowing their ideas to become progressive. With these films and ideas around Native Americans still being produced in Germany, it might be time to spark up a conversation.
