Native Americans & American Popular Culture

The Indian Princess is the female counterpart to The Brave caricature. In the late 19th Century the nostalgic romanticizing of nature, and of the Indians that had once been found in nature, recreated Indians in all of their "natural" glory, as noble savages, mythical icons of America's wilderness past. This phenomenon allowed Americans to largely forget the ugly consequences of their expansionist past. Additionally, even though the Noble Savage is defended as being a "positive" stereotype, the result is historical amnesia and the dehumanization of real people who still exist. By cementing the Indian as an "other" from the past, it allows modern society to largely ignore the existence and plight of Native Americans today. The Indian Princess caricature is rooted in the legend of Pocahontas, who is most often cast in American popular culture as a supporter of European interests. She is strong, beautiful, and possesses an exotic sexuality that both emphasizes her "otherness," and yet serves as a forbidden fantasy for the dominating White male. She is Mother Nature, American-style, in all her primitive glory.