What Happens When Native Women Are In Charge?
From PBS Voices.
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How have Hollywood's portrayals of Native women shaped the way we see them today? In this episode of PBS Film Club, Marissa and Lucky sit down with Indigenous media maker Cheyenne Bearfoot to unpack harmful stereotypes, the real-world consequences of misrepresentation, how a new generation of Native storytellers is reclaiming their narratives on screen and what we truly could learn from Native communities.
00:00 - The Native American Visibility Problem and Guest Introduction
0:56 - “The Sexy Indian Princess Trope”
2:03 - CLIP: Arigon Starr, multimedia Kickapoo Artist, singing about tropes
3:08 - Tropes: Noble Savage, Vanishing Indian
5:04 - Real world impact of these harmful stereotypes
7:35 - Unpacking the misrepresentation of Pocahontas
10:00 - Unpacking Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
15:03 - What can we learn from Indigenous matrilineal societies?
17:54 - Haudenoshonee culture shock to colonists
19:39 - Why are stereotypes of Native women so far removed from the realities of Native women?
26:08 - Thoughts on modern Native representation?
29:30 - Questions people should be asking more to Indigenous folks
32:05 - Outro and next episode reveal
32:25 - PBS Digital Studios Survey
Watch the full documentary:
https://www.pbs.org/video/women-rule-rx5rq4/
This program is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station: https://www.pbs.org/donate
Enjoy full episodes of your favorite PBS shows anytime, anywhere with the free PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2QbtzhR
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More about PBS Film Club
Welcome to PBS Film Club, the award-winning PBS documentary series hosted by Marissa and Lucky. In an exciting new chapter, we are proud to partner with ITVS and the award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, who join us to co-produce select episodes and bring their unique insight to our community. Together, we’re bringing film lovers a space to watch and discuss how films connect to broader cultural and historical themes. If you love watching films and talking about them with friends and family or showing off at trivia night, this club is for you.
FOLLOW Marissa and Lucky:
Marissa: https://www.instagram.com/marissapina/
Lucky: https://www.instagram.com/itslucky__/
New episodes are now available on the PBS Documentaries YouTube channel, where you can explore even more films and stories that help us better understand our world and each other.
How have Hollywood's portrayals of Native women shaped the way we see them today? In this episode of PBS Film Club, Marissa and Lucky sit down with Indigenous media maker Cheyenne Bearfoot to unpack harmful stereotypes, the real-world consequences of misrepresentation, how a new generation of Native storytellers is reclaiming their narratives on screen and what we truly could learn from Native communities.
00:00 - The Native American Visibility Problem and Guest Introduction
0:56 - “The Sexy Indian Princess Trope”
2:03 - CLIP: Arigon Starr, multimedia Kickapoo Artist, singing about tropes
3:08 - Tropes: Noble Savage, Vanishing Indian
5:04 - Real world impact of these harmful stereotypes
7:35 - Unpacking the misrepresentation of Pocahontas
10:00 - Unpacking Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
15:03 - What can we learn from Indigenous matrilineal societies?
17:54 - Haudenoshonee culture shock to colonists
19:39 - Why are stereotypes of Native women so far removed from the realities of Native women?
26:08 - Thoughts on modern Native representation?
29:30 - Questions people should be asking more to Indigenous folks
32:05 - Outro and next episode reveal
32:25 - PBS Digital Studios Survey
Watch the full documentary:
https://www.pbs.org/video/women-rule-rx5rq4/
This program is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station: https://www.pbs.org/donate
Enjoy full episodes of your favorite PBS shows anytime, anywhere with the free PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2QbtzhR
FOLLOW PBS:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PBS/
X: https://twitter.com/PBS/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PBS/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbs
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@pbs
More about PBS Film Club
Welcome to PBS Film Club, the award-winning PBS documentary series hosted by Marissa and Lucky. In an exciting new chapter, we are proud to partner with ITVS and the award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, who join us to co-produce select episodes and bring their unique insight to our community. Together, we’re bringing film lovers a space to watch and discuss how films connect to broader cultural and historical themes. If you love watching films and talking about them with friends and family or showing off at trivia night, this club is for you.
FOLLOW Marissa and Lucky:
Marissa: https://www.instagram.com/marissapina/
Lucky: https://www.instagram.com/itslucky__/
New episodes are now available on the PBS Documentaries YouTube channel, where you can explore even more films and stories that help us better understand our world and each other.











