Literally, Chief.

In the movie, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the character, “Chief,” plays a stereotypical Native American role in his supporting character role to Jack Nicholson’s main character. This movie entails a man, Jack Nicholson’s character, that is not clinically insane or with any real mental disability he is seen as “faking it” to be in the mental institution to avoid his jail sentence the in the beginning of the movie and then befriends an assortment of people in the institution with presumed actual mental problems. He inspires them all by believing in them and helping them think that they are “psychos” as they have been constantly been told prior. One of the men in the establishment is Chief, a giant Native American man with bold facial features and he is a brooding presence because of his size. He is thought to be deaf and blind because he is stoic and doesn't speak or acknowledge that he hears anything when people speak to him up until Jack Nicholson’s character treats him as an equal and gets him to speak to him in perfect English.

The character of Chief is a walking stereotype that reproduces the idea of the strong, long haired, wise, quiet, and seemingly uninterested in the white man Native American male. They are usually seen in movies as the only one of their kind and this move does not deviate. Throughout the movie, Chief does not say much, but when he does, it is indeed meaningful. The only thing missing from this traditional view of Native American men is that h
e was not wearing the feathers, headband, a braid, or other clothing typically seen in movies with American Indians. He is a caricature of presumed Native American culture right down to the name they give him, Chief.

This character works to justify the social and economic marginalization of Native Americas throughout history in that it makes him seem helpless in the movie until the white man, Jack Nicholson’s character, is able to break him of his desire to stay quiet and submissive to the nurses and other officials in the establishment. Also, it also ranks the people in the movie as it was seen at the time. The doctors were white males, the nurses were white women, the help/ security were black males, and the patients were predominantly white men. This justifies the social inequality that the only way a white male could be lower than women or blacks or equal to that of a Native American is if he is seen as severely mentally ill. Since the movie allows this notion to prevail, we see how the media not only plays a role in our social lives but also how it affects world views as a whole. It justifies this ideal because it makes it seem that everyone is content in their role in society and that is how it always has been. As a whole population, people resist change and fear the unknown, which is why inequality continues to exist. As Malcom X stated in his famous quote, “You don't stick a knife in a man's back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you're making progress... No matter how much respect, no matter how much recognition, whites show towards me, as far as I am concerned, as long as it is not shown to every one of our people in this country, it doesn't exist for me.”