What gets Placed in the Cupboard is Often Forgotten...

From Flickr.com

            The 1995 Disney film, The Indian in the Cupboard  is focused around a young boy named Omri, who received a magic cupboard for his birthday.  When locked and opened it can turn inanimate toys to people. Omri placed his small Native American figurine in the cupboard and when Omri opened the cupboard it reviled a man by the name of Little Bear. Little Bear  a Iroquois Native American had what appeared to be tattoos or tribal paint on his arms, was shirtless, and solely had a leather piece of material covering his lower body. His thighs and chest were exposed, his English was depicted as broken or backwards, his head shaved, and he had a slicked back single ponytail going down his head. All of these characteristics fall into a stereotype because it encompasses what others perceive as a universal image of a Native American when really each tribe has their own unique culture.
            Throughout this film violence towards others was another stereotype associated with Native Americans.  First, Little Bear pricked Omri’s finger with a knife that hung around his neck after Omri frightened him. Additionally  Omri was watching a show where cowboys were savagely killing Native Americans. Boone a cowboy Omri’s friend brought to life had been cheering at the television show.  He shot his gun in the air and Little Bear shot a bow and arrow into Boone. While he survived it still associated violence with Native Americans and the pride of killing the Native Americans with the white cowboys.
             Little Bear’s role as the main character was both positive and negative. On the positive side, having a Native American as a main role in a popular film is positive because not many minorities have main roles in the media but instead often play subordinate roles to the leads. Lastly the part of Little Bear was played by a Native American man by the name of Litefoote which could also help shed light to the Native American community.
             While the film did depict some positives, it also depicted many negative stereotypes of Native Americans such as the broken English, the violence, and the clothing.  Another negative aspect of this film is that Omri is depicted as a white middle class male and in the film he had the ultimate control over Little Bear. Omri controlled when Little Bear became human and he made the final decision to turn him back, which could symbolize Omri’s white privilege. Omri could hold Little Foot in the palm of his hand, since he was the size of a toy figurine which adds to the idea that the “white man” still has control. The idea of putting a Native American in a cupboard at all undermines the culture as a whole. 
            All of this adds the social and economic marginalization of Native Americans because this profit focus constructed image has become what many people know instead of being educated on the history and beauty Native American culture has to offer. It is time that society stops putting Native Americans into a cupboard where they are hidden from the public and often forgotten. Instead they should be displayed for who they truly are and not for  not society's idea of who they are supposed to be.