Savagery and American Indians

Every documentary ever made never just presents facts and realities. The viewer is always encouraged to adopt certain attitudes and opinions about the facts and realities presented. This statement is defiantly true when it comes to the documentary “Savagery and The American Indian”. In this particular documentary various methods are used to influence the viewer such as the narrators, dramatic recreations, old footage, point of view, music, sequence of events, scene selection and the conclusion offered at the end of the documentary. These techniques are used with specific selection of detail which encourages the viewer further. All these various techniques are used to push over a message of sympathy for American Indians and generally an anti-European/pro-Indian stance. The documentary itself discusses the development of American Indian culture and the arrival of European setters in the early 17th century and onwards. The battles, disagreements, brutality and politics behind the so called ‘eradication’ of American Indians is looked to in depth and the suffering which was inflicted on the American Indians and the pain that is still felt today. The documentary dives into the culture of the Indians and displays how it has be

This dramatic recreation is used to cast dark light on the settlers and us to feel great deal of sympathy for the Indians. The recreation shows guns going off with flames superimposed in the background. This will help the audience quickly side with the Indians when the settlers are brought into fray of things. The main narrator used is the mature elderly man. All these different sources provide the same conclusion that the settlers had no right in what they did and no justification for what they did. From that point onwards in the documentary the numerous executions by the settlers are explored in depth from the moment they arrived until their eventual eradication of the American Indian. We begin to trust what the narrators says and as most of their words are backed up by visuals what they say is very credible. Everything this narrator says is going to be taken on board by the viewer and this holds him in a position of high influence. The drawings provide the viewer with a credible, primary source to draw their opinions from and the conclusion which is encouraged by the display of death of Indians is a dislike of the settlers. His calm and soothing voice masks an infinite sadness. The documentary is very subjective to the film makers ideals and opinions and this is why no documentary can ever present no biased. The choice of displaying the death of mainly women and children portrays the settlers as praying on the innocent and the repetition of the gun shots leaves us to believe it"tms a full on slaughter. These scenes are always peaceful and tranquil and in one particular scene the Indian man talks over the top while the camera watches a bird fly through the wilderness. The conclusions of the documentary aim to leave the view bitter towards what had occurred and the injustice which took place. Also the way he speaks and the things he speaks about such as his fellow men being killed encourage a deep sympathy for Indians and his pain.