th the US, and the Indian nation in question; at present, every single treaty has been broken by the United States government. The treaties, it would seem, were little more than wasted paper, time, and hope. The "need" for land outweighed the rights of the Indian nations, who, by this point in time were doing little more than mucking up Manifest Destiny-the belief that it was God's will for the US to stretch "from sea to shining sea." Writings of this time began to transform the noble savage into the backwards antagonistic warrior; furiously attempting to halt Manifest Destiny. Eventually the idea of Manifest Destiny would begin to fade, the images of a violent native, however, did nothing, if not flourish (Wilkinson).
             In 1893, with Thomas Edison's invention of the motion picture, the image rendered by these writings, as well as images and oral stories told nationwide would be taken a step further. In fact, Wilcomb E. Washburn of the Smithsonian Institute states that "The image of the American Indian, more than that of any other ethnic group, has been shaped by films.," (Washburn xi). Washburn goes on to suggest that perhaps this is because, while Hollywood has defined stereotypes for all ethnic groups, it is the American Indian's who present the best narrative; the lurking savage, the mischievous red-man, the exotically dressed hunter, decked out in war paint and tribal head dress. These are, of course, stereotypes, perpetrated by the initial writings, taken even further with the film versions of the backwards savage (Jojala 12-26).
             In 1925, George B. Seitz directed an adaptation of Zane Grey's novel, "The Vanishing American." The film opens with a quote which is to set the tone for the remainder of the movie: "We have unmistakable proof that throughout all past time there has been a ceaseless devouring of the weak by the strong... a survival of the fittest." T...