“Evolutionary Stages of Minorities in the Mass Media”: An Application of Clark's Model to American Indian Television Representations

Abstract

In a 1969 editorial in Television Quarterly, communications scholar Cedric C. Clark wrote that minorities are often subjected to predictable stages of treatment in media depictions, particularly on television. According to Clark there are 4 stages of minority representations: non-recognition, ridicule, regulation, and respect. This study uses this framework to examine representations of American Indians to ascertain whether it has universal utility as a guide to understanding minority representations. The research demonstrates that U.S. television has primarily used 2 ways of dealing with American Indians: they are either relegated to the distant past or shown as enforcers of the dominant group's norms, sometimes both.

KEYTERMS:

• American Indians
• media representations
• Native Americans
• television representation

Notes

Notes. Table includes “half-breed” characters (Chief Mingo [Daniel Boone], Hondo Lane [Hondo], and Cordell Walker [Walker: Texas Ranger]). Dates refer to the duration of the characters' appearances, not to the duration of the series. One of the criteria for “central role” was whether the character appears in the series' publicity photos.

*Asterisk indicates enforcer figure or Regulator. Some are not official regulators but behave as such.

Fuentez and White pointed out that Clark's model is not based on scientific or empirical data. TVQ, however, was not a rigorous scholarly publication and asked Clark to remove the academic aspects of the article in favor of simpler polemics. “[T]he original version was much more academic—perhaps too much so. The editor wanted a more popular piece.” (Syed M. Khatib [formerly Cedric C. Clark], E-mail correspondence. Dec. 3, 2007).

I acknowledge complications arising from Churchill's reputation, especially in falsely claiming Cherokee heritage (he is merely an honorary member of the United Keetoowah Band). Despite the various accusations directed toward him—and whether or not they are true—Churchill's his work is generally insightful, well-researched, and well-argued.

The author indicates there were only nine recurring African American characters on U.S. network television during this period.

The “Irish-cop” stereotype could still be seen on television as late as 1963 on Car 54, Where Are You?, which starred Fred Gwynne and Joe E. Ross as Irish-American police officers Toody and Muldoon. The series also contained two black police officers, played by Nipsey Russell and Frederick O'Neal.

Clark's data contained some errors. The author's research indicated that there were 18 African American characters on U.S. network TV in 1969, not 15 as Clark indicated; moreover, there were three other minority characters he neglected to mention.

Other examples of this pairing would include Jack Benny and Rochester (Eddie Anderson) on The Jack Benny Program (1950–1965); Daniel Boone (Fess Parker) and Mingo (Ed Ames) on Daniel Boone (1964–1970); The Green Hornet (Van Williams) and Kato (Bruce Lee) on The Green Hornet (1966–1967); Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) on Miami Vice (1984–1989); Nash Bridges (Don Johnson) and Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges (1996–2001), and probably many more (Zackel, 2007).

Few of the characters mentioned in this study were played by American Indian actors. Silverheels (born Howard Smith), an excellent actor, as demonstrated by his powerful but uncredited performance as Geronimo in the movie Broken Arrow (1950), performed the hackneyed Tonto role with the highest possible degree of dignity.

Both were drawn from a 1947 “historical novel” titled Blood Brothers by Elliot Arnold, who served as story editor for the television series.

John Wayne produced the 1953 movie version (adapted from a short story by Louis L'Amour) and played protagonist Hondo Lane, a “half-breed” army scout.

According to Reynolds himself, his father was Cherokee and Irish-American (Reynolds, 1994, pp. 96–97; Time, 1972, par. 1). By 1966, Reynolds had had appeared in several Indian roles and as a “half-breed” blacksmith on Gunsmoke from 1962 to 1965 (1994, pp. 96–97).

The literary precedent for the Navajo lawman character may have been Tony Hillerman's 1971 reservation detectives Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn.

In the final televised version, the term Anglos was changed to “everyone else.”

Walker had played a white drifter and vigilante who had been raised by Plains Indians in ABC's Cheyenne (1955–1963) but despite his nickname was not particularly sympathetic to Indians.

CBS's Northern Exposure (1990–1995) was a major exception to Clark's regulator rule, arguably one of the few instances of portrayals of American Indians reaching the stage of respect. Set in contemporary Alaska, it incorporated several interesting and individualized Indian characters, none of whom were regulators. About 20% of Northern Exposure's episodes significantly dealt with Indians or their concerns (author's research).

Moreover, other than Trivette, there are few black actors, even as extras, in a city that is actually 23% African American.

Norris has been a devout Southern Baptist since the age of 12 (Norris, 2004, pp. 29–30).

Arabs and Arab-American portrayals are “among the most unsympathetic and derogatory on U.S. media” (Harris, 1999, p. 59; Beale, 2007). Khatib/Clark himself agreed with this assessment (Personal communication with author, December 17, 2007).