American Indians In The Film The Exiles By Kent Mackenzie

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In the movie “the exiles”, Kent Mackenzie illustrates the urban life of a group of young American Indians living in Los Angeles after urban relocation. They struggle to overcome many obstacles and try to survive in the city, yet they all hold their own visions for their city life.
Many American Indians left the reserve, hoping to find a good job, a nice home and education for their children (Rocky Mountain PBS). However, when they arrived at the city, they found that everything they knew was gone and they felt lost in the city. Just like the characters in the film “the exiles”, many American Indians face similar challenges every day. As mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, American Indians came to the city for home, job and education.
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Instead there is always the police officers walking around and constantly watching everyone’s move. This “gaze” is rather uncomfortable and it forces people to act in a certain way. Another obstacle American Indians face regards their identity and roots. They feel lost and confused in the city because they are in-between the status of “white” and “black” (Rocky Mountain PBS). They are rootless and feel disconnected to everyone and everything around them. There is nothing meaningful for them in the city so their lives become aimless. They don’t feel connected to this land compared to their land on reserve, where the life is laid-back and they feel they belong there. They don’t have any goals to achieve. In addition, many American Indian women suffer from sexual assault and their voice are never heard. In the movie, one of the women is assaulted by one of the men. People paid attention to the man but paid no attention to the woman, who just sat in the car for the whole night. American Indian women have this problem and they live in the shadow compare to men. Yvonne is one of the main character in “the exiles” and she faces the obstacle of …show more content…
This practice is seen as “survivance”, where survival and resistance comes together (Johanson). American Indians who live in the city try to survive in the city, but they also try to resist to the government and the society for assimilating them into the dominant white society and become just like everyone else. In the movie, Homer wishes to be at a place where he is not being watched by other people. For most part of the movie, Homer hangs around with his friends drinking but he doesn’t seem to be enjoying it. He feels uncomfortable being watched by other people and being told of what to do. It’s not until he went up to “Hill X” that he finally started enjoying himself. Many American Indians gather on the top of the “Hill X” and they play drums, chant, and dance. No “outsider” was there to watch him so he sees this place as paradise and finally started smiling. This event reminded him of how his life was before he moved to the city and it is only here that he can find his roots and identity. It also linked back to the theme of survivance, where all these American Indians fight back the society and try not to be assimilated into the “white society”. They gather at “Hill X” and continue their traditional culture. This is their way to fight back the government for trying to assimilate them. For Yvonne, she dreams of a nice place where she can raise her kids and have a happier

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