Native Americans Revolutionize TV

Native Americans are a group of people who often find themselves underrepresented on television, media, and throughout society. Television is slowly changing this, with shows like ‘Reservation Dogs’ and ‘Rutherford Falls’, Native Americans are telling their stories through TV.

Through their own voices, Native Americans are paving the way, allowing for a different narrative to be told about their demographic without interference or stereotypes. 

Native American depictions on television have for the most part been told through the voices of other races and demographics. Very rarely have native stories been told through the eyes, ears, and mouths of the people that these stories reflect and impact. Through shows like ‘Reservation Dogs’, featured on FX, stereotypes are allowed to be broken down and viewers are given an inside view into the lives that so few are spoken about and reflected on.

‘Rutherford Falls’, featured on Peacock, allows the lives of the Indigenous cast to show the humble and the spectacle about native life. Not only does it reflect on native history but it also shows an entanglement of white and native conflicts that add drama and education into the plot.  

Indigenous stories are important in the way of diversifying the media, allowing the public to see just how alike and yet unique people are in the end. By reflecting on native stories, we are able to see just how much the public has been misinformed and uninformed about Indigenous life.

It is certainly going to be a refreshing season for television this year.