// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did Native Americans on Network TV show reservations? They had a few plots.
 | This article needs more citations. (June 2026) |
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| Author | Michael Ray FitzGerald |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Rowman & Littlefield |
| Publication date | 2013 |
Native Americans on Network TV: Stereotypes, Myths, and the "Good Indian" (2013) is a book by Michael Ray FitzGerald, PhD, about American Indian characters on U.S. television.[1]
FitzGerald argues that the most notable (i.e., long-running) characters, such as Tonto (The Lone Ranger), Cochise (Broken Arrow), Mingo (Daniel Boone), and Cordell Walker (Walker, Texas Ranger) have been those who enforced Euro-American norms. The book examines the traditional role of stereotypes and their functions in the rhetoric of colonialism, offering a critical analysis of images of the "Good Indian"—minority figures who enforce the dominant group's norms. All of these, FitzGerald argues, are variations of Defoe's Carib character Friday from his 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe.
See also
[edit]- Inventing the Indian (2014)
References
[edit]- ↑ Charles, Jim (September 2017). "Native Americans in the Movies: Portrayals from Silent Films to the Present , Michael Hilger. Rowman and Littlefield, 2016". The Journal of American Culture. 40 (3): 288–290. doi:10.1111/jacc.12754. Retrieved June 27, 2026.
- Books about television
- Books about media bias
- Indigenous peoples in the United States
- Works about Native Americans
- Native Americans in popular culture
- History of civil rights in the United States
- Social history of the United States
- American non-fiction books
- 2013 non-fiction books
- 2013 English-language non-fiction books
- Rowman & Littlefield books