Theme: American Indian Mythology

American Indian (these days the preferred term Native American is used) mythology is occasionally used in genre cinema. What should be said is that there is no singular mythology common to all Native Americans – it consists of a variety of myths that greatly vary from tribe to tribe. These range from creation myths to stories of the afterlife for great warriors to legends about buffalo and trickster spirits.

All of that said, most screen depictions of Native American mythology is woefully uninformed. In 99% of the cases listed here, the writers and filmmakers have done little to no research on the mythology and instead used commonly held ideas. Thus genre works are filled with stories about haunted Indian burial grounds, Indian medicine men (which can be either good or evil), curses, wendigo spirits, or general all-purpose Indian artefacts that may serve as the fantasy equivalent of a McGuffin in a story.