The images portrayed are combinations of fact, fiction, commerce and art. Given the need to attract and engage mass audiences, popular attitudes are represented on film more than in novels and paintings. Filmmakers often choose to ignore reality in depicting ethnic groups or history. By portraying only parts of life , they often misrepresent the complexity of history and ethnic groups. Popular film stereotypes of Native Americans infer negative beliefs and prejudices about these people as groups not as individuals.
Films often serve as handbooks of social behavior.
They introduce many audiences to people, places and events that they would otherwise never know. Therefore, films often establish basic identity of those people, places or events. Ethnic groups themselves often choose misrepresentations as a strategy to draw attention to achievements or goals. Historians often argue against how films distort the past. Using non-fictional written documents and comparing them to films with historical events or people represented, historians and even the average viewer can prove misrepresentations.