"Tribalism" in The River

Humans are innately ethnocentric. Dr. Said researches orientalism, or the ethnocentric views of the middle east, but what about other parts of the world? Televised media is rampant with foreign stereotypes. Most recently, I noticed an ethnocentric portrayal of a group that is less popular, but still extremely misrepresented: indigenous tribes. The Steven Spielberg show, The River, takes place in the Amazon and in the third episode, the characters cross paths with a tribe and their actions are calculated and terribly misunderstood.

Since the colonization of America, native tribes have been viewed as savages, polytheists, and below any deserving class status as assumed by the colonists. They are misunderstood, and thus feared by westerners who have taken their rights, their lands, and their lives in droves. In The River, their portrayal was no less misunderstood or misrepresented. The tribe was savage, causing blindness for the characters, judging them on their behavior and if deemed undeserving of travel on their land, they would be killed.

I cannot think of any instances in which tribes are portrayed positively. They are victims due to their own decision to live off the land instead of embracing the power of technology. But as Americans, we are in terrible debt and have a huge dependency on foreign oil, but those who utilize the land without destroying it are to be feared and are nearly "stripped" of their intelligence in the media and represented by 'kill or be killed" instinctual beings. This "tribalism" has caused pain and suffering for thousands of individuals in the past and present and should not be tolerated.