Mercurie on magical Indians

An excerpt from Mercurie's The Invisible Minority:  Native Americans on American Television Part Three:Interest in Native American mysticism and religion had emerged in the general public starting in the Sixties and Seventies. With the New Age movement such interest virtually exploded in the Eighties. Unfortunately, the New Age movement and the mass media would oversimplify the beliefs, rituals, and religion of the Native peoples, often ignoring the vast differences in religion between the many tribes (Cherokee beliefs are about as similar to Apache beliefs as Christianity is to Buddhism...). This and other factors at the time would result in the emergence of what has come to be called "the magical Native American stereotype." To a large degree the magical Native American can be considered the combination of the noble savage and wise elder stereotypes. Like the noble savage, the magical Native American exists on a higher moral plane than other people. Like the wise elder the magical Native American has access to ancient wisdom. Essentially, the magical Native American stereotype is any Native character who possesses incredible magical or mystical abilities. Sadly, the magical Native American would be a very common stereotype in the Nineties.Comment:  For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.

Below:  Kyla the Indian wolf-girl on Smallville.