Remaking everything may be Hollywood's current norm, but when there are so many stories to be told, why do certain ones keep getting retold while others are never told at all? Factor in North American aboriginals and the problem becomes more acute. When aboriginals remain underrepresented in most North American media, why do films like The New World perpetually revive well-worn tales like the legend of Pocahontas? Why not explore present-day aboriginal experiences or perspectives, as films such as the American Smoke Signals or the Canadian Dance Me Outside did?

In a conference call with the Georgia Straight, Linc Kesler, UBC First Nations studies program director, explained that stories like Pocahontas's maintain an ideological status quo. "The fact that this is in the past, and that it needs to be repeated over and over again, is culturally important because it's a founding narrative for the culture which has replaced it….It's a very fundamental part of the American cultural myth." By relegating aboriginal life to the past, their contemporary existence remains ignored. "In that narrative, Native people have a very important role, which is to be here [in North America] to make it distinct, and then to die," Kesler said. "If you're subjected to that image culture repeatedly-that to realize that your function in life is to die-when I finally realized how critical that was, it actually affected my life considerably, because I could then take a position with regard to it."

Complicating matters, modern aboriginal life is often never seen. On December 1, American media advocacy groups, including Native Americans in Television and Film, announced their annual evaluations of minority presence on American television. Native Americans were found to be invisible for another year. In Canada, after the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Task Force for Cultural Diversity on Television reported in July 2004 that aboriginal representation on Canadian TV was "negligible", the Strategic Alliance of Broadcasters for Aboriginal Reflection was formed by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, broadcasters, and industry- related organizations to address this problem. Aboriginal portrayals on Canadian TV currently range from Lorne Cardinal on CTV's Corner Gas to actors on CBC programs Kesler cites, like Evan Adams (Smoke Signals) on Da Vinci's City Hall and the entire cast of North of 60. Kesler also credits the National Film Board of Canada, "which supports a lot of projects that are of a kind that are not seen in the U.S."

Yet a shortage of material isn't the problem. "Distribution is an issue," fourth-year First Nations studies student Karmenn Crey said during the conference call with Kesler. Both Kesler and Crey are a part of the Aboriginal History Media Arts Lab, a three-year project helmed by Métis and Cree filmmaker Loretta Todd as principle investigator. The endeavour is designed to bring together academics and film-industry professionals in a focused discussion about how aboriginal history is presented in media. "Especially since the overwhelming majority of Canadian screens are owned by American distributors," Crey said. "So they are going to show American mythologies, which is what Hollywood films have to be. A comfortable myth is one that is going to sell." Crey pointed out that the unconventional documentary or video formats that aboriginal filmmakers work in, and content that may "unsettle your expectations…or invoke some sense of guilt, or discomfort, or anger", often have trouble finding venues.

Vancouver director Nilesh Patel's documentary Brocket 99-Rockin' the Country captures many of these reactions-from defensive to outraged-in response to a controversial comedic audio tape made by Albertan nonaboriginals that employed racist aboriginal stereotypes in a faux morning radio show. The tape circulated in Canada in the mid-'80s. In a phone interview, Patel described his film as "a dialogue between aboriginal and nonaboriginals" and "a dialogue about racism, a dialogue about Canada". Patel hopes his film helps to open up the discussion to improve relations. "Things can be better if we understand each other as people as opposed to two groups that are diametrically opposed to each other, one as conqueror and one as conquered."

The tape's revival on the Internet and its popularity with a global audience, however, underscores how far stereotypes can reach internationally. "Images of Canadian aboriginals or American Indians are widely known throughout the world," Kesler said, "and yet…the majority of people who have a concept of what a Native person from North America is like have never met anyone and are not basing their ideas on anything that has any actual connection with the reality for Native people."

For a broader depiction of aboriginal life in film, Crey recommended Vancouver's annual indigenous film and video festival, IMAGeNation (www.imag-nation.com/), to be held June 21-25 this year. These films may not boast the big budgets Hollywood films do, but with increased awareness, perhaps North American audiences, broadcasters, and filmmakers will discover a new world of aboriginal life to represent.