The Importance Of Colour In 'Redskin'

'Redskin' is a 1929 film which was an early example of the use of two-strip technicolour in film. Not only was this use of colour important with regards to the great advances of filming techniques but would prove crucial to enhancing the experience and message behind this film in particular.
To begin with, the title itself can be disected to highlight its importance with regards to the motivation behind the film and the film's plot. It was part of a revolution in film theory that was tired of the stereotypical and prejudiced depiction of the Native American in cinema as the nomadic savage. 'Redskin' aimed to present a more true to life representation of the Native American man with full intelligence and humanity through the character of Wing Foot (as played by Richard Dix). Whilst some may view the title of 'Redskin' perhaps as stereotyping in itself, it is through a watching of the film, that we the audience see Wing Foot boldy procclaiming that he is "Proud to be a Redskin" after a vicious entounter with his fellow prejudiced white students has caused him to want to return to his true roots. Therefore the importance of colour in the title can arguably be said to encourage pride in the Native American culture as opposed to an attempt at stereotyping.
The most noticeable use of colour in the film is without question, the use of colour during the scenes with the Native tribes and the outdoors which is used to directly contrast the black and white of the scenes in the city, school and university. Whilst some accounts of the film detail that this was purely for reasons of budget constraints, I argue that this was a deliberately iconic use of colour decision made by the director. The black and white of the city can be seen to extenuate the dull oppressiveness of the white man's culture through the eyes of the Natives in comparison to their previous, nature-filled surroundings. This is the most obvious metaphor to highlight with regards to the absence of colour, a more subtle angle could be to highlight the notion that as he has tried to assimilate so hard into this society, he is no longer recogniseable as a Native American. This notion is also carried through the fact that Dix himself was a white actor, when he first returns home to his father, he is clearly pale-faced, however, in a key use of makeup colour, the longer he spends in the wilderness, the darker and redder his skin turns, showing that he is returning to his Native roots.
The tribal grounds themselves are full of colour, red is particularly dominant on clothing and rugs perhaps to highlight the notion of pride in being a 'redskin' but also to display that they are a vibrant culture and firmly stand out in the dull and arid dirt desert. It is also key to note that whenever the white charatcers are on the tribal lands, their costumes are usually of dull pastal colours again as a deliberate attempt to display that the important characters that the audience should focus on are the Natives.
It is clear that the importance of colour as symbolism is still important and a great cinematic technique thanks to this example in 'Redskin'. Without it, such films as 'Sin City' or 'Sophie Schroll: The Final Days' would never have existed.