Kevin Costner hits back at “delicate” critics of his new film over Native American representation

nme.com:

Kevin Costner has hit back at critics who have complained about the representation of Native Americans in his new film Horizon: An American Saga.The movie is the first of four planned chapters, which tells a number of stories over the course of 12 years in the American West.

But some critics have noted that the beginning of the film appears to perpetuate certain stereotypes about Indigenous people, initially representing them as brutal “savages” who attack the white townsfolk.However, as the film progresses, it delves deeper into the lives of the Native characters and the struggles imposed upon them by the white settlers.In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Costner, who stars in, directs and co-writes the western epic, expressed his frustration with the critics who have been too impatient to see how the story unfolds.“I’m just so tired of everybody trying to be so delicate about things,” he said. “[The Native Americans] were pissed.

I don’t feel like I have to [hold someone’s hand]. ‘Oh my God, here we go again. Indians are the bad guys.’ Of course, they’re not the bad guys.

But if you’re going to be limited, if people aren’t willing to watch how something unfolds, I don’t know what to say.”Costner said he also wanted to show the strife between different tribes that arose due to the Western expansion. “That was brought about because of those tents [of settlers],” he explained.