Who is Lily Gladstone, and What's Her Problem With Yellowstone, Anyway?

Taylor Sheridan's projects are quite different from your typical overromanticized Western story, never shying away from depicting violence, murder, and lawlessness. But is his epic series Yellowstone really a revisionist view on US history?

Actress Lily Gladstone believes the Dutton family saga is as 'delusional' as any movie or TV show in the genre.

Gladstone's Opinion on Yellowstone

'Delusional! Deplorable!' the actress described Yellowstone. 'No offense to the Native talent in that. I auditioned several times.'

With that, Lily Gladstone added that she is not judging the Natives who work with Sheridan because career opportunities in the film and TV industry are incredibly scarce for Native American actors. In this light, it's worth noting that the ongoing scandal of Kelsey Asbille (who played Monica Dutton) falsely claiming to be part Cherokee seems all the more outrageous.

However, Yellowstone's lack of Native American cast is not the main problem with the show. Apparently, Taylor Sheridan's project tends to only use Native characters as a tool to convey capitalists' glorification of private property — but the Natives themselves are shown to be just as money- and power-hungry as the descendants of colonial settlers, which seems to justify their corrupt struggle for land.

Needless to say, this kind of representation is offensive, as it completely erases centuries of extermination and evictions of American indigenous people.

Who is Gladstone anyway?

But why does Gladstone's opinion matter? First, the actress is of Blackfeet and Nimíipuu heritage, having grown up on the Blackfeet Nation Reservation. She is the person whose ancestors survived bloody persecution, and someone who still feels that her heritage is a toy in the hands of money-makers.

Lily Gladstone has starred in Martin Scorsese's new movie Killers of the Flower Moon, scheduled for release on Apple TV+ on October 20. The plot revolves around one of the bloodiest events in American history — the Oklahoma Murders of the 1910s–1930s, when dozens of Osage Native Americans were killed because White people wanted to take over their land.

How is the Sheridanverse Different from Scorsese's New Film?

The actress claims that Scorsese's new movie shows the Native American problem in a completely different light, compared to Taylor Sheridan's franchise. While this film is also produced by White people, the crew has collaborated with the Osage Nation on the project to ensure the most accurate representation of their experience.

Unlike Yellowstone and many similar Western projects, Killers of the Flower Moon is not a mythologized story of White people conquering the continent, but a true American tragedy where real Native American voices will finally be heard.

Source: Vulture.