Artists say that a shift is underway in Hollywood. They're shedding the sidekick or villain image for more modern and well rounded representations that give a fuller picture of American life. As the entertainment industry seeks to portray a more diverse swath of American life, one place that is making some progress is in programming that features indigenous culture. Recent examples span genres and time periods, pray is a sci-fi horror action flick set on an 18th century great plains. Dark winds, based on the books by Tony hillerman, is a noir crime thriller series on AMC, set in the 1970s, southwest. And the team comedy drama, reservation dogs, takes place in contemporary rural Oklahoma. Whether on the big screen or streaming on a laptop, the content is setting new standards for authenticity, and the representation of native people. This progress hasn't happened overnight, native artists say, and more is still needed. But beyond moving past old stereotypes, the shift is bringing a new sense of empowerment to native audiences. For decades, the only space native people had was to be extras in movies, or to be consultants, correcting mistakes on technical issues, says Paul chat Smith, a Comanche author and essayist, and curator at the Smithsonian's national museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.. What's new is you have native people in leading positions. He adds. That's a shift people have been waiting for for a long time. The story was reported by Henry gas for