Historical And Contemporary Stereotypes Of Native American Indian Women

The Disney film Pocahontas can be viewed as a false portrayal of American history. Although it may have been made for entertainment purposes, Pocahontas is regarded to be a coming of age film for children due to its didacticism. The life lessons that one could possibly take away from the film are considerably positive, but the depiction of Native American and European cultures is deceitful. Most Disney films involve “epic romances,” in the case of Pocahontas one is not necessarily needed to convey the message of the film. Even though historical films cannot always be accurate to actual events, this film manages to stray away from the actual historical story of Pocahontas entirely. Due to this, children are presented with false information

The work of Wendy Red Star, a Crow artist, revolves heavily around her native culture and the differences between that culture and the stereotype culture of the media. She combines this idea along with some feminist ideas in her statement piece White Squaw. Wendy Red Star's White Squaw photographs demonstrate both an underlying theme of the objectification of women into the present day as well as the continued stereotyping of Native American peoples.

Pocahontas is a Walt Disney Pictures animation released in 1995 following the Disney Princess franchise. The movie is about Pocahontas, a native American lady whose home is invaded by Englishmen who wishes to exploit the land’s resources and to “civilize” the people living there. However, one of the Englishmen, John Smith, fell in love with Pocahontas. This essay studies the stereotypes of native American and them being essentialized in the media as being savages, sexism and also over romanticization, as represented in the movie.

Another issue is how Native Americans internalize the stereotypes that are forced upon them. In a study conducted by Fryberg, Markus, Oyserman, and Stone (2008), they found three common stereotypes of Native Americans in mass media: Spiritual people who are in tune with nature, warriors, or people with stereotypically bad outcomes, such as alcoholism. It is important to note that not all of these stereotypes are negative, and in fact a few of them are positive. What Fryberg et al. (2008) found, however, was that regardless if the stereotype was seen as positive or negative, all three of those variations caused harm in the form of “students’ feelings of personal and community worth, and achievement-related possible selves” (p. 216). It did

These examples are just two of the many examples Luana Ross gives in Inventing the Savage on how women of color (particularly Native Americans) are treated unfairly while in prison, but this unfair treatment occurs far before entering prison. Ross did an excellent job at portraying this in the first part of this book. Part one gives a historical outlook on how Native Americans became subject to the cruelty of the

The stereotype of women workers has changed dramatically. They are no longer treated as second class citizens. Immigrant women are the reason for this change in this society especially those who emigrated from Ireland and Italy.

For centuries the Native American people have been portrayed and stereotyped through different media sources some are from the past and some are present ideas that people in our society still hold to be true. They were and or are seen as savages, doomed warriors, princesses, and wise elders. American Indian men are often eroticized and portrayed as the object of white women’s Illicit lust and Native American Women are seen as beautiful, erotic, noble, and fully dedicated to her white lover. Both have the primary focus of serving white interests-by providing sexual satisfaction. The impact of the media through the 18th, 19th, and 20th century helped create the stereotype of these qualities today. Media such as movies and television shows were major contributors to the impact of race on Native Americans. With the majority of the population consuming films on a regular basis, it is likely that the stereotypes portrayed in films also

Native Americans Native Americans have endured racism through genocide and stereotypes. A few examples of stereotypes that I can recall are that they all hunt for food using bows and arrows, that they are all alcoholics and poor and that they all live on reservation (only 25% do). Additionally, genocide hurt Native Americans as many died from disease and there land was taken away by American development. Due to genocide, many people believe that Native Americans are extinct and I believed this too. Before this essay, I was not aware of how civilized Native Americans were.

When you think about how the United States began, you think about Christopher Columbus coming over with his three ships, then you think about colonization; the forming/buying of other states, etc. Maybe just once you think about the people who were already here when Columbus got off those boats, the Native Americans. How in true reality this is THEIR country. They were here before the United States of America, became the nation it is today. We don’t really take the time to think of this because we chose to only see the good part that benefitted all of us even though it hurt the Native Americans.

Until fairly recently the popular culture of American literature and film did not attempt to study the true representations of Indians in North America. Instead they chose to concentrate on the romanticized/savage version of Native people: which is an idealistic view of a Native with long, beautiful flowing hair riding on a horse obsessed with chanting and praying to the savageness of a rowdy, wild Native causing unnecessary mayhem to the white people. This portrayal of Native people in mass media had led to the stereotyping of Natives, which in turn had ricocheted into real life. Not only do non-natives succumb to these ideals, but Natives do as well.

By far the most questionable stereotype and misinterpretation in the film is the way Disney chose to portray Pocahontas, specifically her age, characteristics, and body image, which according to historical records and cultural belief, was completely inaccurate and therefor unauthentic. The article Using Critical Race Theory to Analyze How Disney Constructs Diversity, once again provides insight into the differences between the Disney film and the authentic native culture. It says, “When Compared to White Disney heroines, Pocahontas is portrayed as sexier, more sensual, and exotic, bare skin

Throughout world history, it is evident that Native Americans have struggled in society ever since the landing of Christopher Columbus in North America. Ever since the film industry began in the 1890s, Native Americans have been depicted in many negative ways by film makers. One particular way film makers degrade Native Americans by making their white characters convert into Indians or “go Native” and eventually they always become better than the original Indians in the film. This notion has been repeated in many films, three significant films were it is evident is in The Searchers, Little Big Man, and Dances with Wolves.

[1] Native Americans were part of this country long before our founding forefathers. They were the people that Christopher Columbus found inhabiting this land. There is even evidence to show that they have been on the American continents for thousands and even tens of thousands of years. Yet, somehow the European powers dominated these people, forcing them from their land to make it “ours.” In the early part of the twentieth century, a new industry began to develop; we call it the film industry. Along with the industry came movies that were made and are still made for the amusement of a mass audience. Some flaws did come with this industry, and among them was the

Back in 1995, as a 20 year old woman, I was, absolutely, still in love with everything Disney. I was still very much enamored with the romance and fairy tale aspects of all their stories and movies. So when the Walt Disney Company released the animated feature “Pocahontas” in the summer of my 20th year, I had to see it. At the time, I thought I had hit the jackpot with this movie. “An American legend comes to life” is the tagline to get viewers interested in this movie. [1] A heroin, whom was a beautiful Indian and a love story, who could ask for more from a Disney movie, I thought to myself. Now, being ignorant of the true facts about the Indian woman Pocahontas and even about Indian culture and history itself, I took this story more

Since the beginning of the colonial process, Indigenous bodies have been seen as disposable. The dehumanization of the Indigenous body and the creation of the other, has allowed for the destruction of Indigenous Femininity. A system rooted in epistemic violence created by the colonial era. Continues to affect how Indigenous women are treated in modern societies. The demotion from “Indian Queen”, an exotic and powerful presence in colonial societies, to the “Dirty Squaw”, a figure depicted as lazy, and troublesome. Indigenous women have struggled to be seen as human people, rather than sexual object in the minds of the white settlers. A systematic dehumanization though through the process of epistemic violence. Which continues to affect how Indigenous women are treated today.