Racism Towards Native Americans In Disney's Peter Pan And Pocahontas

The portrayal of Indigenous peoples in the film is a perfect--albeit more blatantly racist that would be seen nowadays—example of being allowably Indigenous. Through broken English, red skin, dancing and exclamations of war cry’s by putting a hand over their mouths and making a ‘whoo whoo’ noise (which through a slightly difficult Google search seems to be called ululating), these are the ways that settler ideals envision how Indigenous peoples are supposed to express their culture. Vowels’ account of being solely allowed to convey Indigenous identity in ways that conform to the dominant settler sociopolitical representations--like those shown in Peter Pan--that are currently in

I’m not the Indian you had in mind; a video that was written and directed by Thomas King challenges the stereotypical image that America has towards Native Americans. King is also the author of a short novel “A seat in the Garden”. This short story also challenges the established perspective that American society has towards the Native Americans. There are various stereotypes and perspectives that a majority of the public has toward a particular group. For example some of the common stereo types that are seen throughout the media are that all Asians are good at math, women are primarily sex objects, All Africans like fried chicken, and all Mexicans are gangsters. These stereo types are not completely true for an entire group, yet they

In the production of the movie “Pocahontas”, Disney should have acknowledged that not all of the historical information included was completely true. Many people were angry with Disney that they had misportrayed the history of Pocahontas and her tribe. In the article, “Bias in Disney Movies: Pocahontas”, Tom Roderick states that “the film’s ‘pro-social’ messages about racial tolerance and talking out disagreements ring hollow” (Roderick 126). Throughout the film, there are many instances where Disney changed up the history a little bit. In their defense, Disney was just trying to entertain but they should have checked with the Powhatan tribe because they were beyond mad. In the novel, “The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History”,

In the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, directed by Milos Forman, the portrayal of the only Native American called Chief Bromden starts off as stereotypical, but slowly unravels towards the end. However, despite including harmful stereotypes, the film succeeds overall in overshadowing any negative aspects. Despite not being the main character, Chief Bromden is able to leave a lasting impression that breaks down and discontinues many harmful stereotypes about Native Americans. Even though Chief Bromden is not given a chance to tell his own story from his point of view, as he is in the book version, he is still allowed to present himself as a complex human being instead of a just a stoic, noble Indian.

The Disney adaptation of Peter Pan has been seen as racist and stereotypical due to the way the Indians were portrayed in the film. The Indians were portrayed as wild, stoic, broad-nosed, red-faced men in typical feather headdresses. The song, “What Made the Red Man Red”, is considered politically incorrect to modern eyes and ears. In the song, the Indians tell they get the color of their skin by maintaining a permanent blush due to their pursuit of Indian women. Asking "How?" and saying “Ugh” are described as being major catalysts for Indian education. The Chief speaks in a stereotypical fashion (“Chief heap glad that Peter Pan rescue Tiger Lily”; “Teachum paleface brother all about Red Man.”). They’re often called savages

Walt Disney shows us how his strong feelings and or values shown in his films were all meant in a good way. “Our heritage and ideals, our codes and standards - the things we live by and teach our children - are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings”. Disney uses language predominately as means to imply the race of a character. Language has the ability to signal race and has been influenced to exploit racial stereotypes, which are displayed in Disney films. The problem arises when movies do not portray these values. Disney Classics that our generation adored as children are now thought to showcase many questionable values in their storylines. There is a clear representation of stereotypes through the use of language in many of these classics. An example of sexist stereotypes can be seen in Cinderella, where the young girl is helpless until the Prince falls in love with her. Most Disney movies exhibit lessons not desirable for children as this sets a precedent

It seems like the entertainment icon Walt Disney Company has been around since the beginning of time, entertaining the public with its lifelike and imaginative animations and characters. Nearly every parent and child that was born in the last century has experienced a Disney animated film at some point in their lifetime, which has left either a negative or positive impression on them. The experiences with Disney films leaves most viewers with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside or the feeling of happiness, because the films themselves take the viewer on a ride out of their reality into the World of imagination, fairytales, and fantasy. On the contrary some ethnic viewers leave Disney films feeling misrepresents, disrespected, and upset regarding the way that Disney choses to represent race and cultures other than Caucasian in their films. The Disney company discriminates against people of ethnic backgrounds, does not take into consideration the cultural differences between ethnic groups and deliberately stereotypes and homogenizes all racial groups and protagonist in their films.

The image of Native Americans primarily consumed by all of America is more often offensive, stereotypical, or downright fictional. And this is all because a non-indigenous person is always the one teaching us about indigenous people, thus their bias is forever unconsciously tied to the “facts”, which could very well be just a “common sense racism” agreed upon by many others. For those who have no contact with a minority group, television is their best source of information on said group, and both the news and entertainment shows us what gets the best reaction; the Dakota Pipeline won’t get news coverage because it’s peaceful and not affecting 60% of America, but soon as black people snapped in during the Watts Riots of ’65 and they white life was in danger, everyone had their cameras pointed. And some went as far as to not know why the civil black man was no so up in arms all of a sudden, despite the recent court ruling of the police responsible for the assault of Rodney King. There is no looking at the cause of the anger, just like the argument to change many sports mascots from racial caricatures of Native Americans seems completely invalid for someone unwilling to see why it might offend someone. The only way to obliterate stereotypes fueling miseducation of the minority is to have everyone correctly educated on each minority group, through schools is good but through media (television mostly) is even better.

The prominent narrative in the film is that John Smith is the true hero and is deserving of Pocahontas’s love for his acts of passion. However, John Smith was historically a narcissistic person. The article The Myths abound the New World went in depth to say, “Smith also had a wide self-promoting streak. He penned thrilling adventure stories of his exploits, with himself as the swashbuckling hero.” With those credentials it would be hard to pressed to make John Smith a hero due to his exaggerated tales. Another false narrative spread throughout the movie was that Pocahontas had a mature body in the film. Suggesting that she was older when in reality she was no more than twelve or thirteen years old. Which is pedophelic on Disney’s part. With the continuation of false narratives, the true relations between natives and settlers were enshrouded in inaccuracies.

To play the white man, they used a black man with white powder on his face. For the Native American, they used a white man with red powder on his face. And the young black boy, they used a young white boy with black powder on his face. By doing this it was almost as if each race was seeing how times were back then in another races point of view. For me it was the most important aspect of the play. By that simple act it seemed as if the message of the story was that regardless of our skin color we are all the same people. Color shouldn't be something that separates us as people or a

A very well known Disney movie Peter Pan, released in 1953, displayed traces of racism. The most racist aspect of this movie was when the Lost Boys and Peter visited Tiger Lily’s family. The song, “What Made the Red Man Red”, where the natives tell their story through stereotypical dance while singing. This song is considered to be racist and offensive because of its exaggerated stereotypes. The lyrics and what’s going on in the song are racist toward Native Americans. The “Red Man” explains to the Lost Boys and Wendy of his people and culture. He starts off with why Native Americans ask you “How?” According to the song, the Indians are displayed as savages who do not know how to do anything except dance, sing, and smoke. The song overly uses the word “How” in the wrong context.

As a little girl I loved Disney movies, but after rewatching them I am more aware of their implications and find myself questioning if their praise and popularity is deserved. When the movie Pocahontas came out, many thought they were taking a step in the right direction.The story of a young Native American woman who falls in love with a colonizer was their first display of an intercultural relationship. The settlers arrive in Jamestown, Virginia seeking gold and Pocahontas’s tribe is in shock by their large numbers and the tools they possess. In their first encounters with each other the Native Americans’ spying is misinterpreted to be an attack starting the battle between the two. These events are based off a true story but they stray

Pocahontas and John Smith are viewed by many people as a couple who loved each other, a tale of a native american girl who saves an English explorer, and later falls in love with him.This story has been around for awhile, and became very popular when Disney came out with its movie Pocahontas, this movie shows how a romantic relationship forms between Pocahontas a Native American and John Smith an English explorer while tension rises between the English colonists and the Native Americans. The story of Pocahontas showed how strong love could be but in reality did it really? Was it really a love story? Did it really happen they way it was told? Pocahontas and John Smith were real people, but Disney”s Movie pocahontas did not display them the right way. Disney had put a rose colored filter to make

It seems like the entertainment icon Walt Disney Company has been around since the beginning of time, entertaining the public with its lifelike and imaginative animations and characters. Nearly every parent and child that has been born in the last century has experienced a Disney animation or film at some point in their lifetime, which has left either a negative or positive impression on them. The experiences with Disney films leaves most viewers with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside or the feeling of happiness, because the films themselves take the viewer on a ride out of their reality into the World of imagination, fairytales, and fantasy. On the contrary some ethnic viewers leave Disney films feeling misrepresents, disrespected, and upset regarding the way that Disney choses to represent race and cultures other than Caucasian in their films. Minorities claim that the Disney Company is racist, and does not take into consideration the cultural differences between ethnic groups but instead deliberately stereotypes and homogenizes all racial groups and protagonist in their films.

In the infamous movie Pocahontas(1995), the Disney franchise has a way of covering the truth behind the real story and person of Pocahontas by creating fictional animals, an untrue love story, and an unrealistic ending in order to gain children’s interest. The movie starts with John Smith and European settlers coming to the New World in order to gain land and resources, which includes getting rid of the Native Americans that are already occupying the Virginia land, people that they pronounce as savages. Pocahontas is dealing with her father, the chief of the tribe, trying to get her to marry an important member of the tribe in order to gain her more respect and get her a role and title in the community. Afterward, Pocahontas and John finally meet and begin a romance even though both of their groups are vigorously trying to remove the other from the land.  Near the end, Pocahontas protects John from being executed, however he eventually is shot by one of his own and is on his way back to England as his only means of surviving. The movie ends with John leaving and Pocahontas and her tribe contributing food to the European Settlers as they begin their journey back to England.