Representations of Native Americans in Disney Productions from Peter Pan to Pocahontas

Culture wasn’t the only thing that the Europeans brought over to the Americas. Along with their customs and rules, came the diseases that the Native American’s have never been exposed to. The Europeans brought many communicable diseases such as small pox and measles which were transmitted to the Native Americans through trade goods or someone infected with them. This quickly annihilated most of the Native American population.

Stagecoach – a movie that is widely accepted as the most damaging movie for the Native identity – helped to illustrate this image to viewers at the time. As a result, many Americans believed Natives were all uncivilized and violent, leading to nationwide stereotyping and prejudice. The Indian was the enemy of America as a result. Stagecoach also shows Natives being hunted like animals, which sends the image of them being non-human and thus they should be treated as such. Stagecoach and movies like it mispresented Natives for decades and caused a loss-of-identity amongst the Native community because Natives were dressed the same throughout various films. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s where Natives were properly represented on

In the movie, Native Americans are often portrayed as spiritual, noble, and free this ideal image of Native Americans captured the world’s imagination at one point. It all began in late 1800s when Native Americans were among the first to shot silent by Thomas. One of the common attraction that made

Racism towards Native American tribes and individuals have been found throughout mainstream media. From nationally broadcasted sports games to popular Hollywood movies, Native Americans people have been stereotyped and/or culturally appropriated. Many examples of these stereotypes are blatant and have been portrayed for in the media for decades.

The Reel Injun is an amazing display of how Native Americans are interpreted on the film screen throughout the years. Being oppressed by the white invaders who mistreated their generosity and kindness by using them for manual labor caused them to be treated less than human. Native American children growing up witnessed people of their kind being murdered and being the savage group of individuals causing violence and being the villain of the story. Through all the mistreatments the Native Americans persevered to change how society perceived them by making positive actions to highlight their value. Building upon the last paragraph, Native Americans in the early years where portrayed as hunters and¬ warriors who ride horses as their mighty form of transportation.

“They were traumatized with several diseases (like chickenpox and measles, which were brought, by the settlers)”(Document-Impact of colonization on Native Americans). The natives bodies had never met these diseases before so they couldn’t fight off the illness, just Smallpox alone killed 24 million natives(Impact of Colonization on Native Americans”-Document). The Europeans later enslaved the natives to work on the farms or just to be a servant. Harsh treatment also contributed to the death of many Native Americans. There were many missions that were set up that were trying to convert native Americans over to Catholicism, but when the natives kept practicing their own religion they would get punished such as being whipped and harshly treated(DN-Life in the colonies).

6-7). Sacheen Littlefeather’s rhetorical argument speech touched upon the exigence of inequality for Native Americans Indians as the film industry inaccurately portrays their culture and importance in society. Within the content of the speech, Sacheen Littlefeather explains Brando’s declination because of the “[mis]treatment of American Indians today by the film industry...and on television in movie re-runs, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee” (Littlefeather). By deliberately stating a misrepresentation of a subculture, Sacheen Littlefeather informed and intended to educate the audience on an issue that requires attention and careful consideration. In such a public setting and occasion, the content of her speech was marked with urgency because with so many people watching and with the rare incident of an award being declined, it was evident that there is a prevalence of neglect and degradation of the Native American

Animated films are commonly regarded as innocent and enchanting with little influence on the ideological beliefs that develop in children. Yet it is evident that this rhetoric is detrimental to the understanding that children are highly susceptible to influences from film and lack necessary skills to think critically. Thus, animated films instill ideologies within children that follow them throughout their lives. The predominant white narrative within the Disney film Pocahontas misrepresents Indigenous culture by portraying them as savage, bestial, and primitive caricatures while the falsification of historical events sets to maintain the archetypical white Anglo-Saxon supremacy, creating hegemonic ideologies that decisively impact how Indigenous people are viewed negatively within society and internally feel Otherized, causing confusion of personal identity. I will begin by articulating how films provoke fantasy, fears, and social concerns to garner audiences for profitability. These provocations are rooted in the ideologies of the dominant culture at the expense of Indigenous peoples. I will then express how the ‘Self’ (white men) and the ‘Other’ (Indigenous people) are segmented within Pocahontas and the effects this has on the relationship of Indigenous people to society. Next, I will discuss how the false representation of historical events creates cultural hegemony and reinforces categorization of Indigenous people. Lastly, I will demonstrate that the negative and

On top of killing them for not converting to Christianity or Catholicism, stealing their resources, and taking advantage of their kindness they were also carrying diseases that would harm them majorly. Some of the other diseases carried by the Europeans to the New World were bubonic plague, scarlet fever, diphtheria, cholera, pneumonic plague, yellow fever, mumps, typhoid, typhus and pertussis. The three diseases that killed the most Native Americans were measles, whooping cough, smallpox and influenza. The Native Americans would arrange religious ceremonies and they would heal the infected people. When they found out the religious healing ceremony didn't work the Native Americans started to lose faith in their religion. This made some of the Native Americans convert to the religion of the Europeans. The Native Americans would take sweat baths thinking they would cure them but all it did was increase the mortality rate of the diseases. They saw that the diseases did not affect the Europeans and they thought that the European's religion was powerful enough to heal them because of the immunity. Some Native Americans also commited suicide since they felt like an outcast due to the skin disfigurement caused by

    Many Native American’s died due to diseases, but the ones that survived obtained many great things from the Columbian Exchange. The number of Native Americans that perished after New World explorers arrived is disputed according to Howard Zinn. Though it is disputed, it is know that a great many died, but an misconception of that statement is Spanish cruelty caused most of the deaths of the New World Natives. According to Dinesh D’Souza “the vast majority of Indian casualties occurred not as a result of hard labor or deliberate destruction”, but  it was actually from “contagious diseases that the Europeans transmitted to the indians” such as measles and smallpox. Geoffrey Cowley explains since the Indians had no immunity against these diseases, the diseases spread so fast “that any indian who received news of the Spaniards could have easily received the infection”. Without the diseases that ravaged the new world explorers

How the West was Won, Dances with Wolves, and Avatar can be looked at the same. The focus of this assignment is to examine how their storylines of love and racial conflict does change the media attitude towards the groups from 1960-2010. In order to fully analyze the media’s portrayal of racial conflict between Native Americans and Whites let’s start with a brief synopsis about each film. During the Civil Rights Movement, we are introduced to How the West Was Won, a movie about western expansian.

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.

It should be acknowledged that these two stereotypes are prevalent in books written before the Second World War. While it is comfortable to believe these racist and hurtful stereotypes are only found in the far past, this is not the case. While these stereotypes were prevalent in the first half of the 19th century they began to change in the 1990s becoming less overtly racist, but no less damaging. Ultimately the stereotypes being portrayed by children’s literature did not disappear with time, but changed. The third stereotype Hirschfelder describes is Indigenous people as “pre-concupiscent angels, pure of heart, mindlessly ecological, brave and true.” Disney’s Pocahontas is one of the most well-known children’s books that exemplifies this

Without even realizing it, our perceptions of various cultures are greatly influenced by the depictions given to us by the filmmaking and television world. Unaware of its almost brainwashing influence, we succumb to the impressions we shown to us on the big screen. Although almost every culture is very often misrepresented or even degraded by their image in movies, one such culture has been the victim of not only Hollywood’s ignorance for many years—Native Americans. When we envision a Native American, the first image to come to mind is one of stereotypical nature. Perhaps an image of a stoic, stern-faced man is what first comes to mind, or perhaps an image of a princess-like woman, decorated by a dress of hide and feathers.

“The little foreign princess, gentlest and sweetest of savages, the first red Indian in whose heart had ever burned the love of Christianity.” This particular quote followed an artist’s depiction of the “warrior princess” Pocahontas in the 1907 Harper’s Weekly. It was this idea of the perfect Indian woman that set the standard for all other Native American women. at the time. While Pocahontas has continued to be a popular American culture icon, it is not just the Native American women’s image that is exploited in the public media . Throughout history, Native Americans have often been portrayed as one of two extremes, warrior princesses or unruly savages and a burden onburdening American civilization. Not much has changed; the Native