Stereotypes In Pocahontas

Walt Disney’s film Pocahontas is not historically accurate, but there is value in creating cartoon interpretations of American history. As a child, cartoons are mostly important for your development, both physically and mentally. Fairy tales help children understand the complexity of life. These visions use various symbols to teach morals and cognitive skills. Walt’s film was based off the legends and folktales surrounding Pocahontas, it was not meant to be historical but to promote racial tolerance.

There are five sociological concepts I am going to explain. And I will be using scenes from the Disney movie Pocahontas as examples. The five are: norms, role conflict, values, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Hollywood’s leading animation studio has had many instances of stereotyping and being racially insensitive. Two main examples of their racism towards Native American tribes have been Peter Pan and Pocahontas. In both instances, there have been controversial songs that have the Native Americans at the center. Both depict the stereotypes that are not necessarily true of the tribes.

The effectiveness of media in perpetuating and maintaining racial definitions is apparent through the consistent presence of such ideas in popular films such as Disney’s Pocahontas (1995) and James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). Despite over a decade difference in release, there are similarities between the two in terms of the racial labels applied to Native Americans as a race and how they are portrayed as a result. The producers behind Pocahontas claimed that the film is much more than a love story and is about maintaining an open mind in order to appreciate different cultures. By creating an animated picture about a

The classic Disney movies Peter Pan and Pocahontas have been staples in many American children’s lives. These seemingly harmless family-friendly films have taught many important life lessons and morals, however, the movies also tend to create racial stereotypes and insinuate the ideas of white settler innocence. The song “Savages” from Pocahontas and the song “What Makes the Red Man Red” from Peter Pan in particular portray these implications. Sherene Razack’s “When Place Becomes Race” explores the correlation and affect that race and space have on each other with in-depth analysis of what makes up each. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ““The Danger of a Single Story” explains how stereotypes are not only created by a story -which is not necessarily false- but also

[4] Disney even goes on further to suggest that their intentions have a modern relevance when they say that “It is an important message to a generation to stop fighting, stop killing each other because of the color of your skin” (Pocahontas 37). It is quite clear that Disney never intended to write or rewrite history, as they have been so viciously attacked for doing. They are writing about tolerance and understanding, while at the same time they are giving back some respect to the indigenous people of America. James Pentecost, the producer of the film, feels that “moviemakers shouldn’t be handcuffed when using real stories as jumping-off places for works of entertainment” (Kim 24). Disney simply liked the idea of Pocahontas; they liked the message that it conveyed, and they made it applicable to Hollywood.

The use of Native American mascots is detrimental to young American Indians and their psychological well-being. When the mascot is constrained to a stereotypical demeanor, it also constrains the way contemporary American Indians see themselves. In mainstream media, Native Americans have little to no roles in movies, television, or music. The only well-known Indians in American culture are conventional characters created by large corporations such as Disney’s Pocahontas, Tonto from The Lone Ranger, and sports team’s mascots. The few representations of Native Americans are nationally broadcasted and provide misleading and immoral assumptions on the targeted racial group. The select physical and behavior traits are then taken, modified, and dramatized to ultimately create a character for entertainment and profit. The presence of

Savages!” (songlyrics.com). There was an imaginary form of ideology being represented for the real conditions of existence by the Native American’s during this time (Althusser 155). “The starting-point is the simple one that ideology is read from film texts, consciously or unconsciously, and the relationship between each text and its culture are traceable to ideological roots.” (Turner, 1999, p.171) Pocahontas gives viewers a different picture of the Native Americans role during this time. In addition to Native American’s being criticized and misrepresented from their actual history, they were also portrayed as a Willow tree, Meeko, and Flit, whom were all objects in nature or animals. Because all Native American characters were the animals and the objects in nature, their heritage and people get pushed to the edge of society because they are made out to be different [to be objects and animals]. They are marginalized because they are different from the westerners. This impacts the ideology of social exclusion and misrepresentation of a social group. The Native American’s are misinterpreted through society today due to movies like Pocahontas portraying their people as animals, objects, or misinterpreting their role in history with negative connotations in the text. “Importantly ideological approaches reject the view of the film text as ‘unitary’ in meaning; that is, as making only one kind of sense, without considerations, exceptions, or variations in the

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.

For many of us, Disney has attracted us to princess movies such as "The Little Mermaid, Sleeping beauty, Snow White, and Pocahontas. They painted a canvas for us and drew us the imaginary visions of what every little girl will very much want. Typically, they told us that we where these skinny light skinned princess and that one day we will find our "Happily Ever After" However, on June 23rd, 1995, many Americans were introduced to the film Pocahontas. Disney put out a

Disney’s Pocahontas is the first animated film to be based on an actual person and event. It also is the first Disney film to display interracial relationship. After all of these years growing up watching Disney movies, this is the first time I have watched Pocahontas. Knowing the historical context before watching the film really helped me understand how much of the film was historically accurate. I will be discussing what really happened during the time, then I will compare the historical accuracy of the film to the actual historical event and finally stating my overall impression of the film.

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

Can You Paint All the Colors of the Wind? Pocahontas is a Disney animated film, which captures the journey and overcoming of adversity by Pocahontas herself. She is the daughter to Chief Powhatan, the patriarch of the village, and is advised to marry one of his top warriors. Pocahontas, not accepting this path her father chooses, seeks help from nature and opens her heart to hear her destiny. She crosses path with John Smith, a colonizer looking for gold in a new land, and realizes this is where the wind was guiding her.

Barnett explains, "a number of unlucky Pocahontas figures populate the frontier romance, saving white beloveds only at the cost of their own lives" (93). Fortunately, Pocahontas's life was spared despite her willingness to sacrifice, although her later affiliations with a white man and Europe led to her death from disease. The notion of females rescuing white men and assimilating with their culture have traditionally been connected, which resulted in greater Indian deaths due to their exposure to a foreign culture from which they had not yet learned to protect themselves.

In the screening of Pocahontas, the lecture can get into the deeper complexities of how Disney exchanged historical correctness for political correctness, and how even their attempted political correctness can be viewed as incorrect today, even though it was when the film was released. Through a movie review at the time, it is easy to contrast how femininity has changed. The review describes Pocahontas as being as powerful as a traditional action hero, and how only the song “Savages” is truly “groan inducing.” In a more modern criticism, the liberation of Pocahontas actually lends to old gender stereotypes, where she gives up what she wants in order to take care of others. Important questions to be addressed include: “Why did Disney