April 10, 2019
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| Disney's Animated Portrayal of Pocahontas |
If you ask any young adult or teenager, they'll tell you that they grew up watching Disney films as children. From Disney princesses, to fairy's, to never growing up, the hero's and villains made Disney's stories one of a kind. No one truly knows how false and horribly inaccurate their portrayals have been time and time again. For instance, their portrayals in popular animated films often sexualize the lead female characters despite important
factors such as age and culture. Integral parts of my childhood such as
Peter Pan and
Pocahontas, stereotype Native American culture. Their portrayal in both films is downright racist and insensitive.
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| "Savages, savages, what are we waiting for? Destroy their evil race until theres not a trace left!" This image and the quote are from the "Savages" song in the film Pocahontas as the Europeans and Native Americans are preparing to fight one another. |
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| Realistic Drawing of Pocahontas |
The writers and creators of Pocahontas developed the storyline purely for entertainment reasons with a G rating for young children. Though, interestingly enough, Pocahontas was never a G rated story from the beginning. I don't think that Disney could ever accurately create a film about Pocahontas without it being at least a PG or PG-13 film. The opening scenes of the film shows Pocahontas as an adult around the age of 18-20 years old. She quickly meets a man named John Smith, a European colonist who is around his mid to late 20's. The two characters then begin a whirlwind, secret, romantic relationship. Already, to your disbelief, these were all historically inaccurate occurrences. Pocahontas age, her relationship with Smith and his portrayal are all 100%, completely and utterly wrong.
Historically, Pocahontas was the favorite daughter of Chief Powhatan and was around the age of 10 years old when the European colonists arrived and settled in Jamestown. It is said that she brought food along with her people to the colonists many times when they first arrived. From the start, they quickly developed a good relationship which was nothing even remotely like the film. She went on to meet John Smith who was a newly freed prisoner at the time during her visits.
Years past and John Smith created two accounts regarding his adventures in Jamestown. Both were very different from one another. The first had never mentioned Pocahontas at all and the second was filled with her presence. He even claimed that he was captured by the Native Americans and sentenced to death. A mere second before he was about to be killed, he said that Pocahontas had ran in front him to protect him from her father while really what had happened was that he arrived off the ship from England, as a newly freed prisoner because other colonists had claimed that he was starting a mutiny on board. Later on, the great and heroic adventurer John Smith, had accidentally injured himself and was sent back to England to be treated.
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| "What makes the red man red?" This is a culturally insensitive quote towards the Native American people. It is from one of the musical numbers within the Disney film Peter Pan. |
Though it was a smaller section of the film, the writers and creators of Disney's Peter Pan were just as insensitive as the creators of Pocahontas. Clearly, if Native Americans witnessed the film today, they would be very offended by the lyrics in the "What Makes The Red Man Red?" song, along with the costumes, the mannerly acts that were included and that fact the Native Americans were literally animated in red. Those scenes were ebyond being racially insensitive. I dont even have words to describe it.
As you can see, some of our favorite childhood films are in fact full of racist songs and offensive scenes towards Native Americans along with being historically inaccurate. As children, we never would have understood any of that, but 10 years later after I have rewatched the films I am embarrassed to say that they were some of my favorites as a child. There are so many things wrong with Disney's Pocahontas and Peter Pan.
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