The Controversial Depictions of Indigenous People in Pocahontas

The Controversial Depictions of Indigenous People in Pocahontas

Pocahontas, a cartoon film directed towards younger audiences, could possibly be posting the wrong image into the eyes of the audience. Pocahontas is a film about the troops of England trekking out to the New World in search of gold. The main "hero" of the story, John Smith, makes his first by explaining his passion for "killing the savages". This instantaneously places the thought of the savages being antagonists into the eyes of the audience. It turns out that these "savages" are just indigenous peoples. This depiction of indigenous peoples is horrifying because it is setting a false precedent of a group of people and setting up the next generation of humans to be more unaccepting of those who are "different".

(Pocahontas War Scene: Natives vs. Colonists)

Horrifying Beliefs Implanted into the film

(How could this affect the younger generation)

One scene in particular that stuck out to me was the final battle scene. During this scene, the colonists and the natives meet eye to eye for the first time to fight for the soil they're standing on. The colonists lead by the Governor were taking aim ready to fire at the natives on their own sacred soil. After a compelling argument by Pocahontas, all but one of the colonists laid down their weapon. This lone soldier was the governor. The governor throughout this story was seen as an authoritative figure, although for him to stand his ground against the natives lays false images and beliefs into the brains of our next generation. I believe this was wrong to place in the film because it allows a pathway for the youth to side with a completely horrifying belief.



(Governor Ratcliffe: Antagonist, Villain to Natives)

Vision for the Future Generation

I believe that this movie should be changed to fit the less mature audience a little better. The youth have minds that can be easily swayed or affected by what is going on around them. Furthermore, I believe that having an image of a horrible belief, such as the governor's, is more mature than the audience it is marketed towards.

(Technology heavily surround and impacting the lives of the youth)
In conclusion, I believe that the creators of Pocahontas should raise the rating for age on this film or change the film to fit the audience better. This topic is quite compelling and furthermore, quite scary because this is the opposite of what the younger generations of this world should be surrounded by.