Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Pocahontas movie essay
Pocahontas movie essay
Pocahontas movie essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Who has seen Pocahontas or The Lone Ranger by Disney? They are very interesting movies with fun plots to follow, but do they portray Native Americans accurately or do they follow the stereotypes about Native Americans? Disney tries not to follow the stereotypes about the Natives, but looking closely at the two movies, Pocahontas and The Lone Ranger, there are multiple stereotypes. These movies teach children the stereotypes of Native Americans and they grow up thinking that the stereotype is the truth about Natives. By having media follow the stereotype about Native Americans it teaches society the wrong things about Natives, like all Natives are aggressive or redskin. This is not always true. Media, like Disney, teach society stereotypes about …show more content…
Pocahontas is about an indian princess who falls in love with a white Englishman who is appeared as a hero. Now the movie is not historically accurate about Pocahontas life, but there is still many stereotypes in the movie. In the movie the audience is first introduced to the white englishmen on their way to the new world. From the start the audience is shown that John Smith, one of the main characters, is a hero and he can do no wrong. When the white englishmen first meet the Natives they sing the song Savages already labeling the Natives as aggressive beasts that are hiding all the gold. The movie also reinforces the stereotype that all Natives talk to nature or trees because of how Pocahontas spends most of her time talking to a willow tree called Grandmother Willow. Today not all Natives go around talking to tree and not many Natives from the past did that either. Stephanie Dixon said in her journal about children watching this Disney film “Not only do they learn …show more content…
The Lone Ranger is about a white male who becomes a masked ranger who saves the day with a Native American named Tonto by his side. Before the movie was able to be watched by audiences Native Americans expressed their concern about the film. They did not want stereotypes from the past Lone Ranger movie to carry over. While the film crew tried to not disrespect or stereotype the Native people, they still had the actor of Tonto not be a Native American. Tonto was played by Johnny Depp who is not a true Native. According to Stephanie Dixon in The American Stereotype of American Indians, “The producers, directors, and actors have apparently made an effort to respect the culture of the Comanche tribe, yet still use every day cliché ideals about Native Americans”. In the beginning of the movie Tonto is first introduced as an old man in a Noble Savage window, already telling audiences that Tonto and all other Natives are savages. This is a huge stereotype about Natives, but today’s Native Americans are not savages and yet still many people believe they are savages
The Historical Interaction Between the Europeans and Indians in the Disney Movie Pocahontas Over the past couple of weeks, we have been studying the story of the Native American (Indian) princess, Pocahontas. We have studied both literature and the 1995 Disney movie. I am going to write about what methods are used to portray the relationship between these two civilisations. Both media portray the same relationship between the civilisations; this is one of mistrust, misunderstanding and dislike. From the moment the Europeans landed in "the new world", the natives were not sure of what to think of them, they looked different, sounded different and carried themselves differently.
Lliu, K., and H. Zhang. "Self- and Counter-Representations of Native Americans: Stereotypical Images of and New Images by Native Americans in Popular Media." Ebscohost. University of Arkansas, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
To conclude with “The General History of Virginia” and Disney’s version of Pocahontas, the two stories had two different opinions and views. Although, Disney’s portrayal of Pocahontas was perceived as an offense to the Native Americans, no one really knows the actual events that took place during that time. People will continue to think that John Smith’s version was a bit hysterical, while the Native Americans will take the Disney movie Pocahontas to an offense. John Smith and Disney both gave their own versions of their story. Others will continue to do the same.
Kilpatrick contends that Disney was ineffective in developing the essence of Pocahontas and was solely concerned with creating a visually stimulating, condensed, romanticized film. “Pocahontas was a real woman who lived during the pivotal time of first contact,” according to Kilpatrick. The film took historical figures and created fictional characters by turning an adolescent girl into a mature, sexualized woman, a mercenary into a “blonde Adonis” and evil villains out of English settlers. Kilpatrick’s
In her book Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience for Children, Doris Seale states, "It is no longer acceptable for children both Native and non-Native to be hurt racist ideologies which justify and perpetuate oppression. " There are many books in children's libraries today that perpetuate the stereotypical Native American. By definition, a stereotype is a "fixed image, idea, trait, or convention, lacking originality or individuality, most often negative, which robs individuals and their cultures of human qualities and promotes no real understanding of social rea... ...
Stereotypes dictate a certain group in either a good or bad way, however more than not they give others a false interpretation of a group. They focus on one factor a certain group has and emphasize it drastically to the point that any other aspect of that group becomes lost. Media is one of the largest factors to but on blame for the misinterpretation of groups in society. In Ten Little Indians, there are many stereotypes of Native Americans in the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”. The story as a whole brings about stereotypes of how a Native American in general lives and what activities they partake in. By doing so the author, Alexie Sherman, shows that although stereotypes maybe true in certain situations, that stereotype is only
As a result, both films represent Native Americans from the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films adds in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfolding in a different way. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar says, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
...n a bit of a glamorous image as Pocahontas has been depicted as a beautiful, free spirited, brave and independent girl. Pocahontas is known, primarily because she became the hero of Euro-Americans as the "good Indian", one who saved the life of a white man. Not only is the "good Indian/bad Indian theme" inevitably given new life by Disney, but the history, as recorded by the English themselves, is badly falsified in the name of entertainment. Bibliography http://cougar.ucdavis.edu/nas/varese/nas191/Marie/home.html http://mytwobeadsworth.com/NAreclaimhollyimage.html http://www.academon.com/lib/paper/5846.html http://www.indiancountry.com/article/2565 http://www.free-termpapers.com/tp/30/mlo89.shtml http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/clastext/clspg135.htm http://www.powhatan.org/pocc.html http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/alison-thesis/relation.html
The stereotype of Native Americans has been concocted by long history. As any stereotype constructed by physical appearance, the early Europeans settlers were no different and utilized this method. Strangers to the New World, they realized the land was not uninhabited. The Native Americans were a strange people that didn't dress like them, didn't speak like them, and didn't believe like them. So they scribed what they observed. They observed a primitive people with an unorthodox religion and way of life. These observations made the transatlantic waves. Not knowingly, the early settlers had transmitted the earliest cases of stereotyped Native Americans to the masses. This perpetuated t...
Neil Diamond reveals the truth behind the Native stereotypes and the effects it left on the Natives. He begins by showing how Hollywood generalizes the Natives from the clothing they wore, like feathers
The main plot of the film focuses on the relationship between John Smith, Pocahontas and John Rolfe. The film was a romantic film and had a lot of romantic scenes that were probably not portrayed in actual historical events. For example, the two main characters in the film were of course John Smith and Pocahontas, and there were many scenes in the movie that implied their romantic relationship. Scenes, such as when the two are connecting with one another, spending time together and learning about each other mostly through touch and sign language, after Pocahontas had saved John Smith from execution. In these few scenes each character narrates and discusses their idea on love and expressing their feelings on one another. Although, entertaining, John Smith and Pocahontas weren’t actually romantically involved with each other as the film portrays in these few scenes. It is uncertain what the relationship John Smith and Pocahontas actually had. Most likely, it was a beneficial relationship between the two, since there was a lot of trading between the Native American tribes and the colonists. (Read, 2005)
Cowboys and Indians is the popular game played by many children played as a game of heroes and villains. Natives are villainized in American pop culture due to the history being told by educational institutions across the nation. There are not many positive roles popular in the media about Native Americans. Many roles are even played by white people. The costume representation is not accurate either. The disrespect towards them is especially seem on Halloween, when people dress as Natives in cute and sexy ways that they think represent their culture. War paint, beads, feathers and headdresses are ceremonial accessories that represent their culture, it not a fun costume to wear. Only if they are being criticized and ridiculed, like they have been in the past. Racism has also been a huge problem when it comes to using creative names for sports teams, like the Redskins for example. Redskin is a derogatory and offensive term towards Native Americans and many white people do not see it as wrong due to the privilege they inherited throughout history. The disrespect towards them has grown and today it seems that if Natives were not getting ridiculed, they are for the most part ignored. The concerns that King describes in his book explains how the past has wired Americans to believing everything they have once learned. White people
The next reason we’ll be looking at are the stereotypical images commonly seen in literature and mascots. Mainstream media such as “Dances with Wolves”, “The Lone Ranger”, and “The Last of The Mohicans” and mascots in professional sports teams like Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Blackhawks all include representations of Native Americans that for some, are offensive. With this in mind, ...
The Disney movies of Pocahontas tell a plot of a Native ¬American tribe and English colonists that fight for the land the Native Americans live on though war ultimately creating moderate peace. While keeping to their own sect, the imbalance of power between the two social groups is prevalent throughout much of the story. Walt Disney’s Pocahontas is more than a classic children’s movie. It is a thoughtful, well contrived narration that portrays a message that in order to fit in, you must be a certain race and born into a specific culture. Disney’s Pocahontas suggesting that the color of our skin shouldn’t matter when being accepted into social groups as well as the idea that arranged marriage should be rejected. Thus, treating people right could ultimately have a positive outcome and lastly, the film also suggests that family roles change without a mother figure.
The title of the story, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”, is a symbol of the strained relationship between Native-Americans and the United States. The Lone Ranger is an American icon; he is a white, old western cowboy. He has a sidekick, a Native-American named Tonto. Tonto is never really portrayed as The Lone Ranger’s equal, again he is more of a sidekick. The author uses this title as a symbolic reference that white Americans view and treat Native Americans as second-class citizens in comparison to themselves. It is as if they view Native-Americans as beneath or below