Native American Stereotypes In Peter Pan

I enjoyed watching Disney films while growing up, and Pocahontas was one that I watched often. In the movie, Pocahontas was portrayed as being an “Indian Princess” that was one with nature as well as submissive. One of my favorite Disney movies was Peter Pan. Both films obviously contain many Native American stereotypes, such as that Native Americans are an unprogressive people and savages. In Peter Pan, the characters wore sacred headdresses, sat in a circle and smoked tobacco while chanting to a stereotypical Indian drum beat. “What Makes the Red Man Red?”, a song in Peter Pan, contains incredibly offensive terms such as “injun” and “squaw” in the lyrics. In Pocahontas, the terms “savage”, “devil”, and “primitive” are used to describe Native

It is unbelievable how these stereotypes are taught to the American public at an incredibly young age. I am not proud to admit that I did not see a problem with my friends dressing up in stereotypical Native American costumes such as Pocahontas or Tiger Lily for Halloween when I was younger because I what I understood at the time – which is also what many people think today – is that Native Americans were a part of the past. Another example of Native American stereotypes in the media is Gwen Stefani’s “Looking Hot” music video (vimeo.com). In the video, Gwen Stefani is dressed up as a stereotypical Native American woman who is captured by cowboys. Her costume is provocative and she dances in a sexual manner throughout the video. This exhibits the many instances of sexualization of Native American women in media. To my understanding, what it means to be an indigenous woman is to not only debunk the stereotypes and face racism, but to also combat sexism while decolonizing

In Maria Cotera’s article, All My Relatives Are Noble, she considers how Ella Deloria focuses on the role of Dakota women in the survivance of their culture in her book Waterlily. She states that Deloria serves as a “cultural mediator” by writing the book with the intention of educating the American public of the culture of Plains Indians. She also mentions that Waterlily can be seen as a handbook of sorts for the