Throughout the animated films, Disney plays a pivotal role in the portrayal and beliefs, especially among young children. There is an interesting representation of Native Americans in these two Disney films, Peter Pan 1953 and Pocahontas (1995), in which there is an example of how there is contrast between the two in their representation of Native Americans. In Peter Pan, Native American characters are represented stereotypically, but in Pocahontas, the movie introduces a more complex, though still flawed, representation of Native American culture. This essay describes how the movies show society’s basis and how stereotypes are validated, and how the coded signs that are found within these movies influence audiences, specifically from the point of view of the young audience. The underlying question for this analysis is how it is that Native Americans have been perceived one way in Peter Pan and then represented differently in Pocahontas? In Disney films, the goal is to show what their idea of representing Native Americans is by giving a visual to show you what is going on in the world, but giving it humor to lighten the blow of how it may be taken.
Native American stereotypes in Peter Pan and Pocahontas
In Peter Pan(1953), there is a portrayal of Native Americans being engulfed in sweeping stereotypes. The film introduces the “Indian tribe” depicted by a group of unnamed, uncharacterized Native American actors. Their most prominent stereotype is that they’re being represented as savages who yell war cries, who use broken English, and who have feather headdresses. This stereotype can be seen in the song, “ What made the Red Man Red?” and how it is reinforced is dangerous and simplistic, with conceptions of Native American identity as uncivilized and primitive. It is hard to digest, as viewing it now is not quite the same as viewing it when you were younger. The animation is a quest of a white hero maintaining a contrast between innocent, yet civilized British children and “savage” Native American figures.
In Pocahontas (1995), on the other hand, Pocahontas attempts to break away from some of the more obvious stereotypes by including a Native American female as a central character with agency and complexity. Pocahontas is portrayed as wise, religious, and close to nature, and these attributes can be viewed as problematic or positive. The movie tries to make the Native Americans more human, yet it still tends to portray them as mystical especially through Pocahontas and her repertoire with Earth in the world of her spirit. In addition, the movie oversimplifies colonial history, and its narrow focus is more about romanticized relationships than about the brutal realities of that. And that’s what Disney does in their modern day films: it’s lightning the intake on racial stereotypes.
How do stereotypes reinforce societal Biases?
The use of stereotypes in media is both intentional and inadvertent, and reinforces social prejudice in Peter Pan. The Native American characters consist of visual and behavioral stereotypes that are being forced as false stereotypes regarding the indigenous people. As audiences, particularly children, are given these representations, they become more likely to accept these stereotypes as a reality. This role is partly to blame for relegating Native American history and culture. To know these origins in Pocahontas is an aspiration for ways to represent Native Americans more respectfully, the film continues to rely on some cold signals. Pocahontas’ presence and the harmonious natural world surrounding her, at the same time, help to exoticize the Native Americans; these representations can promote otherness surrounding them for American cultures that serve to rectify the image of them being inherently different and separate from the Western lifestyle.
Coded signs in the films and their persuasive techniques
In Peter Pan, the coded signs are naive and evident, the mention of the question,” What made the red man man red?” in the song it creates a narrative of racial difference in a trivial, playful inquiry into Native American identity. I find that it’s not so much that it’s naive, it’s the fact that it’s cutthroat, so watching the Native American characters doing their war cry and having broken English was offensive to watch because, as a younger viewer, you’re not receiving it the same way. The filmmaker’s feathered headpieces, use of war paint, and savage world whoops all contribute to a picture of uncivilized, primitive people, and that is not what Native Americans are.
This leads the audience, particularly children, to believe the Native Americans are another group of people who are different from their heroes in Pocahontas. The representation of this is more subtle but less powerful. The animation qualities that are described to Pocahontas are her profound identification with nature and the religious singing, and all this contributes to emphasizing her otherworldliness. This natural world against the corrupted European colonizer positions the Native American society, is at a plane that is uncorrupted in harmony and unsaturated in Western civilization. “It matters that the film is as historically inaccurate as it seems to be politically correct. Pocahontas was a peacemaker but not quite in the way depicted in the film whether she saved Smith or not is a matter of conjecture but we do know that she was captured by the English at 18 and held in Jamestown as security for English prisoners bias and children movies. Pocahontas, these and golden symbols so otherwise constructive nevertheless serve the purpose of creating a divide by suggesting that Native Americans exist in a different world than the industrialized contemporary world.” (Bias in Children’s Movies: Pocahontas)
In conclusion, our audiences nowadays, especially those who are more culturally sensitive and aware of this cultural appropriation and historical injustice, may find this a problem. One that is being simplified by colonialism and diminishing the real Native American struggles in life, Disney’s representation made Americans of films such as Peter Pan and Pocahontas. This is a demonstration of how stereotypes are used within the media to reproduce social prejudices despite one’s best intentions. Peter Pan relies on a racial stereotype, Pocahontas attempts to provide a picture of a calmer, naive, but not sophisticated the encoded signs. In both films by language image or simple serve to build accounts of Native American culture that are best misleading in deficient today these movie shape are greater success in life and attitudes and reproduce stereotypes that have real impacts thus these critiques and media representation are critical they need to be more respectful more inclusive and more accurate towards our indigenous people.
Works Cited
- Peter Pan (1953) – Vidéo Dailymotion. 2024. Dailymotion, https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x97qmqs. Accessed 21 October 2024.
- Pocahontas. June 23, 1995. https://youtu.be/pdE9fycRn3k?si=cUfxzjounOG7Hg8l.
- Roderick, Tom, and Laura McClure. “Bias in Children’s Movies: Pocahontas.” chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.teachingforchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/BHH-Pocahontas.pdf.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qxQZShtRbCPZpqujNMv3O8GTtfljCfNVGWJhy7Pkcp4/edit?usp=sharing
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