Thursday, April 26, 2012

Stereotypes in Pocahontas

In the movie Pocahontas, Disney uses many stereotypes of Native Americans so that it can produce an entertaining film for children. The Native Americans talk to plants and animals, which we know cannot happen in real life, and is supposed to show how Native Americans are connected to nature. Another example of stereotyping in Pocahontas is how the white men sang the song “Savages” while preparing to fight the Native Americans. This shows the young children who watch the movie that all white people that think Natives Americans are savage and not like us, which is untrue. In addition, since Pocahontas is the daughter of the Chief, she is an Indian Princess. This in itself is a stereotype because many movies portray pretty young Native American women as princesses, when in reality, not very many are actually princesses. Pocahontas is a good children’s movie and as far as entertainment value goes, it is pretty good. If you take actual facts about real Native American life however, it is not a movie that should be taken too literally.

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