"You can own the Earth and still all you'll own is earth until you paint with all the colors of the wind." -Pocahontas
Moral Benefits from Pocahontas
As a little girl, watching Pocahontas can teach many lessons about morality and how to be a woman with a strong moral compass. Pocahontas is a fierce woman who is willing to do what it takes to bring peace between the Indians and Englishman. “Pocahontas follows her dreams and submits to no one. Brave and athletic, she scales mountains, climbs trees, and steers a canoe better than a man. Like ‘women who run with wolves,’ she does what she wants--and does it well” (Kjos). Any girl that chooses Pocahontas as a role model, is going to grow up to be a brave, independent woman who knows how to stand up for herself. She will be quick to love and slow to anger. She also will learn how to be understanding and love people despite their appearance or background.
Pocahontas teaches Smith how to respect the New World and proves to him that her people aren't savages through the song "Colors Of The Wind." Pocahontas defends her culture by singing, "You think that I'm and ignorant savage and you've been to so many places, I guess it must be so. But still I cannot see, if the savage one is me. How can there be so much that you don't know?" She points out that any person can be unfamiliar with another culture, land or experience, but that doesn't make a savage, it makes them a person. Everyone fits into their own culture, and that becomes dangerous when a culture believes they have figured it out and have the best way of life. Pocahontas shows Smith the English culture isn't always perfect, "You think you own what ever land you land on; the Earth is just a dead think you can claim. But I know every rock, tree, and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name." The next thing she sings is important for the rhetoric of the film, "You think the only people who are people are the ones who look and think like you, but if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew, you never knew."
The film’s rhetoric successfully displays the message that we must better understand each other before taking prejudgments or stereotypes into consideration. Two different people groups from opposite cultures find each other in battle, but Pocahontas and John Smith displays act as Peacemakers between them. Because they were able to prove to their tribe they weren't evil, they were able to stop the war and were free to love each other. Paula Gunn Allen describes in "The Sacred Hoop" that the English Christian culture is so very different from American Indian culture because they believe in the harmony of creation.
The cultures are very different between Indian and English philosophies. It starts at the root of the culture’s values or religion and their perspective on literature to separate a defined group of people. The difference between Christian based cultures and American Indians is that the views of who God and the purpose of life are quite opposite. “The American Indian universe is based on dynamic self-esteem, where the Christian universe is based primarily on a sense of separation and loss. For the American Indian, the ability of all creatures to share in the process of ongoing creation makes all things sacred” (Allen 57). Indians consider everything in creation to have harmony therefore everything should be treated as sacred. Pocahontas represents a bridge between these cultures when she falls in love with an Englishman despite their culture's differences. When their people go to into battle, they choose love over war.
Pocahontas is a model for peace, not only between people, but with the Earth. "Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest, come taste the sweet berries of the Earth, come roll in the riches all around you, for once, never wonder what they're worth. The rainstorm and the river are my brothers, the heron and the otter are my friends. And we are all connected to each other, through a circle; in a hoop that never ends." This is what Allen speaks of when she describes "the sacred hoop", “For the American Indian, the ability of all creatures to share in the process of ongoing creation makes all things sacred” (Allen 57).
The message in the film is positive because it provides an example to children that when they stand up for what is right and believe in peace and saving people, there will be positive outcomes. Perhaps, that's not always the case in the real world, but it's a great lesson for children to see positive outcomes for acting on good morals in hopes that they will follow in the footsteps of Smith and Pocahontas and crave for a better world with a strong moral compass.
As a little girl, watching Pocahontas can teach many lessons about morality and how to be a woman with a strong moral compass. Pocahontas is a fierce woman who is willing to do what it takes to bring peace between the Indians and Englishman. “Pocahontas follows her dreams and submits to no one. Brave and athletic, she scales mountains, climbs trees, and steers a canoe better than a man. Like ‘women who run with wolves,’ she does what she wants--and does it well” (Kjos). Any girl that chooses Pocahontas as a role model, is going to grow up to be a brave, independent woman who knows how to stand up for herself. She will be quick to love and slow to anger. She also will learn how to be understanding and love people despite their appearance or background.
Pocahontas teaches Smith how to respect the New World and proves to him that her people aren't savages through the song "Colors Of The Wind." Pocahontas defends her culture by singing, "You think that I'm and ignorant savage and you've been to so many places, I guess it must be so. But still I cannot see, if the savage one is me. How can there be so much that you don't know?" She points out that any person can be unfamiliar with another culture, land or experience, but that doesn't make a savage, it makes them a person. Everyone fits into their own culture, and that becomes dangerous when a culture believes they have figured it out and have the best way of life. Pocahontas shows Smith the English culture isn't always perfect, "You think you own what ever land you land on; the Earth is just a dead think you can claim. But I know every rock, tree, and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name." The next thing she sings is important for the rhetoric of the film, "You think the only people who are people are the ones who look and think like you, but if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew, you never knew."
The film’s rhetoric successfully displays the message that we must better understand each other before taking prejudgments or stereotypes into consideration. Two different people groups from opposite cultures find each other in battle, but Pocahontas and John Smith displays act as Peacemakers between them. Because they were able to prove to their tribe they weren't evil, they were able to stop the war and were free to love each other. Paula Gunn Allen describes in "The Sacred Hoop" that the English Christian culture is so very different from American Indian culture because they believe in the harmony of creation.
The cultures are very different between Indian and English philosophies. It starts at the root of the culture’s values or religion and their perspective on literature to separate a defined group of people. The difference between Christian based cultures and American Indians is that the views of who God and the purpose of life are quite opposite. “The American Indian universe is based on dynamic self-esteem, where the Christian universe is based primarily on a sense of separation and loss. For the American Indian, the ability of all creatures to share in the process of ongoing creation makes all things sacred” (Allen 57). Indians consider everything in creation to have harmony therefore everything should be treated as sacred. Pocahontas represents a bridge between these cultures when she falls in love with an Englishman despite their culture's differences. When their people go to into battle, they choose love over war.
Pocahontas is a model for peace, not only between people, but with the Earth. "Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest, come taste the sweet berries of the Earth, come roll in the riches all around you, for once, never wonder what they're worth. The rainstorm and the river are my brothers, the heron and the otter are my friends. And we are all connected to each other, through a circle; in a hoop that never ends." This is what Allen speaks of when she describes "the sacred hoop", “For the American Indian, the ability of all creatures to share in the process of ongoing creation makes all things sacred” (Allen 57).
The message in the film is positive because it provides an example to children that when they stand up for what is right and believe in peace and saving people, there will be positive outcomes. Perhaps, that's not always the case in the real world, but it's a great lesson for children to see positive outcomes for acting on good morals in hopes that they will follow in the footsteps of Smith and Pocahontas and crave for a better world with a strong moral compass.
"They're different from us which means they must be evil, we must sound the drums of war!" -English settlers (Pocahontas)
Moral Hindrances from Pocahontas
Disney films are often criticized for being racist and strengthening stereotypes among children. It is true that hints of racism can be found in Pocahontas, but showing the benefits from the movie were just as important and aren’t to be forgotten as the negatives are brought up. The film’s overall message to walk in other people’s footprints to find peace is strong, but there are flaws presented visually and spoken of that message towards any viewer of the film, especially children.
The villains in Disney's fantasy are the greedy white males who have come to exploit the land and steal its gold. “Even the best of them, handsome John Smith, is made to look foolish compared to the nature-wise woman he loves. Their exchange of wisdom flows one way only: from Indian to European” (Kjos). So when Smith unwittingly offers to build an English civilization on Indian lands, Pocahontas shows her disgust, then teaches him a lesson on pagan oneness. Her message now echoes in the hearts of children everywhere through the hit song "The Colors of the Wind", which keeps reminding them that mountains, trees... everything is filled with spiritual life and linked in a never-ending circle.
The film’s rhetoric is hindered in the scene where the English settlers begin to dig up the land, cut down trees and invade the New World. The scene is put together with a song called “Mine Mine Mine”. The men dig for gold, not thinking twice about the land or the people who own it. It sends the message white men are greedy and eager to take from others. This is hindering because many of the little white boys who experience this film as a child are taught that they can have what they what, even if it hurts somebody. Smith sings, “All of my life I have searched for a land like this one; a wild, more challenging country I couldn’t design. Hundreds of dangers await and I don’t plan to miss one. In a land I can claim, a land I can tame, the greatest adventure is mine.” Little boys shouldn’t expect to be a John Smith in the world and claim anything in their sight. This song is a disadvantage to create moral compasses in children to becoming understanding, generous, and selfless citizens.
History of the English taking the New World from the Native Americans proves how selfish the white men were in the 1600s. “In the next decade, the colonists conducted search and destroy raids on Indian settlements. They burned Indian villages and their corn crops” (http://www.loc.gov/teachers/). Acts followed during the beginning of the 1830s when nearly 125,000 Native Americans were sent on the Trail of Tears, “a forced movement of Native Americans out of the United States in order to expand their country size caused many deaths among native tribes” (http://www.history.com). The treatment towards Native Americans has never resembled the kind peace acts made in Pocahontas. It would be a very different world if the English simply got on their boat and went home with one injured John Smith rather than destroying of many villages and tribes.
The English are to definitely to blame for using stereotypes against the Native Indians in the scene where the song "Savages" is sang. The Englishmen words terms like "filthy little heathens", "vermin" and "dirty shrieking devils" to describe their race. The lyric, "They're different from us, which means they can't be trusted" stands out as harsh and cruel language that simply, does not belong in a Disney film. With Disney supporting this behavior and stereotypes, children learn that it is okay to hate people that are different from themselves. The movie wants to support the message that it is good to walk in other people's footprints to better understand them, yet this song is the opposite of that. There is little understanding between the people groups on each other's cultures and values. They aren't interested in learning about each other, only killing each other to fulfill their own motives. No child should ever watch that scene and think it is ok to stereotype as the Englishmen do.
They are not the only ones guilty of stereotyping a race or people group in Pocahontas, for the Indians are just as blameworthy for labeling English as evil. The film is clear to show that the white men are the villains in the film, but it disgusts me to hear the Indians stoop down to their level when it comes to the use of stereotypes. If the Native Indians were supposed to be the heroes of the film they would not be just as ignorant as the Englishmen. They are found signing the lyric, “This is what we feared, the pale face is a demon. The only thing they feel is greed.” The film supports the message that white men are greedy but it doesn’t allow the Indians to act honorably by believing that the white men don’t have any good in them. The song continues, “They have emptiness inside, I wonder if they even bleed.” That line does not belong in a Disney movie. It is a very cruel saying about and children should not be exposed to such language and stereotypes. Both the Indians and the English are to blame for holding judgments and performing evil acts towards one another.
The only character in the film that cannot be accused for stereotyping is Pocahontas. Because of the harsh language from the other characters in the film, Pocahontas is perceived even more as a saint or peacemaker. There is a strong contrast between her and anyone else in the film. This is what makes watching her and Smith fall in love so hard because she deserves so much better than him. In fact, in Pocahontas II, she ends up marrying a morally sound man named John Rolfe. Pocahontas is a perfect example of a Disney princess who understands concepts larger than her own. She is understanding, just, and wise beyond her years. She is a wonderful role model for young girls whose moral compass can be mimicked to start a revolution of women for equality between people and races.
Disney films are often criticized for being racist and strengthening stereotypes among children. It is true that hints of racism can be found in Pocahontas, but showing the benefits from the movie were just as important and aren’t to be forgotten as the negatives are brought up. The film’s overall message to walk in other people’s footprints to find peace is strong, but there are flaws presented visually and spoken of that message towards any viewer of the film, especially children.
The villains in Disney's fantasy are the greedy white males who have come to exploit the land and steal its gold. “Even the best of them, handsome John Smith, is made to look foolish compared to the nature-wise woman he loves. Their exchange of wisdom flows one way only: from Indian to European” (Kjos). So when Smith unwittingly offers to build an English civilization on Indian lands, Pocahontas shows her disgust, then teaches him a lesson on pagan oneness. Her message now echoes in the hearts of children everywhere through the hit song "The Colors of the Wind", which keeps reminding them that mountains, trees... everything is filled with spiritual life and linked in a never-ending circle.
The film’s rhetoric is hindered in the scene where the English settlers begin to dig up the land, cut down trees and invade the New World. The scene is put together with a song called “Mine Mine Mine”. The men dig for gold, not thinking twice about the land or the people who own it. It sends the message white men are greedy and eager to take from others. This is hindering because many of the little white boys who experience this film as a child are taught that they can have what they what, even if it hurts somebody. Smith sings, “All of my life I have searched for a land like this one; a wild, more challenging country I couldn’t design. Hundreds of dangers await and I don’t plan to miss one. In a land I can claim, a land I can tame, the greatest adventure is mine.” Little boys shouldn’t expect to be a John Smith in the world and claim anything in their sight. This song is a disadvantage to create moral compasses in children to becoming understanding, generous, and selfless citizens.
History of the English taking the New World from the Native Americans proves how selfish the white men were in the 1600s. “In the next decade, the colonists conducted search and destroy raids on Indian settlements. They burned Indian villages and their corn crops” (http://www.loc.gov/teachers/). Acts followed during the beginning of the 1830s when nearly 125,000 Native Americans were sent on the Trail of Tears, “a forced movement of Native Americans out of the United States in order to expand their country size caused many deaths among native tribes” (http://www.history.com). The treatment towards Native Americans has never resembled the kind peace acts made in Pocahontas. It would be a very different world if the English simply got on their boat and went home with one injured John Smith rather than destroying of many villages and tribes.
The English are to definitely to blame for using stereotypes against the Native Indians in the scene where the song "Savages" is sang. The Englishmen words terms like "filthy little heathens", "vermin" and "dirty shrieking devils" to describe their race. The lyric, "They're different from us, which means they can't be trusted" stands out as harsh and cruel language that simply, does not belong in a Disney film. With Disney supporting this behavior and stereotypes, children learn that it is okay to hate people that are different from themselves. The movie wants to support the message that it is good to walk in other people's footprints to better understand them, yet this song is the opposite of that. There is little understanding between the people groups on each other's cultures and values. They aren't interested in learning about each other, only killing each other to fulfill their own motives. No child should ever watch that scene and think it is ok to stereotype as the Englishmen do.
They are not the only ones guilty of stereotyping a race or people group in Pocahontas, for the Indians are just as blameworthy for labeling English as evil. The film is clear to show that the white men are the villains in the film, but it disgusts me to hear the Indians stoop down to their level when it comes to the use of stereotypes. If the Native Indians were supposed to be the heroes of the film they would not be just as ignorant as the Englishmen. They are found signing the lyric, “This is what we feared, the pale face is a demon. The only thing they feel is greed.” The film supports the message that white men are greedy but it doesn’t allow the Indians to act honorably by believing that the white men don’t have any good in them. The song continues, “They have emptiness inside, I wonder if they even bleed.” That line does not belong in a Disney movie. It is a very cruel saying about and children should not be exposed to such language and stereotypes. Both the Indians and the English are to blame for holding judgments and performing evil acts towards one another.
The only character in the film that cannot be accused for stereotyping is Pocahontas. Because of the harsh language from the other characters in the film, Pocahontas is perceived even more as a saint or peacemaker. There is a strong contrast between her and anyone else in the film. This is what makes watching her and Smith fall in love so hard because she deserves so much better than him. In fact, in Pocahontas II, she ends up marrying a morally sound man named John Rolfe. Pocahontas is a perfect example of a Disney princess who understands concepts larger than her own. She is understanding, just, and wise beyond her years. She is a wonderful role model for young girls whose moral compass can be mimicked to start a revolution of women for equality between people and races.