Postcolonial Criticism on Disney Pocahontas
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 11/17/2014 06:25 AM
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Pocahontas is a 1995 American animated musical romance-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 16, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is the first Disney animated which is made base on a real historic character, the known history, and the Native American folklore and legend woman Pocahontas, and also tells a fictional account of her encounter with Englishman John Smith and the settlers that arrived from the Virginia Company.
The Colonized and the Colonizer
The movie itself clearly shows the process of land taking by the Europeans over other country, in this case, the Native American area. The colonizers are represented by the British settlers of the Virginia Company. Captain John Smith and the voyage's leader Governor Ratcliffe, come to the native land in order to seek large amounts of gold and guarantee strong position at the British court. The British group comes with complete modern weapons (such as gun, bomb, etc) which show their power over the local citizen.
On the other hand, the colonized people are represented by the local citizen, The Powhatan Tribes. They are known as primitive group which knows nothing about silver, iron or gun.
Edward Said’s Orientalism
Edward W. Said, in his book, Orientalism, defined it as the acceptance in the West of the basic distinction between East and West. In addition, orientalism provided a justification for European colonialism based on a self-serving history in which “the West” constructed “the East” as extremely different and inferior, and therefore in need of Western intervention or “rescue”.
The Pocahontas movie also shows how the British settlers of the Virginia Company admit themselves as the superior and the best human being in the world caste. The concept of superiority shown from the song Savages in the opening of the movie. The lyrics of the song "Savages" strongly shows the racism and stereotypes of the white man toward the local tribes.
In the movie,...
The Colonized and the Colonizer
The movie itself clearly shows the process of land taking by the Europeans over other country, in this case, the Native American area. The colonizers are represented by the British settlers of the Virginia Company. Captain John Smith and the voyage's leader Governor Ratcliffe, come to the native land in order to seek large amounts of gold and guarantee strong position at the British court. The British group comes with complete modern weapons (such as gun, bomb, etc) which show their power over the local citizen.
On the other hand, the colonized people are represented by the local citizen, The Powhatan Tribes. They are known as primitive group which knows nothing about silver, iron or gun.
Edward Said’s Orientalism
Edward W. Said, in his book, Orientalism, defined it as the acceptance in the West of the basic distinction between East and West. In addition, orientalism provided a justification for European colonialism based on a self-serving history in which “the West” constructed “the East” as extremely different and inferior, and therefore in need of Western intervention or “rescue”.
The Pocahontas movie also shows how the British settlers of the Virginia Company admit themselves as the superior and the best human being in the world caste. The concept of superiority shown from the song Savages in the opening of the movie. The lyrics of the song "Savages" strongly shows the racism and stereotypes of the white man toward the local tribes.
In the movie,...