Cultural representation of ‘the other’ in Disney’s classical animated movies

Illustrated with the example of Pocahontas

Written Assignment in the seminar

„Media and Representation“

Södertörns Högskola

School of Culture and Education

Media, Communication and Cultural Analysis

Submitted by

Ariane Petschow

Stockholm, 20th of January 2014

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Introduction

Disney’s classical animated movies are known to and loved by many people all over the world, but preferably

by the Western socialized population. Because of its incredible impact on children and adults, Disney can be

seen as a socialization factor and hence, plays a particular role within the American movie factory

Hollywood. Especially in the last two and a half decades, in a range of Disney movies, culture plays an

important role occurring in characters, setting and songs. Simultaneously, Disney released more and more

classical animated children’s movies which similarly raised its acceptance in the society and intensified the

alleged magic around Disney. Therefore, in the following essay I want to investigate Disney’s utilization and

representation of foreign cultures and its awareness for the associated responsibility. To explore potential

(mis-)representations of the cultural other in these movies, Milly Buonanno’s examination about

Americanization and the relation of ‘us’ (the Western society) and ‘the other’ in media flows is taken as

basis. But in contrast to Buonanno, who is interested in "the transfer of programmes in geographical space”

(2008: 102), I want to investigate how the cultural other is represented in Disney’s full-length classical

animated movies, which levels of representation are how utilized, and how ‘the other’ is embedded in a

whole media concept as a certain kind of flow. Of course, my findings are not universally valid, but can be

regarded as thought-provoking impulses. A paramount example at the end of this analysis will be the movie

Pocahontas which is based on a real happening in the America of the beginning 17th century, but rearranged

and adjusted into the Disney ideology and aesthetics.

For a better understanding of the following analysis, firstly, I want to define my understanding of culture

within this essay. With the word ‘culture’ I mean “the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular

people or society” (Oxford Dictionary) or ethnic group. Furthermore, if I use the terms ‘other’ or ‘foreign’ in

combination with culture, I mean different from the American culture of European descent due to several

characteristics like appearance and values.

The Domination of American Culture

In her investigation of Americanization and media imperialism, Milly Buonanno argues that media

imperialism “originally emerged as an articulation of cultural imperialism” which means “an influence, an

instance of cultural domination, exercised by nations or hegemonic systems on the world stage of politics

and economics: the United States, capitalism, the West.” (Buonanno 2008: 86). Arisen from this, media

imperialism is, in my eyes, today also an instrument to reinforce cultural imperialism. In case of movies

which portray acts or processes of cultural domination, the media are used to illustrate these real or fictional

imperialist actions and hence, support the hegemony of the USA and Western world. At the same time,

indigenous cultures could be even more repressed in their right to exist because their history is revived in

movies. Indeed, the representation of foreign cultures in American movies is not uncommonly whitewashed

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and contains misrepresentations1. Besides the intention to represent the USA as the world leader, there

might be other reasons to embed foreign cultures in American movies. Firstly, things and humans who are

unlike oneself appear mostly interesting, exciting and fascinating. I think this curiosity about the foreign is

lying in the human nature. People can and like to travel with their remote (Buonanno 2008: 103). Secondly,

as interesting these things are, I guess the average American media recipient does not want to see the

unsophisticated truth and therefore, the truth is adjusted to a level where excitement and aesthetics prettify

the story so that it is marketable. And thirdly, in my eyes, movies and other media texts should not be

restricted to the own culture – if so, this could be seen as a form of racism due to denial. Thus, the

implementation of stories about ‘the other’ into movies leads also to a “close convergence of interests

between the economic and the cultural sphere” which Buonanno only sees as a cause of the unilateral

process of the export of American cultural products (2008: 86). Although she considers that there are

“travelling narratives” (2008: 108) with which spectators can obtain a view into foreign cultures, she

unfortunately does not regard how these narratives are constructed and utilized by Western media, and

which impact they can have. But the contextual dimension of cultural and media imperialism driven by the

USA is, in my eyes, as important as the distribution because without the utilization of various topics about

the cultural other, there would sometimes be no more marketable stories and consequently no media

formats to export to the rest of the world. Foreign cultures are therefore a profitable basis for media

products, and “the moving images are able to ‘de-localize’ audiences that are situated locally, introducing

them to distant territories and the alterity of their inhabitants.” (Buonanno 2008: 104). Hence, it is important

to consider all facets of cultural influences on and in media. In this respect it appears reasonable to make a

distinction between media content and media distribution. Because of the massive export and distribution of

American television programs and movies, which Buonanno outlines, the American media also transmit

certain pictures of particular cultures which are mainly accepted by the audience and regarded as truth. The

assimilation of cultural topics in media content may consequently lead to an artificial ‘cultural diversity’, or,

in contrast, to xenophobic tendencies. It is not uncommon that American media adopt foreign cultures,

assimilate them to an Americanized product, and hence, ‘the otherness’ becomes an important part of

American media, no matter if they are spread to the world or not.

On the contrary, the concepts of “cultural proximity” and “cultural discount” used by Buonanno describe the

relations of American media to the cultural other as follows:

“Cultural proximity […] is a primary factor in orienting cultural demand and consumption, according to the need

for and pleasure derived from recognition, familiarity and identity. Among the symbolic material that competes

for the public’s time and attention, people expect and are pleased to recognize themselves, their own social,

individual and collective world, their customs and lifestyles, accents, faces, landscapes and everything else that

they perceive as close and familiar. Since nothing is closer or more familiar than things that belong to or come

1 A current example is the serial How I Met Your Mother, which is confronted with yellowfacing accusations (Schmieder 2014).

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from the society and culture to which people belong, audiences in a given country tend systematically to prefer

and remain loyal to locally produced programmes when they are available.” (Buonanno 2008: 96)

and

“Since programmes rooted in a different culture lend themselves less well to activating mechanisms of

recognition and identification, they are less attractive for a local audience: their value is reduced compared to

local programmes. This reduction in value is the cultural discount.“ (Buonanno 2008: 96)

According to these descriptions, one could also argue that the adoption of foreign cultures for movies is

senseless and redundant, but, related to my example, the Disney movies, the combination of cultural

proximity and cultural discount appears to be the solution of this paradox. With implementing a story, which

plays in a foreign cultural setting, into the American way of movie making, Disney (and also other movie

makers) creates cultural exoticism with concurrent proximity. The exotic story, setting and characters are

accordingly Americanized. This appears to be the formula for success for Disney and many other movies.

Buonnanno states hereto, albeit in another context: “[…] the most important reason for the success of

American productions is to be found in their unique mixture of the particular and the universal, the local and

the transnational.” (2008: 97). This is caused by the USA’s ‘melting pot’, the large diversity of ethnic groups

and their demands towards media and entertainment, which made it “necessary to develop a production

capacity with a high degree of universalism; in other words, to pursue the ‘lowest common denominator’”

(Buonanno 2008: 97). What Buonanno unfortunately ignores in her analysis is that although cultures might

more and more blur within the USA, they are still unique and the omission of cultural details and squeezing

into ‘average American’ patterns without any specific characterization might also evoke feelings of cultural

denial or even racism. Moreover, this continuous serving of uncritical average media content could lead to

an even louder outcry when the cultural setting of a certain ethnic group is adopted in movies or other

media programs. Just a small deviation could offend ethnics represented in this movie and provoke a big

debate. On the other hand, this could become publicity for the producer, and often not many people care

about such a devious step because themselves they are not affected. On the contrary, ‘They (the audience)

first filter and reorganize whatever comes from the dominant culture and then they integrate it and mix it

with the elements of their own historical memory’ (Barbero 1993 in Buonanno: 2008: 98). Consequently,

they renegotiate the mediated message because of their own cultural setting, and the danger occurs that

the meaning is totally different from the producer’s intention and even more far away from the reality.

The concept of indigenization tries to give an explanation to this. It is:

“[…] the process through which forms and expressions of external cultures, elaborated by other societies, are

appropriated, re-elaborated, and restored by diverse local societies in configurations that are consistent with

their own homegrown systems of meaning.” (Buonanno 2008: 88)

But who has the right to decide who is local and who is external in a society which is built on descendants of

native people as well as European conquerors? What, in times of globalization, is the driver of racism in

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media? Unfortunately, it is the hegemony of the Western world and the concomitant capitalism which also

determines the power relations and thus, controls the representation of the own and foreign cultures.

Hence, Americanization in the media sphere appears to be a result of the American strive after

homogenization through distribution with the aid of heterogeneous content which is then, unfortunately,

again homogenized. Consequently, the “cultural threat” (Buonanno 2008: 109) causes a progressive

destruction of local cultures, not only through repression of local media, but also through the propagation of

Americanized or even totally wrong images of foreign cultures.

Construction of the other

As already mentioned, this homogenized heterogeneous media content also occurs in Disney’s recent

classical animated movies. First of all, it is striking, that especially between the years 1992 and 2000, Disney

produced a range of films where foreign cultures play a significant role.2 This conspicuous accumulation may

be a consequence of the worldwide changes shortly before and during the 1990s. It is the period of the end

of the Cold War, the collapse of regimes like the Apartheid and the independency of several former colonial

states. Therefore, this worldwide turnaround and the zeitgeist appear to be drivers of capturing and

addressing cultural issues in movies. Alongside with the development of a new aesthetic and “’new era’ of

animation” under the new CEO Michael Eisner and the producer Jeffrey Katzenberg (Lacroix 2004: 213 &

216), Disney seems to have noticed the potential of capitalization lying within these topics and immediately

implemented this new ‘trend’ while Americanizing it.

The other story

Whereas earlier fairy tales (e.g. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty) and stories about animals (e.g.

Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, The Aristocats) were Disney’s main subject, also legends (e.g. Mulan,

Hercules) and historic happenings (e.g. Pocahontas) as well as oriental stories (e.g. Aladdin) were made into

film in the 1990s. While the previous fairy tales mostly had their origin in Europe, these new stories are

mostly bound to a cultural context different from the modern Western world. Therefore, already the

different context makes these movies oriental, exotic and becoming ‘the other’. Furthermore, this

addressing of other cultures is often bound to a story portraying a conflict between different ethnicities, like

in Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mulan. But I assume that those topics and stories are not

appropriate for children’s movies and thus, should not be chosen as basis for a Disney tale. These delicate

cultural conflicts are often hard to understand. Admittedly, Disney often assimilates the stories so that they

are not that frightful, but herewith they change the essence and focus of the story, and therefore draw an

2 1992: Aladdin; 1994: The Lion King; 1995: Pocahontas; 1996: The Hunchback of Notre Dame; 1997: Hercules, 1998: Mulan; 1999:

Tarzan; 2000: The Emperor’s New Groove

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arranged picture of the culture. Furthermore, they partly accentuate the conflict in a wrong manner. Thus,

the selection of the story and the way of assimilating it, are already the first steps into a certain level of

cultural representation.

The other appearance3, personality and behavior

Accordingly, also the representation of the main characters and their appearance is altered. Especially, the

role of women is differing from previous movies. Celeste Lacroix (2004: 219-221) observed that colored

female protagonists are mostly appearing much more active, strong and adult, and their sexual attributes

are even more highlighted than those of the white females who are rather quite passive girls. Women of a

foreign ethnicity are additionally mostly even more athletic and brave, for example Mulan and Pocahontas

when fighting for their people. Of course this is also bound to the story and the related characteristics, but

with choosing such stories Disney makes the first decision to portray otherness and furthermore seems to

exhaust the scope of the story intentionally. By changing the shape and size of facial features, for example

oversized or almond-shaped eyes, the characters obtain a distinctive look which directly signalizes ‘I am a

foreigner’ (Lacroix 2004: 222). Also the darker (or lighter) skin tone and the clothing of, for example, Mulan,

Esmeralda4 and Pocahontas contribute to this. The costumes are mainly based on traditional clothes of the

particular ethnic group (or what is commonly known as the traditional clothing), but assimilated to a certain

extent so that they appear more interesting and modern to the spectators. Thus, Esmeralda wears a Romany

dress with a very appealing décolleté (and even her goat wears the ‘gypsy typical’ earring), Pocahontas’

dress is quite short, leaving her shoulder bare, and Jasmine’s5 dress looks like she is belonging to an oriental

harem. Overall, “Unlike the rather demure dressing of the White characters, [the dresses of the colored

women] draw attention to the physical body.” (Lacroix 2004: 221), so that it can be assumed that, despite

Disney movies are actually made for children, women of other ethnicities are represented as sexual objects

and women of European descent should embody innocent lovely beauties matching the conservative female

role (Lacroix 2004: 222).

From the accentuation on women in Disney movies results the representation of men. The male protagonists

are in former Disney classics mostly strong and reliable heroes which seem to match perfectly to the

heroine. In the movies where women are culturally others, the men, on the contrary, are sometimes of

European descent (like John Smith in Pocahontas and Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame) or to a

certain degree have at least a European look, like Aladdin: “Aladdin, the hero, looks and sounds like a fresh-

faced American boy: his skin is much paler, and he asks people to call him 'Al', an American name, not an

3 See also pictures in appendix.

4 Esmeralda is the female protagonist in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She is a Romany woman and hence portrayed very hot-

blooded. 5 Jasmine is the female protagonist in Aladdin.

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Arabic name.” (Maio 1999). This underlines the exoticism of the female characters in such movies even

more.

Furthermore, there is often a great distinction made between the good characters and the villains. The

villains are mostly featured with stereotypical (and often wrong) characteristics of the represented culture

whereas the good protagonists have some very European features, even though they should be foreigners:

“All of the bad guys have beards and large, bulbous noses, sinister eyes and heavy accents, and they’re

wielding swords constantly. Aladdin doesn’t have a beard, or a turban. He doesn’t have an accent.” (Salem in

Olen 2012) and “Even though The Lion King takes place in Africa [and the characters are animals], two white

American actors are used for the voice of Simba, the hero. However, the hyenas who are bad characters in

the film, speak non-standard English and are played by actors like Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin.”

(Maio 1999). It becomes apparent that the good characters are Americanized and the bad ones are racially

stereotyped. Consequently, an inferred meaning could be that we, as people of European descent, are good

and innocent, and the others of a foreign ethnicity are bad and evil. Regarding the fact that Disney’s classical

animated movies are actually made for children, this appears to be a very alarming portrayal.

The other love story

Moreover, the representation of social relationships between ‘one of us’ and ‘the other’ is implemented in a

dubious way. Of course, the typical main pattern of many Disney movies is a love story. But in the movies

about ‘the other’ these stories are often not that icky and the barriers to achieve this love are much different

while sometimes there is even no real happy ending. On the contrary to the typical Disney romance from the

earlier movies, where the man saves the woman, in the later movies the female heroine is the one who

saves the man and at the end cannot even keep the love, like in Pocahontas or The Hunchback of Notre

Dame. That seems to be an indication that Disney wants to present people of foreign ethnicities more bound

to their people than to a certain lovable person (Lacroix 2004: 225). Hence, the representation of love

appears to be more realistic on the first sight. But I think with this Disney wants to emphasize the difference

between people of European descent and the other ethnicity even more. Like in other Disney love stories

where the female protagonist is attracted by a very impressive man, often a prince, the foreign female

heroines are attracted by men who are unlike themselves and hence, also impressive to them. For example

“Pocahontas [is] falling in love with the first White man she sees” (Lacroix 2004: 225). Moreover, a range of

the love relationships in the latter Disney movies are constructed and not occurring in the original history or

story. I assume that Disney just wants to make the story more interesting and appeal the Western spectators

with a little more dramatization and Americanization. With all these attributes and arrangements, Disney

creates a distance between the civilized, rational and objective people of European descent and the

uncivilized, irrational others (Lacroix 2004: 218) which sometimes may result in racist tendencies.

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The other (subliminal) racism

In my eyes, Disney movies do not contain vicious racism, but that does not mean that there cannot be found

any racist tendencies. Disney uses, I cannot judge whether on purpose or not, subliminal racism and

discrimination which occur in words, appearance or behavior. Additionally, as already indicated, a range of

racial stereotypes can be found in Disney movies. Beginning with words, especially in The Hunchback of

Notre Dame and Pocahontas discriminating terms are used. Already the word ‘hunchback’ is an

inappropriate term for a person with a physical handicap6. Furthermore, the portrayal of this character with

a huge back, warts and a deformed face as well as the fact that this character should be a gypsy, is even

more discrimination. The term ‘gypsy’, moreover, is in the German language a racist word (but this might be

grounded in Germany’s bad history and the resulting stronger consciousness and cautiousness about those

archaic terms). So, it could be argued that terms like ‘gypsy’ were normal language in the time when the

story should take place and hence, are necessary to portray a certain conflict, but as already mentioned, I

think it is dangerous to revive such words and conflicts in children’s movies and make then ordinary again.

The same applies to Pocahontas were terms like ‘savages’, ‘disgusting race’ and ‘vermin’ are used for the

Indians. Although these terms help illustrating the cruelty of the colonialism, I think children should not get

in contact with such words and especially not in the context of other ethnicities living actually next door to

them.

Another aspect of the subliminal racism occurring in Disney movies is that on the one hand the largest ethnic

group of America, the Afro-Americans, are mostly ignored7 or presented as the inferior8, and on the other

hand animals are often representing racial stereotypes. In The Little Mermaid, for instance, the crab

Sebastian got a strong Jamaican-accent and sings about the stupid people above the sea slaving away in the

sun (Joseph 2007). In Lady and the Tramp there are two Siamese Cats, having an East Asian accent singing to

East Asian sounding music, which are represented as very mean.

Of course, most of these movies are from a time when racism was sadly normal, but in my eyes this no

excuse because Disney could in many cases just re-synchronize certain parts of those movies or comics or

leave out short scenes.9 But unfortunately, Disney’s utilization of foreign cultures is still too much driven by

the emphasis on otherness. The distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’ is often overly highlighted and they are

presented as antitheses which are mutually exclusive. Although the love story could be seen as a

reconciliation of the cultures, the ‘foreigners’ are often degraded with racial and sexual stereotypes. Their

characteristics are so exaggerated that the recipient cannot fail to recognize the ethnicity of the character.

At the same time the spectators who get in touch with those ethnics for the first time, also learn that people

6 The original novel from Victor Hugo was just named Notre Dame de Paris. Additionally, in Germany Disney substitutes “hunchback”

with “Glöckner” which means bell ringer. 7 Only in The Princess and the Frog the protagonists are looking Afro-American.

8 Especially in older cartoons and in some scenes of Fantasia.

9 This would go along with a debate initiated in Germany in 2013. It is discussed to eliminate racist terms like “Neger” (nigger),

“Zigeuner” (gypsy), or “Mohr” (racist word for a black person) out of children’s media. (Topcu 2013)

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who look different must be strange and inferior. With this wrong perception, children might treat children of

other ethnicities in a racial way without knowing it better. (Pewewardy 1996) But also adults seem to seize

those stereotypes in their everyday life – in line with the motto “if Disney does this, I am also allowed to do

it”. Likewise, spectators of the portrayed ethnicity could perceive themselves as socially subordinate. Of

course, it could be argued that most of the children watching these movies do not notice these insulting

terms and portrayals, but especially the subliminal kind of racial representation could lead to an unnoticed

racist behavior of children and adults which might also result in xenophobia. Also the argument that

subliminal racism is simply normal in popular media and the capitalist world, is in my eyes invalid because

especially in times of a sophisticated society everyone’s and particularly children’s movie makers’

responsibility should be to avoid the utilization of racist and sexual stereotypes and to rather teach values

like equality. But equality does not mean that everything should be Americanized.

The other marketing

Unfortunately, the American romance and the Hollywood kind of portraying certain characters and their

personal circumstances makes Disney movies very attractive and at the same time influential on children as

well as adults. As Buonanno (2008) already noticed, the Americanization is far advanced, and American

values are taken for granted. Several Disney movies are furthermore timeless: “They play again and again,

year after year, decade after decade, alongside, opposite, and close to movies made years earlier.”

(Pewewardy 1996). Hence, the images and attitudes the movies transmit retain for a long time in people’s

minds and accordingly, Disney carries a high impact and plays an important role within the film industry. But

with regard to the discussed levels of cultural representation, it is questionable how far Disney is conscious

of its responsibility. I am quite sure that Disney is aware of its utilization of cultural aspects, but just ponders

what should be higher rated – responsibility or success. I guess, mostly the success is chosen, but

nevertheless, Disney tries to mitigate the effects and shape the meaning with marketing and paratextual

products (Gray 2010: 6).

First of all, Disney pursues the concept of being a strong brand which was established over decades. With

the expansion of their movie repertoire in the 1990s, they established the so called ‘Disney Classics’ which

are talked up as jewels in movie history and supported by a huge marketing department which develops

related “paratexts that grab the viewer before he or she reaches the text and try to control the viewer's

entrance to the text.” (Gray 2010: 23). This strategy is supported by artificial scarcity: Disney leaves their 14

most successful movies in a safe for seven years and rereleases them only for a short period of time

(Disney.de). Since the 1990s, moreover, the frequency of the published movies increased very much, so that

one could refer to the growing number of Disney Classics as a certain kind of flow with which consumers

should be gained and kept. With these strategies, Disney also immobilizes many people because they are

such great fans that they ignore the negative effects Disney movies contain under their magic surface. The

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simple pattern Disney benefits from is that “sometimes our consumption choices are motivated by previous

consumption: »I [or my children] loved it the first time, so let's watch it again.«” (Gray 2010: 24). This is

supported by impressive advertisements like a video clip called “I Am a Princess” (Disney on YouTube 2012)

where girls of all ages and ethnicities describe why they are princesses. It is obvious that Disney wants to

highlight which good qualities the Disney princesses teach the children and to a certain extent they may be

right because, in my eyes, Disney also conveys some good and helpful values with their movies. But

nevertheless, not all the critiques can be wrong with their discoveries about racial and sexual stereotypes,

and also the attempt to whitewash their mistakes and omissions, does not reveal responsibility. But

unfortunately, only a few critiques, compared to the big fan base, notice this fallibility of Disney and

therefore, they can and probably will go on with their strategies of capturing children and adults for their

brand(s). Maybe a reason for the unconcerned watching of Disney’s classical animated movies could be that

they are regarded as a children’s genre (Gray 2010: 36) and hence, the expectations about the movies are

forming certain viewing patterns where dubious elements are ignored or eclipsed.

Paradoxically, the incorrect or critical representations of foreign cultures and otherness could also help

Disney to gain even more success because cultural aspects appear to be a marketing instrument to make the

movies more interesting for potential spectators. As already mentioned, cultural discount might attract the

people and Americanized features may persuade them to feel familiar. Accordingly, Disney began to create a

“marketplace of culture” (Giroux in Lacroix 2004: 217) out of which the spectator only has to choose the

most liked movie. But nonetheless, the cultural proximity seems to be more important because when it

comes to the frequency with which Disney characters are shown, the ones who represent a European

descent are more present. For instance, when examining the Disney online shop it is striking that the very

glamorous princesses like Cinderella, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rapunzel are much more

visible than the more strong-willed and independent seeming female characters like Pocahontas, Mulan,

Tiana10 and Jasmine who are all representing a foreign ethnicity. Especially in the successful Disney Princess

collection Mulan and Pocahontas are very rarely appearing because with their foreign ethnic background

they are not matching the Disney princess aesthetic and picture of women (Feminist Disney 2014).

The utilization of foreign or familiar cultures for children’s movies could accordingly also be an ideological

stroke. Because Disney is one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world owning television and cable

networks, TV channels, radio stations, publishing, production and many other companies (Morrison 2011)11,

it has so much power to spread its values all over the world although they might affect a range of people

with their representations and “embodiments of ideological values” (Fiske in Lacroix 2004: 217). Disney

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Tiana is the female protagonist in The Princess and the Frog who is the only Afro-American heroine in Disney’s classical animated movies. 11

Disney owns: “ABC Television Network, cable networks including ESPN, the Disney Channel, SOAPnet, A&E and Lifetime, 277 radio stations, music and book publishing companies, production companies Touchstone, Miramax and Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, the cellular service Disney Mobile, and theme parks around the world” (Morrison 2011)

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simply Americanizes, or more precisely, ‘Disneyfies’ all stories and thus, gives them a familiar appeal.

Because they lull so many people into their magic flow by constantly penetrating them with movies, series,

cartoons, books, merchandising products, advertisements and theme parks, the few critics seem to be just

scattering losses which are negligible.

The movie Pocahontas as a special example of cultural (mis-)representation

A special example of this ‘Disneyfying’ of a certain ethnicity for an animated movie is the already mentioned

movie Pocahontas. It is extraordinary because it does not portray an ethnicity which is foreign because it is

rooted far away, but a tribe of the Native Americans which were owning the land before the Europeans

conquered it. Because of this very critical topic concerning the US-American history and the brutality of the

colonialism, it is also a very outstanding case of cultural imperialism and Americanization in media. On the

one hand, it appears to be really courageous to thematize the own shady past with regard to the own

misdemeanor. But on the other hand, one could also think that the USA want to glorify the conquest of

America. Thus, this topic is very ambivalent and must be treated with caution, what Disney to a certain

extent does, but unfortunately not on the whole.

First of all: “Psychologically and culturally, it is extremely difficult for us to recognize, let alone accept, that

‘the other’ can take root in us and become part of our own identity.” (Buonanno 2008: 91) and hence,

Pocahontas as a kind of ‘back to the roots’ movie is constructed in between ideas of Native American and

modern American culture. But nonetheless, the otherness of the Native Americans is highlighted very much,

maybe because the notion of native plays an important role in American people’s minds:

“Many of us have no doubt experienced discomfort on making the unexpected discovery that we too are

‘native.’ Adolescents tend to read lots of books with the common feature of exotic settings. These include stories

of adventure, travel and geographical discoveries. Such tales of far-away lands afford ‘escape without

departure’ and generally include ‘natives,’ that is the indigenous local population. One often encounters the

intractable misunderstanding that ‘native’ denotes members of races and cultures unlike our own, generally

more primitive and less civilized than we are. The ‘native’ becomes synonymous with the ‘other’.” (Buonanno

2008: 91)

This social concept of the other appears almost in the same manner in Pocahontas. The movie thus

conceptualized that the spectator feels the proximity to the Native Americans, but at the same time feels a

distance. This distance is mostly very exaggerated in seizing on racial stereotypes which occur in

appearances, words and music. To make the movie additionally even more attractive, the otherness is

Americanized without suppressing the otherness, for example with the implementation of American beauty

ideals.

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Accordingly, Pocahontas is a very ambivalent movie according to its representation of culture and especially

the native people of America. More precisely, it tells the story of an Indian princess belonging to the

Powhatan tribe at the beginning of the 17th century in Virginia. It is based on a true happening, but adjusted

to fit into the Disney scheme. Princess Pocahontas was actually a twelve-year-old girl (Lacroix 2004: 220)

when the English conquerors arrived at Virginia. Later she was taken out of her natural environment to

England to marry John Rolfe and lived at the English Royal Household. In the movie she appears to be an

emancipated adult woman who falls in love with John Smith but at the end feels too responsible for her tribe

that she stays in Virginia without Smith. (Pewewardy 1996) The actual story is seized in the sequel of the

movie, but also assimilated to the Disney romance12. The whole adjustment of the story, I suppose, helped

Disney to obtain more spectators. I guess, no-one who is expecting a typical Disney movie wants to see a

brutal story about conquerors who abduct an Indian princess who is actually a child for forced marriage.

Hence, the story got a more romantic appearance with a strong, determined and very beautiful heroine in

close touch with nature. As everyday companion, two cute animals typical for Disney were put on

Pocahontas’ side to make the movie even more likable.

Unlike other Disney princesses, Pocahontas is characterized by all the already discussed representation

levels of otherness. She has a darker skin tone, wears a for a Disney princess atypical dress, behaves brave,

strong-willed and more or less independent, and most strikingly, is a physically very attractive women, not a

girl. Her eyes have a slightly almond shape and her most salient attribute is her long, flowing hair (Lacroix

2004: 220-221). Moreover, she is almost always in move - running and jumping – and wafted by colored

leafs. It is obvious that Pocahontas is designed as a heroine and arbiter between the local population and the

foreign conquerors. Moreover, she is designed as very attractive woman with very exaggerated body

dimensions which at the utmost a super model or a Barbie doll has (Lacroix 2004: 220). Her costume and

how she is moving, furthermore, underline this. This strategic visualization as well as her good-heartedness

emphasize her otherness, but besides make her adorable or even desirable for the spectator.

But Pocahontas is also “supposed to represent to us a view from another culture, but in many ways she is

just mirroring our own most basic, culturally rooted moral principles.” (Feminist Disney 2011). Disney

portrays Pocahontas and her tribe as very wild and uncivilized, and thus illustrates them as an enormous

contrast to the conquerors of European descent – the others. But strictly speaking, the Englishmen are the

foreigners or others who are conquering a land which actually belongs to native people. So, the otherness

defined by the Western world is just an inversion of the initial relations with which they are bringing

themselves into a superior position. Admittedly, Disney also seizes and inverses this relation, and hence, the

otherness of the Indian tribe, the Powhatans, could be regarded as quite close to the otherness of the

12

According to customer reviews, the sequel movie of Pocahontas is not very much liked by the admirers of the first part because the love story is not continued. The spectators seem to be uninterested in the real story and just expect Disney romance. This could be another explanation for the disregard of the cultural misrepresentations in Disney movies.

12

invading English people. Sadly, with this, Disney only creates a kind of equal status of both cultures which is

historically not truthful.

Overall, in my eyes, the movie is characterized by a high degree of universalism. It leaves a lot of space for

several interpretations because the scenes are very different over the course of the movie. On the one hand,

the Indians are represented as a people very close in touch with nature, peaceable and native. The viewer

should sympathize with them because they are the good ones. On the other hand, the English conquerors,

the evil ones, are entering the homeland of the Indians to find gold. Both sides have their pleasant

characters which get in touch and even dramatize the whole conflict. But in general the relation between

good and bad should be clear. However, during the movie there are several scenes where the viewer is

confronted with a hard task to decide if the roles are still steady. Especially the song “Savages” which should

be discussed later contains a range of racist and insulting terms which are articulated from both sides.

Additionally, the representation of Native Americans is very universal. By no means, Disney portrays the

Powhatans as a unique Indian tribe, but induces a picture of the

“native americans as if they are one large conglomerate group, even though hundreds of tribes/languages/

traditions/etc. existed in pre-European America. […] Pocahontas will simply say “My people” and “our people.”

Very few people who watch this film will identify Pocahontas and her people as something more specific than

just “Native Americans.”” (Feminist Disney 2011).

Although overall I understand the movie as really critical about, not only the English, conquests and

colonialism, it represents both Indians and English people very exaggerated and to a certain extent also

unrealistic. But especially the Indians are presented as backward what is really alarming because the today’s

Native Americans could feel misrepresented and pilloried by English Americans (Pewewardy 1996).

“[…] just as Europeans or men construct themselves as civilized, rational, and objective, by “distancing and

‘exoticising’ the non-European other, American society constructs itself as objective, rational, and civilized by its

‘orientalization’ of minority [people]” (Lacroix 2004: 218)

This proceeds in the portrayal of the Powhatans’ reaction to the beginning conquest, the later intervention

in the conflict by Pocahontas and the resulting peace and retreat of the Englishmen. The drawn conclusion

out of this modification of the history could be that "If those Natives had been more cooperative,

misunderstandings/war might not have happened so often."” (Feminist Disney 2011) which is actually very

unrealistic and insolent because all along people tried to defend themselves when danger threatens and:

“Standing up and fighting someone who is coming to invade your country and way of life is not ultimately

equivalent to the violence of the invading/conquering/decimating forces, and yet the movie was trying to place

guilt for fighting on both sides, as if each were equally responsible for misunderstanding the other.” (Feminist

Disney 2011)

But although the Native Americans are to a large extend misrepresented, also the other characters contain

racial stereotypes. The villain, John Ratcliffe, who is the leader of the English conquerors, is figured as an

13

exaggerated colonialist with a strong English accent, a Mediterranean or Oriental look and traits which could

stereotypically attribute to a homosexual man13. His facial design could cautiously treated also be seen as

leant to the imagination of Jews in the Nazi era (and unfortunately, also in today’s Western world) where a

striking feature should have been the hooknose. Ratcliffe has moreover a very evil facial expression and his

behavior is racial and vicious. Therefore, his character is another example of the representation of foreign

cultures as the evil. Additionally, Ratcliffe could be seen as a derision of and distancing from the European

ancestors by today’s Americans.

The role of music in Pocahontas

The mutual recriminations between the Native Americans and the English conquerors as well as the

attribution of good and bad are also supported by the song “Savages”. Verbally and musically this song

underlines the conflict and heats it up even more. Additionally, it is sung in conformity with the pictures.

Melody, lyrics and pictures are all creating a threatening atmosphere. The choice of words is really hard and

racist terms are used on both sides:

What can you expect from filthy little heathens?/ Here’s what you get when races are diverse (originally: Their

whole disgusting race is like a curse)/ Their skin’s a hellish red/ They’re only good when dead/ They’re vermin,

as I said and worse/ They’re savages, savages/ Barely even human/ Savages, savages/ Drive them from our

shore/ They’re not like you and me/ which means they must be evil/ We must sound the drums of war/ They’re

Savages, savages/ Dirty shrieking (originally: redskin) devils/ Now we sound the drums of war (conquerors

about natives)

This is what we feared/ The paleface is a demon/ The only thing they feel at all is greed/ Beneath that milky

hide/ There's emptiness inside/ I wonder if they even bleed/ They're Savages, savages/ Barely even human/

Savages, savages/ Killers at the core/ They're different from us/ Which means they can't be trusted/ We must

sound the drums of war/ They're savages, savages/ First we deal with this one/ Then we sound the drums of

war (natives about conquerors)

They're just a bunch of/ Filthy, stinking savages, savages/ Demons/ Devils/ Kill them/ Savages, savages/ What

are we waiting for?/ Destroy their evil race/ Until there's not a trace left/ Now we sound the drums of war

(conquerors and Native Americans)

Although both sides are using very insulting and even racist words, the original terms about the natives

articulated by the conquerors were even more misanthropic so that Disney decided to change them into less

racist terms.14 Additionally, I assume that those words and formulations, and therefore the whole song, are

again not the right ones for children’s ears and are teaching them intolerance instead of history. Although I,

as an adult, understand the song as a kind of denunciation of the behavior of both sides, a child could

13

For example his purple clothes and the ribbons in his hair (see picture in appendix). 14

As a reaction to concerns of Indians (tvtropes.org)

14

misjudge this illustration. Hence, I do not share Disney’s advertisement on the DVD: “An adventure for the

whole family!”15. In general the song savages exaggerates the conflict too much. Most of the critics state

correctly that

“This song is undoubtedly racist against Native Americans, […] The song lacks cultural sensitivity and paints the

entire Native American race in a negative light. The term savages portrays the Native Americans as uncivilized

and uneducated.” (Olen 2012)

But they simply ignore that the song is also insulting the conquerors. Of course this is more understandable

due to the fact that the conquerors are trying to steal the land of the Native Americans, but with regard to

the possible utilization and transfer of the song’s message into the today’s society, it is alarming that the

Native Americans as well as the ones of European (or other) descent are agitated against each other. Hence,

this song is inappropriate for the representation of this conflict.

In general, the music in the movie Pocahontas and the other classical animated movies of Disney is a very

important narrative element and according to the three categories of music use in film defined by Chion, in

Disney movies “empathic music, which supports and expresses the emotions of the characters” (Larsen

2002: 136) is utilized. Regarding Claudia Gorbman’s functions of narrative music, the music in Disney’s

classical animated movies is a signifier of emotions, creates a continuity between shots and scenes, and

causes cues or interpretations of narrative events (Larsen 2002: 136). Because of the various songs in

Pocahontas, the message and effect of the used words is even more emphasized. But a striking observation I

made, is that the music’s melody and rhythm in Pocahontas, as a movie portraying the cultural other, is not

reflecting the Native American culture. With the exception of the song “Steady as a Beating Drum” which, as

the movie’s first song, seems to be constructed as an introduction into the foreign Indian world, all music in

the movie sounds more modern and American, and marginally like tribal music16 – although Disney hired

some Native Americans as consultants (imdb.com). I assume that like in other Disney movies the music

should encourage to sing along and therefore, a complicated musical construct, sounding strange to the

Western ear would not be suitable for this purpose.17 Moreover, this is another level of Americanization of

the representation of ‘the other’.

15

Original German wording: “Ein Erlebnis für die ganze Familie!” 16

Rarely, some pan flutes or Indian sounding drums are used. Mostly the music is orchestral, and sometimes sounding like typical American pop music (e.g. “Colors of the Wind” or “Just Around the Riverband”). 17

This applies also to the movie Aladdin where American sounding pop songs rather than complex and unique Arabic music are utilized. A counter-example is the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” from the movie The Lion King where Disney adopted the South African traditional “Mbube” from Solomon Linda. Unfortunately, with this Disney committed a copyright infringement for which they had to stand trial in 2006 and lost against the heirs of Linda (Erlmann 2012).

15

Conclusion

After discovering all the racial and sexual stereotypes as well as misrepresentations of foreign ethnicities and

cultures, it could be questioned whether it is condemnable to utilize those patterns in children’s movies and

whether they evoke feelings of insult among people belonging to that culture. The answer is yes with a few

restrictions. On the one hand, it is of course reprehensible if someone integrates racist and sexual insults on

purpose, but on the other hand it appears to be quite difficult to avoid stereotypes on the whole. This does

not mean that I accept the excuse “everyone uses racial and sexual stereotypes” because this indicates that

the one stating this did not even try to avoid them. Nevertheless, I imagine it to be hard to produce a movie

about a foreign culture which satisfies all demands of every person belonging to the represented group.

Moreover, a foreign culture is and stays foreign, even when a well-versed consultant is supporting the

producer. But the producer has at least to try to obtain as much as possible information about the particular

culture. In my eyes, Disney often fails, or even wants to fail with this issue because it is one of the largest

media conglomerates worldwide and hence dedicates itself to capitalism. Thus, of course, there are some

recurring characteristics in Disney movies which are probably not occurring by chance, and especially

because Disney’s daily business are children’s movies and famously children are easily impressed and

manipulated, Disney has to act more responsible and watch out about not transmitting a perverted picture

of genders and ethnicities. But,

“Of course, Disney does not intend to offend people - that would be bad business. Most people who watch the

movies are probably caught up in the Disney magic and don't notice these things. But that's the problem. One

way in which Disney creates the magic is by using stereotypes that people respond to without thinking. Aladdin

looks 'right' for a hero; Jafar looks 'right' for a villain. We don't think about it.“ (Maio 1999)

16

References

Literature:

Buonanno, Milly (2008): The Age of Television: Experiences and Theories. Bristol / Chicago: Intellect Books.

Disney.de (2013): Disney Platinum Edition – Nur für kurze Zeit.

Available at: http://www.disney.de/DisneyVideos/platinum/ (accessed 11 January 2014, 20:11)

Disney on YouTube (2012): I Am a Princess.

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUGnu0gXtn4&feature=player_embedded (accessed 10

January 2014, 19:45)

Erlmann, Veit (2012): Umstrittene Moderne – Afrikanische Musik im 20. Jahrhundert [lecture on 11 January

2012]. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Feminist Disney (2011): Pocahontas: Disney attempts to commodify culture and history part 2

Available at: http://feministdisney.tumblr.com/post/10681160505/pocahontas-disney-attempts-to-

commodify-culture-and (accessed 05 January 2014, 19:53)

Feminist Disney (2014): Conflicting Messages in Marketing.

Available at: http://feministdisney.tumblr.com/tagged/disney-princesses (accessed 05 January 2014, 21:19)

Gray, Jonathan (2010): Show sold separately: promos, spoilers, and other media paratexts. New York: New

York University Press.

Imdb.com: Pocahontas – Trivia.

Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114148/trivia (accessed 18 January 2014, 18:32)

17

Joseph, Ben (2007): The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters.

Available at: http://www.cracked.com/article_15677_the-9-most-racist-disney-characters.html (accessed 09

January 2014, 18:25)

Lacroix, Celeste (2004): Images of Animated Others: The Orientalization of Disney’s Cartoon Heroines From

The Little Mermaid to The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Popular Communication: The International Journal of

Media and Culture, 2:4, pp. 213-229

Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15405710pc0204_2 (accessed 16 December

2013, 18:55)

Larsen, Peter (2002): Mediated fiction. In: Jensen, Klaus Bruhn (2002): Handbook of Media and

Communications Research. Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodologies. London: Routledge, pp.

117-137

Maio, Kathy (1999): Women, Race & Culture in Disney's movies.

Available at: http://newint.org/easier-english/Disney/diswomen.html#aladdin (accessed 10 January 2014,

18:03)

Morrison, Holly (2011): Disney: Beloved Fairytales or Cultural Misrepresentations?

Available at: http://hollyemorrison.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/disney-beloved-fairytales-or-cultural-

misrepresentations/ (accessed 10 January 2014, 22:11)

Olen, Caitlyn (2012): Disney's Portrayal of Race and Ethnicity in Animated Films.

Available at: http://caitlynolen.blogspot.de/2012/04/disneys-portrayal-of-race-and-ethnicity.html (accessed

10 January 2014, 19:02)

Oxford Dictionary: Culture. Oxford University Press.

Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/culture?q=culture (accessed 02 January

2014, 14:08)

18

Pewewardy, Cornel (1996): The Pocahontas Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for Educators. Kansas: University of

Kansas.

Available at: http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/pewe/writing/Pocahontas.html (accessed 02 January

2014, 13:07)

Schmieder, Jürgen (2014): Rassismus bei "How I Met Your Mother" Produzenten entschuldigen sich für

"Yellowfacing". München: Süddeutscher Verlag.

Available at: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/rassismus-bei-how-i-met-your-mother-produzenten-

entschuldigen-sich-fuer-yellowfacing-1.1864941 (accessed 19 January 2014, 15:27)

Topcu, Özlem (2013): Stellt euch nicht so an. Weiße dürfen nicht bestimmen, wann Schwarze sich

gekränkt fühlen dürfen. Hamburg: Zeit Online GmbH.

Available at: http://www.zeit.de/2013/05/Kinderbuch-Debatte-Neger-Rassismus (accessed 18

January 2014, 19:22)

Tvtropes.org: YMMV: Pocahontas.

Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/Pocahontas (accessed 18 January

2014, 17:28)

Movies:

Walt Disney (1992): Aladdin. Burbank: Walt Disney Animation Studies.

Walt Disney (1995): Pocahontas. Burbank: Walt Disney Animation Studies.

Walt Disney (1996): The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Burbank: Walt Disney Animation Studies.

Walt Disney (1998): Mulan. Burbank: Walt Disney Animation Studies.

19

Appendix

Illustration of Pocahontas

http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120815205961/disney/images/4/4b/Pocahontas01.jpg (accessed

16 January 2014, 16:50)

20

Illustration of Esmeralda and her goat

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/polls/616000/616826_1294605105927_full.jpg (accessed 16 January

2014, 17:16)

21

Illustration of Jasmine

http://static4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130303063633/disney/images/1/1d/Yhst-

83050632044193_2168_298840302.jpg (accessed 16 January 2014, 17:55)

22

Illustration of John Ratcliffe

http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130204010606/disney/images/e/e2/John_Ratcliffe.jpg (accessed

18 January 2014, 23:34)