Stereotypes In The Disney Film 'Pocahontas'

The Disney film Pocahontas displayed the different ideas of the Natives and British but comparing them to each other. Disney also projects a romantic aspect of Pocahontas’s relationship with John Smith. Most people know her as the Native American that was in love with John Smith. Disney released an animated film called Pocahontas in 1995, showing the assumed events that unraveled between John Smith and Pocahontas. Many believed that the Disney film was true to the past historical events that actually occurred in the life of Pocahontas. The Disney film, Pocahontas, does not tell the real historical story as it stereotyped the Natives and British, and romanticized the story of Pocahontas. Disney stereotypically illustrates the British differently throughout the film. When one of the British was not able to aim when shooting, his boss says “a man is not a man unless he knows how to shoot”(Pocahontas). This enforces the idea to young children that knowing how to use a weapon in crucially important to identify a man. British men are commonly depicted as wealthy. The governor is dressed in English fashion that portrays him as …show more content…
There was no true romantic relationship between Smith and Pocahontas. Although Pocahontas wants to make her father proud, she decides to go with her love for John Smith. She saves his life because she has the courage from true love. Disney changed Pocahontas’s age to around 18, although historically she was around 11 years old. The fact that she was 11 proves that she had no romantic relationship with John Smith. The representation of Pocahontas as an object of John Smith’s affections show how she is romanticized. When Smith sees Pocahontas, he does not shoot her because he realizes that she is beautiful, but he does not think the other Natives are human beings. The music in this scene strongly emphasizes this idea. Because of Pocahontas’s physical appearance, Smith does not kill