"Song of Removal" by Qwo-Li Driskill asks its reader to think about colonization and the forced removal of Native Americans from their homelands from an interesting perspective. I'm going to examine on stanza in particular that struck me the most.
"And while Disney paints Pocahontas the great white wet dream
while Russell Means sells out
military occupation of our homes persists
We are still being removed"
The first line of this stanza is very powerful on its own. To many, Disney is a benign childhood dream creator. He paints the picture of the elegant and strong princess again and again. But what about the underlying context or the cultural ramifications of the story that he's telling. Pocahontas was a real woman who lived her life and died very young. She played a major role in the peace negotiations between her tribe and the British settlers at Jamestown. She saved John Smith's life and later married John Rolfe before moving to England. She is undoubtedly a very important woman in both Native American and Western cultures, but how has the story been altered to better appeal to a Western audience. The story was changed from a fight against assimilation and destruction to a romance story about a princess and the young knight-like figure. Disney's Pocahontas remains in a position of resistance and power but it is somewhat diminished by the twisted facts. This story, that should really be about the Native American resistance and their culture's fight for survival, is turned into a Western love story. The Native Americans are being removed even from their own history and Pocahontas has been rewritten as something of a fantasy instead of a woman who lived and fought for peace for her people.
The idea of Disney being juxtaposed with military occupation is also an interesting point that struck me. Disney is not often associated with violent or submissive acts, but here it is placed in the same stanza as the forced removal of Native Americans from their homelands. Disney in itself is a culture. By being placed alongside this idea of military action, the idea of Disney's culture invading the Native American culture is solidified. Disney's improvisations with the story of Pocahontas is a forced removal of the Native American purpose and implications of the true story. Disney can mass produce his version and thus the Native American version and the truth are forced out.
There is this idea that Native American cultures are struggling from every aspect to survive. It is more than just land and religious views, it has infiltrated into their very history and memories. "Song of Removal" really delves into the extent to which Native American cultures have been exploited, lost, and destroyed and how they are still being invaded and forced out of popular culture.
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I have to say, first of all, that I also loved the line about Pocahontas, it really caught my attention. It was so evident of objectifying and sexualizing the "other," women of a different race. I would like to make a comment about your theory of Disney though. "Disney is not often associated with violent or submissive acts" I must disagree wholeheartedly with this statement. 99% of Disney movies objectify women and create submissive creatures out of them. Also, all the Disney movies I know about are based on violent acts. This Native American Removal theme is just the next step in the twisted vision of these creators. All the "Disney Princesses" we know and love, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty,Belle, and even our spunky little Mulan, are only strong willed long enough to get themselves into trouble, they then spend the rest of the movie attempting to hide their issue, and are only saved from their problems when any form of Prince Charming comes to save the day, very submissive.The only women who are actually strong throughout, are the evil villains. As to the issue of violent acts, Disney always stems its story around these issues. Mulan-Huns attacking Chinese, Little Mermaid-King Trident and Ursula are at war, Beauty and the Beast-KILL THE BEAST! Anyway, I think I've made my point, perhaps too strongly. I just think that Disney morphing the story of Pocahontas to fit into its little scheme of action, fear, struggle & adventure= love story, is heartless and predictable. I wonder how many Native American children have to watch this horrible portrayal of their history? By the way, I love Disney movies, just never liked their version of Pocahontas... ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to look at movies in this critical light--too often you realize what you thought was a good movie has problematic undertones. I really liked Pocahontas as a kid; to some extent I probably always will. However, I've recently come to recognize its flaws. For me, it's not so much the portrayal of Pocahantas herself that's the problem. It's that this movie adds to the belief most Americans have, the belief I had until just recently, that Native Americans are a thing of the past. School and the media give the impression that the N.A.s are gone, but they're not. I think this erasure is far more dangerous than mere misrepresentation.
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