Peter Pan is regarded as a beloved and classic Disney movie. The film was released in 1953 and was an instant hit. At first look, Peter Pan is a fun story about an adventurous and magical boy who introduces three siblings to his home in Neverland, a place where children never grow up. Once further analyzed, the movie is revealed to be perpetuating Native American stereotypes through the depiction of Princess Tiger Lily and her tribe.
The Native Americans in Peter Pan are portrayed as inaudible, red faced savages. In a song featured in the movie, "What Makes the Red Man Red?" the Native Americans are all seen drumming and jumping around like animals, while wearing feathers in their long black hair. The Indian Chief explains his people's history and culture. The song says "Let's go back a million years to the very first Injun prince, he kissed a maid and start to blush and we've all been blushin' since." According to this, their genetic make up is the way it is because one Indian blushed red when he kissed a girl. They state this because there "needed" to be an explanation as to why their skin is not the "normal" human color of "white." The Native American's are also depicted as misogynistic; the woman Indian reprimands Wendy for dancing with the Indians and tells her that the women do not dance, they are supposed to gather fire wood instead. Near the end of the song, Wendy is also seen scolding her younger brother for joining in on the Indian's dance, demonstrating the Indians primitive nature.
This depiction of Native Americans reduces the culture to a subservient cartoon. If not obvious, this portrayal is extremely offensive. It blends all Indians together into one barbaric caricature, ignoring the diverse societies that are within the Native American culture.
The extreme racism against Native Americans in Peter Pan is problematic and is still commonplace in American culture today. There are still many sports teams that have Indians as mascots, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and the Blackhawks. Promoting the Native American culture as a mascot is inappropriate and oppressive. Racism against Native American's seems to be overlooked in today's society and although discrimination against Native American's may not seem as prevalent, it is still present and alive.
I've never thought of Peter Pan's scenes with the Indians in this way, and you sharing this really shed a new light upon this for me. And whats even more surprising is that Peter Pan was not the only early children's movie to do something like this, and now I'm interested in looking for those racist things that I've missed in the past throughout favorite childhood movies.
ReplyDeleteI remember slowly learning that there was something wrong with these scenes as a kid. I haven't seen the movie in a long time so I have forgotten about certain details like the lyrics of the song and Wendy being told to gather wood. After reading your analysis, I feel these details are probably the most important. For the white men that wrote the movie to say that the Indians are red because they've been blushing really does suggest that any departure from white is abnormal and must be explained. And the fact that the writers felt they needed to include disparity between genders in the Indians' culture is surprising.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like so many-- even most of Disney's past films have in some way included an extremely racist and stereotypical representation of different races. It's strange looking back on these movies and thinking about how much I loved them, without realizing how derogatory they are.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like so many-- even most of Disney's past films have in some way included an extremely racist and stereotypical representation of different races. It's strange looking back on these movies and thinking about how much I loved them, without realizing how derogatory they are.
ReplyDelete