Analyzing The Animated Film 'Colors Of The Wind'

The notion of “them or us” is a huge part of the plot throughout the animated film and it presents us with how different cultures see each other as enemies, simply because they perceive intercultural relationships in a black or white manner. Otherization is an unavoidable part of Disney’s Pocahontas, since John Smith openly differentiates himself and his culture from that of Pocahontas and Native American-Indians. The aforementioned importance of the songs is highlighted here again. In “Colors of the Wind”, Pocahontas sings about how John Smith sees her as an “ignorant savage.” Also, the critique of racist elements is another point worth mentioning about the animated film. It is obvious that Governor Ratcliffe feels superior not only towards

However, in the movie, it is actually only the settlers who kills the natives and destroys their land. As Maalouf mentions in his book On Identity, the strongest manifestations of the identity are present when it is threatened. (Maalouf 2000) Therefore, the settlers close ranks and get defensive of their land and culture after the settlers attacked them. In this sense, the lyrics of the song “Savages” can be considered especially offensive to Native American-Indians, since it refers to them as instinct-driven people with no control of their emotions or actions, while the only things they do is protecting their own land and people. Also, the aforementioned fact that John Smith has slayed hundreds of natives before and is considered an expert of killing natives adds to this theme. Other than continuously calling the American-Indian natives “bloodthirsty savages”, the settlers also talk about how the natives are “only good when dead.” The natives sing the same song with slightly different lyrics, but mostly in a similar