Compare And Contrast Stagecoach And Pocahontas

Both of the films Stagecoach and Pocahontas have overall well-meanings and positive messages. Stagecoach highly scrutinizes how social prejudices are harmful and misleading, while Pocahontas criticizes the idea of judging others based on their differences. However, these positive lessons shadow the problematic representations of Native Americans displayed in these films. Stagecoach, directed by John Ford, is a 1939 American Western film that explores a multitude of themes, but a major portion of the film focuses on a negative portrayal of Native Americans. From the very beginning, the passengers in the stagecoach are frantic with worry about being attacked by Native Americans, even though Native Americans do not appear in the film until the

However, the women left to alert her tribe of the stagecoach’s location, so they could kill the passengers. In doing so, the film confirms the passenger’s initial racist impressions. This act gives the audience an invalid prejudice that all Native Americans present an imminent threat. No matter the context in the film, the Native Americans are still considered savages. In an instance where the stagecoach passengers are traveling, one of the passengers refers to Geronimo as “that Apache butcher.” At this point in the film the audience has not seen Geronimo and the Apache tribe on screen, so it already feels like the Native Americans are the villains. By being described as butchers, the audience can dehumanize Native Americans because they assume that they ride along and kill people. One more issue with the portrayal of Native Americans in Stagecoach is that it perpetuates the idea of Native Americans as stoic and voiceless individuals. An example of this can be seen in a scene where three high ranked officers discuss the whereabouts of the Apache leader, Geronimo. Rather than asking the Native American man in the room, the officer asks his peers for an