Orientalism in Disney’s Pocahontas
While the name suggests an allusion to only Eastern Asia, or the Orient, Orientalism is a branch of Cultural Studies, an area of literary criticism that has applications in various mediums. The school of critical theory, created by Edward Said, is applicable to novels, essays, social situations, films, and epics alike. One film, to which Orientalism is applicable, is Disney’s Pocahontas.
To understand how Orientalism is applicable to a film that takes place in the Western world, far away from the Orient, a foundation detailing the components of Orientalism must be constructed. Traditionally, Orientalism’s focus is the depiction of Eastern cultures, or places considered a part of the Orient, such as India, China, and the Middle East by western writers, or writers from the Occident. Defined, Orientalism is “a style of thought based upon ontological and epistemological distinctions made between ‘the Orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the Occident’” (1867). Based upon this definition, many people “have accepted the basic distinction between the East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions and political accounts covering the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny, and so on”(1867). With the acceptance of distinctions between the East and the West, came a theory of literary criticism that “deals” with the Orient. Orientalism, in short, is a “Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (1868). This is where the application to Disney’s Pocahontas is the strongest. This application is not typical of traditional Orientalism, as the culture dominated and restructured is not in the Orient. However, the colonization of America and the British conquering, or domination of, the American Indians displayed in Disney’s Pocahontas easily