Racism in Hollywood has adapted to the changes in society and remains an ever-relevant issue. It has grown from the black and yellow face of the 1920’s to bastardization of a diverse role through the entire whitewashing of an ethnic character. This is done through a myriad of ways, ranging from the casting of Caucasian actors for ethnic roles to the just general race bending of an ethnic character.
Hollywood has a streak of what is referred to as whitewashing, which is racist and damaging to more than just the actors. Whitewashing or race bending is defined as “situations where a media content creator (movie studio, publisher, etc.) has changed the race or ethnicity of a character. This is a longstanding Hollywood practice that has been historically used to discriminate against people of color".
Native Americans can be seen as one of the oldest examples of Hollywood’s racism. There are very few cases where an accurate or non-offensive portrayal of Native American’s is done in Hollywood. Even when Hollywood attempts to make something less offensive it is not historically accurate and relies heavily on stereotypes like in Disney’s “Pocahontas”. The lead roles in many movies that were originally stated to be for an ethnic party have gone mainly to white actors or actresses. This is something seen in many different popular movies. To name a few examples, “The Hunger Games” (2012), “Cleopatra” (1963), “The Prince of Persia” (2010), “21”(2008),“West Side Story” (1961), “Argo” (2012) I could go on and on. The list is extensive and is not limited by time, genre of movie, or sex.
There are many different excuses Hollywood executives use to explain away the offensive use of stereotypes. This is not an issue that plagues solely the Native American population, yet it does seem to be more widely accepted when the racism or stereotypes are based off of Indians. I believe this has a lot to do with the lack of knowledge most American have on Native American culture. Americans seems to have an easier time accepting Native Americans as an easy to swallow stereotype. There are many different types of Indian that fit into the different popular media standard. There are the type that oppose or help Cowboys, there are the alcoholics, there are the spiritual healers (who sport feathers and pipes), the savage indian, the noble indian, and of course the land deprived protesters.
This brings me to the movie Disney movie “Pocahontas”. I think it is very important to emphasize that the movie was created by disney because as Linda Woolverton, a writer on the movies “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”, “When you take on a Disney animated feature, you know you are going to be affecting entire generations of human minds” (Kilpatrick). If you have any doubt about this the validity of this statement you must do more than look at this Halloween’s most popular costume this year. Many of the children who grew up watching this movie are going to grow thinking of the movie as a history lesson.
The story that Disney paints with the movie “Pocahontas” is not the most racist example I will be using but it is still very damaging to Native culture. It glosses over the genocide of Native Americans by turning this young girl into a curvy stereotype. Pocahontas was a real woman, though the story Disney tells a much more romanticized story rather than the actual thing. “It is much like trying to teach about the Holocaust and putting in a nice story about Anne Frank falling in love with a German officer” . Instead of focusing on the abuse of the Natives it turns Pocahontas into a love-sick female trope while adding fuel the stereotype fire. This shows that Hollywood does not need actual actors to damage Native culture.
Stereotypes when perpetuated create a loss of originality and past. The absence of diversity on screen will lead to a lack of diversity and cultural recognition. The Native culture is already skewed and misinformed more needs to be done to create a better understanding of this rich culture. Hollywood’s ignorant use of mostly Caucasian actors creates a lack of depth and knowledge to the lacking knowledge most Americans have on the Native culture.
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