The video-on-demand provider Netflix has rewritten its description of the Disney film Pocahontas after it was accused of sexism and reinforcing gender stereotypes.
In a post on the Native Appropriations website, an online forum for “discussing representations of Native peoples, including stereotypes, cultural appropriation, news, activism, and more”, writer Adrienne Keene recounted how Netflix altered the wording of its plot summary in response to a series of tweets in which she complained about the site’s description of the film.
Apparently Pocahontas is on @netflix now. Can we talk about this description? pic.twitter.com/tjaqRY9gs8
— Dr. Adrienne K. (@NativeApprops) September 1, 2015
Netflix’s original version read: “An American Indian woman is supposed to marry the village’s best warrior, but she yearns for something more – and soon meets Capt. John Smith.”
Keene’s argument is that “the description reads like a porn or a bad romance novel … The use of “woman” and “yearns” is so … gross. Shudder. The problem? It overly sexualises the film, and only positions Pocahontas in relation to her romantic options, not as a human being, you know, doing things.”
She then went on to write: “I also want to make explicit the colonial white supremacy embedded in this description as well – of course Pocahontas wouldn’t be content with her backwards Native ways with her Native man … she yearns for something more. SPOILER ALERT: It’s a white dude.”
A week later, Keene received an email from Netflix, which she posted on Twitter. It read: “We do our best to accurately portray the plot and tone of the content we’re presenting, and in this case you were right to point out that we could do better. The synopsis has been updated to better reflect Pocahontas’ active role and to remove the suggestion that John Smith was her ultimate goal.”
Got an email from @netflix last night, there is officially a new description for Pocahontas! http://t.co/RjJLEGoObS pic.twitter.com/3867m5OJB0
— Dr. Adrienne K. (@NativeApprops) September 9, 2015
The updated description of the film reads: “A young American Indian girl tries to follow her heart and protect her tribe when settlers arrive and threaten the land she loves.”
In another post on Native Appropriations, Keene wrote: “[I am] not railing against the film Pocahontas, which I can save for another time, but a discussion of the importance of the words we use, and the ways that insidious stereotypes and harmful representations sneak in to our everyday lives.”
However, she signed off her most recent post with: “Not bad, right?? Look at that. From an angry tweet to an actual change in the description. Sometimes I’m still amazed by the power of the internet.”
