Stereotypes - Created and Upheld
When colonized cultures are ‘treated like a resource’ for consumption, the subordinate culture is fetishized into an idealized representation devoid of genuine meaning and histories by the dominant culture (Rogers 2006, p. 486). Corrosive effects of commodification include false and erroneous depictions of the commodity’s source heritage, resulting in distortions of non-Native and Native understandings of Native American cultures (Rogers 2006, p. 487).
Disney imports the image of Pocahontas (1995) into mainstream commodity culture and reshapes it to give it new meanings which do not pay tribute to the older and factual meanings of Pocahontas. In doing this, Disney disregards and dishonors traditional Native American culture and turns Pocahontas into a sexual and exotic image of Native American women for profit, perpetuating an idealized fantasy of an erotic ‘Indian Maiden’ (Ono & Beuscher 2001, p. 26). One need only look at Halloween costumes to realize how Native American costumes for women are seen and worn in a sexual manner.
Imagery associated with this re-created Pocahontas in popular culture then reinforces and becomes the ‘common sense’ understanding of Native Americans (Ono & Buescher 2001, p. 28). From eroticized images of “Poca-hooker”s to Native American Barbies, the real Pocahontas is transformed from something consumable to something that is solely there for the purpose of consumption (Ono & Buescher 2001, p. 28). Sanitized and devoid of historical realities, Disney’s imagery of Pocahontas only acts to be purchased for colonial and masculine desires while perpetuating false stereotypes created by the dominant culture for palatable consumption (Ono & Buescher 2001, p. 38).
Imagery associated with this re-created Pocahontas in popular culture then reinforces and becomes the ‘common sense’ understanding of Native Americans (Ono & Buescher 2001, p. 28). From eroticized images of “Poca-hooker”s to Native American Barbies, the real Pocahontas is transformed from something consumable to something that is solely there for the purpose of consumption (Ono & Buescher 2001, p. 28). Sanitized and devoid of historical realities, Disney’s imagery of Pocahontas only acts to be purchased for colonial and masculine desires while perpetuating false stereotypes created by the dominant culture for palatable consumption (Ono & Buescher 2001, p. 38).
While Native American women are often sexualized in popular culture, Native men are stereotypically constructed as savage, courageous, and fierce (Black 2002, p. 607). At first made popular in Western movies with themes of ‘cowboys versus Indians’, cultural appropriation of Native masculinity continues to exist in sports mascots with Native imagery. Some colleges and universities incorporate war chants, smoke signals, war drums, and Native costumes at sports games because of the school’s Native mascot (Black 2002, p. 611).
Although these universities argue that the use of Native mascots is meant as a symbol of “honor, respect, and dignity” for Native Americans, these stereotypical depictions do not recognize the inaccuracies of these traditional practices as it merges individual tribal identities into one collective, stereotypical Native identity (Black 2002, p. 611). Black argues that through lumping the identities of vastly diverse groups into a ‘package of traits’, true Native identities and histories are lost as their culture is replaced and dehumanized with non-specific images (2002, p. 609). These false and idealized representations constructed by dominant cultures are ‘whitewashed’ and only attached to views that colonizers hold, not the views the Natives hold (Black 2002, p. 613). Disguised as a ‘benign guise’, White supremacy continues to reinforce hegemonic power as Native identity continues to be conquered and defined by representations created by non-Natives (Staurowsky 2007, p. 72).