On the Ecological Vision of the Native Americans Exemplified in the Cartoon Pocahontas

Abstract

Pocahontas is an exquisitely made animation movie presented by Walt Disney in 1995. Since it was shown, the cartoon has received mixed reviews. Quite a few scholars have conducted postcolonial readings, and believe this movie offers a romantic and idealized version of the colonial history in an effort to cover up the truly brutal and cruel colonial reality. These readings put emphasis on the assimilation of Indian culture by mainstream white culture. This paper, however, argues that when they came to settle down on the American continent and exported their own values and cultures to the native Americans, European colonists absorbed the very essence of indigenous Indian culture: that is, the primitive environmental wisdom such as believing in the existence of spirituality as well as the coexistence and prosperity of man and nature. The paper aims to investigate the ecological philosophy of the Native Americans reflected in this movie from the perspective of Ecocriticism. The ecological vision of the Native Americans has become a legacy to all American people especially at a time when the American society reflects on the possible causes of the current environment challenges and hopes to build a harmonious ecosystem in which all species and living creatures may coexist and prosper.