Cultural Imperialism

How is Film a tool of Cultural Imperialism?

Research Analysis by Sehrish Khan 

Abstract

This research will concentrate on discussing and analyzing how film has been used as an implicit tool to communicate modern, 'Western Imperialistic' ideology. It will take into account Disney's approach to cartoons in particular, as Disney cartoons and movies are watched by children and adults of all ages, castes, religions and cultures from all over the world, and cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy have become household names and commodities, known by children of most cultures and countries. The specific animation film which I shall take as an example, throughout this research will be Disney's version of 'Pocahontas'. I will also touch upon the topic of imagery, transference of emotions, subliminal meanings or messages and exoticism as well as discussing the wide ranging criticisms of Disney cartoon.

How Does Film Become a Tool for Cultural Imperialism?

In order to understand cultural imperialism, it is best to shed light on its connection with media imperialism, since media is used as an underlying tool in aspects of culture portrayal and cultural domination. Cultural imperialism signifies a cultural level of domination which results in a cultural change or effect. Imperialism refers to the "policy or practice of extending a country's influence over other territories by conquest, colonization, or economic domination for instance, an imperial system, authority, or government".*

Some might say, this is a non-favourable cultural exchange as media is a powerful tool, a medium that communicates wide ranging messages and might have a negative effect on one's local culture, traditions, beliefs and/or practices. It can also become a negative tool, especially when one's culture is depicted falsely by the hands of the media imperialists, who some might even call, the mainstream media monopolists.

Mediums such as film, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, comics or even advertisements are more often than not, used as mechanisms to bring about a cultural change. Globalization, which is still an on-going process in today's world means there is faster communication, result of which distance less and border-less qualities emerge. Western culture seeps through our television sets, programmes like FRIENDS, soap operas like Bold and the Beautiful, multinational corporations and fast food chains like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, Star Bucks and designer clothing like Forever 21 or Guess have developed strong taste buds in countries, where these names, products, shows - had never been introduced or heard of before, until globalism took the world by storm.

Disney is a prime example of being a medium for cultural imperialism. Disney animated films, cartoons and products have become an integral part of raising children and family life greatly surrounds watching Disney's channel on TV when you have children at home. As mentioned in the abstract given above, Disney cartoons and movies are watched by children and adults of all age groups from all over the world and cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy have become house hold commodities - toys or products of which are desired, by children of most cultures and countries. As a small example, when Shrek - the joyful ogre animation which is in two parts - was released, all the Mcdonald's chains in Lahore sold 'Shrek' and 'Princess Fiona' toys with the Happy Meals. Perhaps this connection to cultural imperialism is a bit broad based, however the argument one can debate on is that these toys or commodities bring with them Western imperialistic thought and perception, by subliminal brainwashing of children from a very young age to be hooked on to Disney cartoons and cartoon characters. To further elaborate this point, it is a fact that a child in his/her early years is highly malleable and easily conditioned. What one should question ones self is that, do we really want our children, who might be from a background of beliefs and value systems that may be excruciatingly different than what Disney cartoons stand for - believe, trust and adhere to those imperialistic meanings, which Disney is known widely to stand for? Do we really want our children watching cartoons that might have hidden/subliminal meanings or that are treatments and by products of a corporation's cultural imperialistic goals? Are we brainwashing our children from the very beginning to believe in something that's flawed to begin with? These questions are the very basis of what this research analysis stands for. Cartoons such as Pocahontas, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid - all may seem very innocent to the ignorant eye, but there is a wide ranging critical debate over the content Disney shows in its cartoons. Let's discuss this aspect further by taking the example of the Pocahontas cartoon film, and analyzing it in detail with regards to American cultural imperialism.

Analysis of Disney Cartoon 'Pocahontas'

'Pocahontas' from the get go starts with fighting the Indians, connotations of that in the film being referred to as a "fun" thing. That in itself is American stereotypical perspective of the native populous Ratcliff, the greedy English refers to where they're going as the 'free world' where freedom and prosperity awaits them all. How exactly did they plan on getting that prosperity - by robbing the Indians of their land as well as their gold? Historically speaking, the world was a slave to western colonialism, and natives have always been treated as barbarians of the land. The label on the Indians or the names given to them in Pocahontas are "blood thirsty savages" - this is the implicit message being spoken through General Ratcliff's speech on deck to his fellow ship mates, preparing them all, for the unknown, the natives, the savages. Or perhaps scaring them of the unknown; fear of the unknown is something even Josef Conrad touched upon in detail, in his novel the 'Heart of Darkness.' The native Indians of America are being referred to as savages throughout the cartoon film, a film designed and catered to Disney audiences, which largely includes children.

The colonists desire an adventure in the new world and want to dig up all the gold for themselves. Perhaps one can infer an element of greed seeping through this frame of thought. What is really strange is that the most basic form of imperialistic ideology is transferred through the dialogues of this cartoon, e.g. "If any Indian tries to stop me, I'll blast him" perhaps the creators of this cartoon might have not had the intentions to make children think like this, perhaps they were just recounting facts as facts, as racism exits so did the hate or the loathing for the natives of each land the Western colonists have subsequently conquered, maybe that was the essential basis for such terminology being used. However, perception varies and Pocahontas is a prime example of when a film becomes a basis for cultural imperialism, this is factually speaking, a children's cartoon about a love story between a native of the new world and a conqueror.

One can arguably say that the first scene of how Pocahontas is depicted standing on a cliff, shows exoticism - the native princess or woman is shown as exotic, beautiful, dark, bare foot and friends with animals. Pocahontas gives off an animalistic sexiness, that defines the exoticism that's communicated.

Perhaps children might consider it 'cool' for an Indian native princess, to be able to communicate with animals but if we analyze the thematic outlook in relation to cultural imperialism, one can infer it's stereotypical imagery that's portrayed of the native Indians in general as a description of "savages" who associate with animals and communicate with them.

The other name referred to Indians was "filthy heathens." As soon as the men landed in the free world, reached the river and stopped the ship, one of them said, "Its all ours!" - that's the general way western invaders in history have usually done it one may argue, they are only recounting history and facts. Romanticism is also an element that's been played about in this Disney cartoon film; for instance when John Smith climbs the tree to get a better look of the new world, Pocahontas's furry friend introduces himself to Smith, Smith offers the little guy a biscuit, that being an obvious example of the civilized world. The Governor's dog is spoilt, with cherries to eat and baths by his own servant, whereas in the land of the new world, animals all live like they do in the wild, fending for themselves and looking after themselves, the luxury that's being depicted of which the dog is used to can in a way give us an outlook on what the orient's definition of being civilized really means. Media is an effective tool when it comes to communicating a message, either consciously or subliminally, just like this, the portrayal of animals in the film one being spoilt and having no knowledge or likes of being in the wild and the other not being able to understand where he comes from, also explain the similar relationship of the natives with the invaders.

Just like in this film, the natives after finding out about new people coming into the land, still the Indians refer to the Whites as "visitors" the terminology differs in comparison to how the Indians are referred to. The Indians are not shown as having hostile intentions towards the visitors and thus that's why they call them as such, had they had hostile attitude towards the white conquerors they could have referred to them as invaders, intruders, aliens or barbarians. Basic values for the elders, is depicted when the Chief of the tribe asks the elders of what they think the visitor's motives are or whether they are dangerous. Over here, one can say Disney plays it safe in this particular scene, Indian values are depicted for respect of elders.

In the cartoon, Governor Ratcliff sings a song to his men telling them to keep digging until they find gold, to cut down trees, start working. The imagery shows them ripping apart the land which was previously filled with trees. Greed and going after gold and money is shown as something of a pivotal goal and its greed which has brought the white man to the new land, greed for riches and gold. The natives refer to whites now as the "beasts who invade our shores" and then shoot our people, is the exact replication of the age old concept of colonialism. The basic fundamentals of imperialistic behaviour and thought are translated by the first exchange of communication between Pocahontas and John Smith where he tells her his people will make roads and cities in the new world and when she disagrees that her people's houses are fine the way they are, he replies back in a very arrogant, superior fashion that her people don't know any better and don't know how to use the space fruitfully. Pocahontas gets mad when Smith calls her people savages, when he tries to explain why he said that, he explains further, "Savages are people who are uncivilized." The question that ponders one's mind is this: what exact message is this cartoon sending kids who barely even know anything about their own culture? Later on, the visitors are referred to as 'White demons,' which depicts the building hatred of the native for the white man who invades their land.

Pocahontas is believed to have existed but there are conflicting historical accounts of her story. But, according to the actual Powhatan tribe to which Pocahontas belonged to, the Pocahontas myth "love" story and the bravery of how she saved John Smith is full of distortions, especially about how Disney depicts and tells the story; According to Chief Crazy Horse of the Powhatan Renape Nation; he says on the Powhatan Organization's website that his people offered help to Disney in an effort to represent factual historical accounts of Pocahontas myth being accurately depicted to audiences, but Disney rejected their help and Roy Disney released a statement to a complaint launched by the Powhatan tribes people that the Disney film is "responsible, accurate and respectful."*

The Powhatan people strongly disagree with Disney's bias. Pocahontas has been romanticized, portrayed in the movie as a young, fully developed woman, whereas historical accounts as well as the tribe's head (Chief Crazy Horse of Powhatan tribe) claims Pocahontas was no more than 11 years of age, when she met John Smith. According to the Powhatans, the history as recorded by the English themselves, is badly falsified in the name of "entertainment".*

The supposedly wise grandmother-spirit willow tree agrees with Pocahontas that 'Coku,' the young man from her own people and tribe, who is in love with her and who her father wishes her to marry, is too serious and boring, but agrees with Pocahontas that the dashing Englishman is the one she should rightly be in love with. This depiction is also a violation of indigenous knowledge and wisdom, and also undermines indigenous cultural custom. Is it something exciting for dark-skinned native girls to do? Go against family, tribe, tradition, and culture and fall in love with a white Englishman, who is supposedly handsome. It is highly unlikely that a wise grandmother-spirit would advise her grandchild to do such a thing, thus this film violates historical authenticity implicitly, for its consumer-audience and against the customs or traditions of these pre-American peoples who are seen as old fashioned and in-appropriate in the cartoon film.

What is astonishing is the fact that Pocahontas was really a little girl in recorded history, but in this cartoon the audiences are oblivious to that idea and pretty much all audiences accept the way Pocahontas has been shown in the film, as a mature, voluptuous young woman, which is a distortion of the truth. Not only is this a negative portrayal of her, but one can link this whole distortion of facts as a deliberate move on Disney's part to erase the aspect of paedophilia on the part of John Smith, perhaps for the sake of better entertainment? This is because some evidence also suggests that since Pocahontas was underage, John Smith might have been a child rapist. One can only ponder why Disney follows such a unique formula, no wonder the Powhatan tribe disagrees with Disney's portrayal of Pocahontas, certainly it is an abusive fabrication. Not only that, but throughout the cartoon, one can see the hints and the indications of the native woman (Pocahontas) being portrayed to have a desiring body, and that is exoticism at its best! Disney gives sexual imagery to the love story of Pocahontas, it is a formula that has been used before on 'The Little Mermaid' where Ariel is made to look sexual from the way she dances under water to the transference of emotions. Similarly, in Pocahontas, one can say Disney produced something that translates the cultural superiority felt by Europeans at that time, in conquering and invading new lands. To them, indigenous people were understood to be "uncivilized savages." There is a famous saying - history always repeats itself in a cycle. Perhaps, animation films like Pocahontas, are in fact a double edged sword which border around several hidden messages, and children are the main targets of these hidden messages which are of culturally imperialistic nature. Culturally imperialist and neo-colonist thought and perception will not die anytime soon, not in people's minds, not in movies and certainly not in animation films.

References:

#Collins Essential English Dictionary 2^nd Edition 2006 HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006.

The Free Dictionary. Web address: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/imperialism 

^{# Powhatan Renape Nation; 'The Pocahontas Myth'}  Website: http://www.powhatan.org/pocc.html ^{# Disney as Mass Deception, A.H Itwaru, Excerpt, "Negative Exstacy: The Star Trek Seductions & other Mass Deceptions." Website: http://opencopy.org/articles/disney-as-mass-deception}

Earn Cash Fo Yo SOUL

Life is a time-trodden journey of moments and experiences. Man glides through three natural stages; the weak child becomes an assertive adult, then transforms back to a weakling in old age. Sometimes stuck in limbo. Neither alive nor dead. Just barely there. But one thing's certain, no fountain of youth will erase years from your life, or fabricate the years of your existence.

Everything has an equal opposing element, it's only fair for life to have death. Light has darkness, man-woman, young-old, rich-poor, good-evil, peace-suffering, or yin-yang. Tangibles and intangibles co-exist, but man is a complex creation of God, the only creation given an independent choice to do as he/she wills and to find his/her individual journey on earth. Man's time is, therefore, limited.

I was searching the web, reading articles relating to people's experiences of grief in life, and generally about the physiological and psychological effects of grief. It's an emotion that hits you when you feel irreplaceable loss, most often when someone close to you dies. From the general information, I understood that grief's effect depends on the stage of life you're at, whether you're a child, an adolescent, or an adult, the effects of the emotion vary depending on the stage and the relationship with the deceased. How strong your bond was with a deceased, whether it's your son/daughter, parent, friend, brother/sister.

'Grief has a different face on everyone', quoted on a tv show as a police officer is seen interviewing a mother of a kidnapped girl, and she maintains a calm aura while answering questions. Here's my question to you, the reader, have you ever wondered what grief would look like on you? Most people refrain from thinking about such facets of life, but irrespective, it's a facet bound to happen sooner or later. Do you think about the time when it will happen? It isn't wrong to think about it because, in a way, you'll be mentally preparing yourself for an alien emotion, and no matter how much time you'll spend contemplating it, it will still wrangle your soul once it happens.

Grief envelopes your soul, and pinches every nerve cell with depressive cognitive messages, numbing the pain at times or reversing it or inflaming it to anger. Or it can become a painful psychosomatic feeling, making you quiet, aloof, and introverted with every thought or feeling. The feelings of hopelessness and loss mixed with a sea of memories and guilt play out differently for every human being. Grief cannot be expressed till a grieving moment arises in one's life. Till someone you love very dearly dies. There's no rector scale measuring grief, it's all very different yet similar. Its existence is a natural component of your small life.

Death is the real life most people wait for in this world (dunya), because the Faith warns you of becoming too involved with your life, as you'll forget your final resting place. Faith gives you the courage to accept your fate and your destiny. Faith prepares you to get unplugged from the earth.
In Islam when you bury the dead, the women don't accompany the men to the burial. Man digs a nine feet deep grave. Gets down in the grave. Helps lower the coffin. Everyone helping thinks of their own death, who will be the people lowering my coffin? Kind of weird thinking about it but yeah ever wondered who's going to lower your coffin into the ground? 


Faith, religion, Higher Power, God, Allah, whatever you believe in or don't believe in is not my concern, but my spirit tells me that you all can be happier after death if you follow a simple rule in your life: 1 Good deed a day. It's a simple ritual. Self-explanatory. There is a plague of hate and corruption in the world, where people have begun thinking of themselves as demigods or gods on earth, challenging their evil nature to reach new heights of fame, torturing the innocent, and being uncaring towards the poor, and downtrodden. If every day of your life you spend it by being selfish, you've wasted your time. If every day you do even one deed that's selfless and caring, and to your understanding counts as a good deed, that's a useful day for you. Basically, you're buying cash for your soul through your good deeds. You need that soul cash once you konk off the face of the earth. That other world deals only in soul cash. Do your good deeds to earn it. =)

Death looms nearby every day, good deeds while you're alive equate to money after you die. Make sure you make each day count so that you feel confident about your wealth in the hereafter. Humans are made to be spiritual creatures, nurture your spiritual being. Everyone's going to their own grave 9 feet under.