Remarks:
Judy Kuhn (White American) is the one who sings this song in the Disney film “Pocahontas” (1995). The song was written by Steven Schwartz and composed by Alan Mencken. All three are Jewish Americans born in New York who came to Disney by way of Broadway. I would count this as a case of Hollywood whitewashing.
To their credit, the song seems less Eurocentric and Disneyfied than most Disney fare. That is probably because the song came first, before Disney even thought of making the film.
I like the words of the song, best of all:
“You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew you never knew”
The “blue corn moon” in the song is a Schwartz invention. The corn moon is August. A blue moon is the second full moon in a month.
Vanessa Williams (Black American) sang the song on the soundtrack, the song they played on the radio.
Victoria Blackie (Native American) sings it on YouTube.
See also:
- Welcome to Native American Heritage Month 2015
- Pocahontas
- Hollywood whitewashing
- “Manhattan was sold for $24”
- Twilight Zone: Eye of the Beholder – written by Rod Serling, also Jewish American, also presents a similar criticism of racism.
- Jews
Lyrics:
You think I’m an ignorant savage
And you’ve been so many places
I guess it must be so
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
How can there be so much that you don’t know?
You don’t know …
You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew you never knew
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sunsweet berries of the Earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they’re worth
The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends
How high will the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you’ll never know
And you’ll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
For whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind
You can own the Earth and still
All you’ll own is earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind
Nice post. I love that song.
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Childhood memories 🙂
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If there was a second full moon in August, would it be a blue corn moon?
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@Kiwi
You make a good point. Native Americans are full human beings with a range of behaviors and attitudes just like all other people.
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Here is Thia Megia singing it on American Idol. I was surprised she choose this song with all the White voters. I voted for her but I think she was voted off after singing this song. Make sure to listen to her comments. It seems she sung this song for political purposes. Kudos to her.
(https://youtu.be/r9vO9iiopKY)
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[…] Sourced through Scoop.it from: abagond.wordpress.com […]
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As I delved deeper into the pre-European history of the Chesapeake Bay region and the subsequent 400 years attempt of obliteration, the understanding of what is going on has been crystallizing in my consciousness.
White America has always wanted, and still wants to obliterate the indigenous American, and wants to replace it with a set of myths and legends and fairy tales that white American can live with.
The tribe of Pocahontas, the Pamunkey, is a great example to me.
They have
-maintained reservation land continuously since colonial Virginia (1660s), the longest of any extant tribe
– have paid their annual “tribute” to the Commonwealth of Virginia (consisting of a slain deer and animal pelts) every year since then. They didn’t renege on their part of the treaty.
YET
– Walter Plecker tried to relabel them as colored, saying Indians no longer exist in Virginia.
– they spent many millions of dollars and many decades applying for federal recognition
– After being recognized by the federal government, it was rescinded by a challenge from white corporate interests, who are still trying to purport that they are not an authentic American Indian tribe.
– meanwhile, the depiction of their history comes from disneyfied and Hollywood versions for white consumption.
The whole thought of it makes me sick.
Yet, I am the first to admit that their tribe is plagued by greed, typical of many tribes who get awarded federal recognition.
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In Abagond’s post on Pocahontas, he said this about John Smith”
Yet look at the depiction in Disney’s cartoon.
I read that the short, hairy, sickly Englishmen who came to Virginia (and later Maryland) in the 1600s looked up to the natives as tall and robust and handsome and wearing only breechcloths in the summer.
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Sorry to be flooding this post with comments, but I wanted to elaborate a little on what Abagond said.
Many Native Americans do have a concept called “green corn”, a celebration that was common among the Indians in the East Coast and South East to herald the first harvest of maize from the corn crops, typically falling in August for most tribes. Many tribes still observe a Green Corn ceremony or celebration. So it makes sense to have a “green corn moon” falling around August.
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@Kiwi, Afrofem
Good points. I feel that this stereotype is also promoted by some white New Age type people as well.
@jefe
As a short man, I personally take offense to the fact that John Smith is portrayed as tall. In addition to whitewashing, I feel Hollywood also regularly “heightwashes” any short historical figure, making them taller, unless they’re Napoleon Bonaparte.
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Reblogged this on Raimanet.
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@ Jefe
Schwartz knew about green corn moons from Native American poetry.
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@ Benjamin
The so called “New Age” types are the worst cultural appropriators of indigenous religions and spiritual practices. They become so arrogant in their limited knowledge of Native American spirituality that they think they know more than the Native Americans themselves.
I read somewhere that a Native Women’s spiritual gathering was so flooded with Euro-Americans that the Native women set up a special tent. At the entrance of the tent, they placed a sign saying, “Indian Women Only—-This Lifetime Only” (because a lot of the Euro-Americans claimed to be reincarnated Native Americans!).
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I loved this song (and film) so much when I was a child. I can’t help it.
To their credit, they did cast a Native American actress, Irene Bedard, to voice Pocahontas; it’s just her singing voice that’s done by a white woman. It’s not much because the film is as messed up as it is but at least they had decency to do that.
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One of my favorite Disney songs.
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Somebody beat me to the punch about the danger of new age poison to perform a conquer wave with cultural appropriation and other cruel acts for the sake of disney stereotype.
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This song brought me to tears, it still does whenever I hear it.
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@Poetess
Why?
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