Netflix has updated its description of the Disney movie Pocahontas after a Native American woman pointed out it was offensive.
“Apparently Pocahontas is on @netflix now. Can we talk about this description?” Adrienne Keene, author of the blog Native Appropriations, tweeted in late August, with a screenshot of the movie synopsis:
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.
Apparently Pocahontas is on @netflix now. Can we talk about this description? pic.twitter.com/tjaqRY9gs8
— Dr. Adrienne Keene (@NativeApprops) September 1, 2015
Keene, who identifies as a member of the Cherokee Nation in her Twitter biography, wrote on her blog that the description not only “positions Pocahontas in relation to her romantic options,” but it implies that she “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.”
Her initial tweet quickly picked up nearly 600 retweets and Netflix noticed.
On Sept. 9, Keene tweeted that the company had sent her the following email:
Thanks for bringing attention to this synopsis. 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 Keene (@NativeApprops) September 9, 2015
The new description, as Keene notes in an update on her blog, is “not bad.”