Reading Response: Parekh

The reading for this week comes from a book we have read from before called The Emperor's Old Groove. Chapter 12 is called "Pocahontas: The Disney Imaginary" and author Pushpa Naidu Parekh presents many different arguments compiled through research about the film's historical accuracy. I struggled to find the author's thesis, as I do not think that it exists. I noticed that this work was more of a compilation of other authors' arguments rather than Parekh really trying to make any sort of claim. This does not mean that the piece was not thought-provoking, as I found myself really thinking about some aspects of the film and what it suggests when prompted by Parekh. For example, Parekh mentions how the age difference between Pocahontas and John Smith is so extreme that there is "unlikely romantic bonding between the English and the natives." This fact along with how the movie was supposed to take place over two years just baffles me and really shows the inaccuracy of the film. Another aspect of this piece that got me thinking was on page 168 when the author says: "Isn't her subjectivity merely an instrument for enlightening the narrow-minded English settlers?" I took this as a question as to why are the opinions of white people always so important? Why does Pocahontas feel the need to explain her culture to the white people so that they understand rather than just living her life? This idea goes along with the examples given from The Tempest and The Heart of Darkness in which Parekh compares Pocahontas to because the whites are worshipped in these stories as well.

Stylistically Parekh overdoes it with the amount of quotations she includes in the piece. Like I mentioned before, it is almost hard to tell what the author is arguing because so much evidence is presented. I will say that the author connects the evidence really well. From weaving quotes into sentences and including many signal phrases, it is clear where the information came from. Also, Parekh's use of connecting sentences is impressive, including one that stuck out to me: "The same paradigm operates in Disney's romantic adventure tale of John Smith and Pocahontas." This strategy allows for direct comparison between other works and the one in focus.

Towards the end of the essay we start to see Parekh's "so what?" She mentions how Disney is affecting our kids today through explaining our behavior as consumers: "They rarely realize their participation in in the commodification of this ideal through the consumption of Disney paraphernalia, like Pocahontas toys and beach towels." She seems to take the same side as Giroux here, that Disney does have a huge impact on today's kids and has a moral obligation to have a positive on them. Because of this, I like how she ends her piece with how children "must be empowered to define the construction of their imaginary landscape instead of becoming passive spectators of the Disney imaginary." This conclusion does a good job of summarizing what I think is her main point and applying it to the outside world.