Pocahontas "yearns for something more—and soon meets Capt. John Smith"
Netflix has updated its description of Disney’s Pocahontas, after facing a barrage of criticism saying the language was sexist.
The original description was spotted by Adrienne Keene, a writer who posted it last month on Native Appropriations, a site dedicated to fighting Native American stereotypes. Her initial tweet sparked anger and calls for the streaming company to change its summary, which says the titular character “yearns for something more—and soon meets Capt. John Smith.”
“The problem? It overly sexualizes the film, and only positions Pocahontas in relation to her romantic options, not as a human being, you know, doing things,” Keene wrote in a blog post. “I also want to make explicit the colonial white supremacy embedded in this description as well—of course Pocahontas wouldn’t be content with her backwards Native ways with her Native man … she yearns for something more.”
Netflix subsequently changed the description to read: “A young American Indian girl tries to follow her heart and protect her tribe when settlers arrive and threaten the land she loves.”
Keene also posted an email Netflix sent her on Sept. 8. “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 email reads. “The synopsis has been updated to better reflect Pocahontas’ active role and to remove the suggestion that John Smith was her ultimate goal.”
Netflix confirmed to TIME it had sent the email to Keene.