Blockbuster Colonialism
Kamryn Jenkins
Colonialism, the mother of America’s birth, is rooted deeply in its history. The tales of taking over the east coast and voyaging into the west, guns blazing, are the fantastic tales of heroism and bravery Hollywood portrays. Pocahontas, in its very Disney way, dulls down the severity of American Colonialism, while Avatar takes the nitty, gritty, and dirty of the violent and complex relationships to the silver screen. What we as media consumers ignore is the actual history of the events in 1600s. Instead, we buy into fantasy narrative. Major media companies like Disney profit off the history of people whose lands where stolen from them. These issues come through in the YouTube mashup video Avatar and Pocahontas Mash-Up, which combines the shared focus of the two films on colonialism despite their differing visual styles and targeted audiences. This essay analysis the effectiveness of the YouTube mashup video of the trailers for Pocahontas and the Avatar. Two movies with nearly fifteen year between then seem very different. Though they differ in construction and execution, their story-line and overall narrative greatly overlap.
Kamryn Jenkins is a rising sophomore studying Communications at Lander University. She is currently a co-host on Lander University Fashion Police Department (LUFPD) on XLR Lander University Radio. Her hobbies include photography, writing and makeup.
