RLG101H Introduction to the Study of Religion Prof. Ken Derry TA: Anna Cwikla Freedom or responsibility? Using Religion Theories to Think the Meaning Behind Characters’ Behaviours in Pocahontas By Ava Lai 1007376750 2 Decmeber 2020 2189 words The study of religion may seem far from you, but it is in fact closely related to our daily lives! An example is one of my favorite movies – Pocahontas, which I am going to use theories learnt in the course that come from a book called Religion: The Basics, by Malory Nye to analysis it. Surprising, isn’t? The ones I will discuss here are in this book ranging from belief, ritual, text, gender to power. I am sure many of you have seen the movie before, but just in case here’s a quick plot summary. The movie begins with an expedition to Virginia from England. The captain is John Smith and the leader of the crew is Governor Ratcliffe, who is looking for gold. Meanwhile in the Powhatan tribe, the daughter of the Chief, Pocahontas, is to be married to a brave warrior, Kocoum. However, Pocahontas is freespirited and doesn’t like Kocoum so she doesn’t want to marry him. The crew arrives at the land of the Powhatans and begins the search for gold. As Pocahontas and John meet and begins to fall in love, Pocahontas believes he is the spinning arrow and her path is with him. While Kocoum watches, the pair kisses. He becomes enraged and attacks John. Then Thomas, a crew member, kills Kocoum with a gun. John takes the blame and is captured. Ratcliffe wages war against the Powhatans and Powhatan also declares war on the settlers. When Powhatan brings John out to kill him, Pocahontas rushes forward and protects him with her body. She convinces her father that violence is not the solution. However, Ratcliffe continues with his plan to kill Powhatan. John jumps in front of Powhatan saving his life but is severely injured. John is forced to return to England for medical treatment and asks Pocahontas to return with him but she chooses to stay with her tribe. I have always wondered why does Pocahontas not leave with John Smith, her lover at the end to explore the world, but instead stay in her tribe when she always values dynamic and freedom. The theory of cognitive belief and affective belief by Richard Gombrich helps me to understand the reason. Gombrich says that cognitive beliefs are beliefs that you think and affective beliefs are what you practice (Nye 2008, 117). In the song “Just Around the Riverbend” clearly points out Pocahontas’s cognitive belief is valuing adventure and freedom, wanting to explore “what’s around the riverbend” and the world, disliking the steady and boring life. From the lyrics, we can also acknowledge that what she “loves most about river is you can’t step in the same river twice; the water is always changing and flowing”, just like herself. Thus, her affective belief is to refuse to marry Kocoum suggested by her father, which can give her a steady life as he is honored as the bravest warrior in the tribe. This shows that her cognitive belief, wanting to venture and her affective belief, refusing to marry Kocoum align with each other at this point. However, we see that her affective belief changes after she meets John and falls in love with him. At the end of the movie, John offers her to leave and explore the world together, but she refuses and says “I’m needed here.” even her father says “choose your own path” and let her make her own decision. You may be confused about why Pocahontas’ affective belief is to turn down an opportunity to venture the world. Yet, since she is the daughter of the Chief, and her father gives her a necklace that her mother wore and counsels her that people will look up to her and need her, therefore her affective belief is to stay and help look after the tribe, which contradicts her cognitive belief of valuing personal freedom. The idea of cognitive and affective beliefs helps me see why Pocahontas does not choose to leave with John Smith to explore the world but instead stay in her tribe. It is also a good lesson that sometimes for the sake of everyone’s good, we have to put the interest of the whole above our own will. Figure 1: Pocahontas sings “Just around the riverbend” Next up is Harvey Whitehouse’s theory about ritual and memory. He identifies two types of ritual practices: the “imagistic” mode and “doctrinal” mode in which “doctrinal” mode means mundane repetition (Nye, 2008, 144). This theory helps me understand why the white crew and the Powhatans sing the same song and keep repeating the same line before the war. When Kokoum is killed by Thomas, John takes the blame and is captured by the Powhatans. Ratcliffe takes this chance to wage war against the Powhatans and claims that it is solely a mission to rescue John to ensure support, where he secretly plans to take all the gold himself from the tribe. Then Ratcliffe starts singing the song “Savages” where he and his crew keeps repeating the line “They’re savages, savages, barely even human!” On the other side, as Kokoum is killed, the Powhatans’ anger towards the white crew reaches the peak and the Chief also starts singing the song “Savages” repeating the same line “They’re savages, savages, barely even human!” and the villagers follow. Using Whitehouse’ theory, due to the mundane repetition of the same line ‘“They’re savages, savages, barely even human!”, we can see that the song is a doctrinal ritual that Ratcliffe uses to intensify the hatred of his crew towards the Powhatans and solidifying the idea of attacking the tribe so that he can benefit from the root by himself if they won the war, as well as a to strengthen the solidarity of the Powhatans against the white settlers. Therefore, the song i.e. doctrinal ritual is extremely important to the climax to the film as it intensifies the tense relationship between the white crew and the Powhatans, which leads to the war. The next theory I want to consider is from Stanley Fish. He points out that a text may be interpreted differently due to different cultural context (Nye, 2008, 159). When John says “We have improved the lives of savages all over the world!” to Pocahontas, she is triggered and shouts “Savage?!”, so John quickly explains that that was not what he meant and “savage” is just a word that means uncivilized people. However, Pocahontas is really mad and attempts to leave. Using Fish’s theory, we can see that the word “savage” means differently to John and Pocahontas. While John thinks this word is simply describing people who are not civilized like them and mean no harm to Pocahontas and her people, Pocahontas thinks this is a word that disgraces her and other indigenous people, and that they are inferior than “civilized” people. As mentioned previously, different living environment and culture context might be a reason why there is a discrepancy between Pocahontas and John’s interpretation of the word. John lived in a “civilized” town and used to call many “uncivilized” people savages. John and the white crew once said “Nor wind, nor rain, nor thousands of savages can stand in our way” However, Pocahontas and no one in her tribe have used the word “savage” in the film, so that might be why Pocahontas would have such a big reaction and think this word is a negative label. And that leads to the argument between them as they interpret the same word differently and proves Fish’s theory that interpretation of a text varies across people. This brings us to Mary Daly’s ideologies of gender. She argues that any community that worships a male deity will typically be structured so that women have less power than men (Nye 2008, 85). We can see this exact dynamic in Pocahontas. Chief Pawhatan, the chief of the Pawhatan tribe, is worshipped like a god-like figure. He wears the most distinctive clothing in the tribe consisting of a feathered headdress and a buckskin cape. And when he returns to the tribe from a war, all the villagers gather and cheer for his return. Moreover, when Chief Pawhatan gives his speech, he is standing on a more elevated position. The god-like worship of Pawhatan makes male dominance in the tribe unquestionable and natural which ties to Daly’s point that “god is no more than a matter of men writing their political dominance onto heaven” (Nye 2008, 85). Male dominance appears in other parts of the movie as well. For example, when the tribe is preparing to start a war against the white crew, the council members meaning the most powerful people in the tribe is calling a meeting to discuss how they are going to cope with the attack possibly, but what we can notice is that all the council members are male which clearly shows that only men have a say on important decisions that affects the tribe and that female cannot participate. Women in the movie are depicted as only planting crops, cooking and taking care of the family. This definitely seems to fit Daly’s idea “the ideology of a male god works to legitimate the…subordination of women” (Nye 2008, 85). Figure 2: Chief Pawhatan’s speech The final theory I want to consider is panopticon by Michel Foucault. It is actually a type of prison which was designed that to let prisoner know they might be watched but couldn’t see the watcher (Nye 2008, 71). As a result, they internalize the surveillance and modify their behaviors. In other words, they act as if they are being watched even they cannot see the watcher. How might this idea apply to our movie? Well, when Pocahontas’s father tells Pocahontas to marry Kokoum, Pocahontas doesn’t want to and so her father takes out a necklace that her mother wore during the wedding and says “It was your mother’s dream to see you wear it at your own wedding and that she is always with us” even though she is not alive anymore. We can see that Pocahontas’ father is trying to control Pocahontas’ behavior by making her believe she’s being watched by her mother even if they can’t see her. In another scene, when Pocahontas is collecting crops with her friend in the field, her father comes by and tell her she should not be out here and go back to the village. He again reminds Pocahontas that her mother is always here with them in the wind and watching over them. This shows that Pocahontas’s father wants Pocahontas to follow his order and beware of her behaviors by reminding her the presence of her mother. However, when John suddenly pops out from the bushes, Pocahontas immediately runs away with him which shows that the panopticon effect doesn’t work on her. It is because Pocahontas is free-spirited and someone who always follows her heart. So that wraps up how we can see the movie through theories of religion! Honestly, before doing this assignment, I thought learning about religions would be really difficult for me since I did not grow up in a religious environment. However, all the theories are so applicable and analyzing a movie makes the process so much more fun. Particularly, the theory by Derrida struck me the most. I used to think all Christians interpret the Bible the same way and follow the same set of rules. Yet, Derrida gives me a new perspective that meaning varies across people and time. And I realize that some Christians nowadays may think premarital sex is acceptable and some may not as they have different interpretations on the Bible. This actually changes the way I thought that religion as always stubbornness and not willing to change. As time goes, religion can be flexible. And this makes me think that I might be able to become a religious person one day! Comments on TA’s feedback: First, Anna pointed out I should be as specific as the example can be, so I changed from simply describing what Pocahontas’s father say to directly quoting what he says and also quoting lyrics as evidence. Second, Anna asked some probing questions about Pocahontas’s decisions and behaviors. For example, I re-think whether the cognitive and affective beliefs of Pocahontas contradict since Pocahontas still have access to adventure at home. However, I am convinced that she would not have as much freedom at home than going to a new country alone since she would have much more responsibilities and expectations as the daughter of the Chief. Therefore, I deleted the part where I say Pocahontas would stay in her tribe with the same routine every day because it is possible that she can have an adventure at home. But I still believe the cognitive and affective beliefs of Pocahontas contradict because she prioritizes the responsibility of her identity than her own will and freedom. Bibliography Nye, Malory. 2008. Religion: The Basics. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
