Netflix: 'Pocahontas' Movie Description Changed After Sexism Accusations (TWEETS)

Netflix has responded to the criticism they received about their description for the Disney classic "Pocahontas" by changing it and making it less sexist.

A few weeks ago, writer Adrienne Keene called out the online streaming service for their "sexist" description, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Keene posted a screenshot of the original description, which read, "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."

She then posted several screenshots of other Disney movies on Netflix like "Hercules," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "The Emperor's New Groove" and "Tarzan," writing, "All of these have romance plotlines too...yet no porn land here @netflix. (Mostly) white male protagonists, amiright?" She then added, "The men get to have adventures, fight people, save things, be kind of the jungle...Pocahontas yearns for a white dude."

She also took to her personal blog to explain her frustration a little more. "It overly sexualized the film," she wrote. "And only positions Pocahontas in relation to her romantic options, not as a human being, you know, doing things."

Netflix saw her tweets and sent her an email that they would be changing the description. "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."

The new description reads, "A young American Indian girl tries to follow her heart and protect her tribe when settlers arrive and threaten the land she loves." Keene was excited that they actually listened to what she had to say and did something about it. While she made sure to point out on her blog that in no way was she ever "criticizing the film," she just wanted to "draw attention to the importance of the words we use."

Tags

Netflix, Sexism, Sexist