Colors of the Wind: A Critique
Music, Musings October 20th, 2007While Pocahontas is not on my favourites list, I still remember it to be vaguely entertaining. Also, its theme song, “Colors of the Wind” is a lovely song, melodically speaking. However, at times it makes little sense, both in terms of the lyrics and the part from the movie where it’s sung. Tim and I had a number of spirited discussions about it, and I thought I’d note down the main points we came up with. Below is the clip, and the lyrics can be found here.
Title
Firstly, what’s with the title? Wind doesn’t have colour (even though the wind in the clip IS coloured… doesn’t that make it smoke?). You can’t just slap on a description in front of a thing and have it make sense. It’ll kinda like having a title such as “scent of music” or “sourness of sand”. Does Pocahontas have synesthesia? I’d be happy if the title was just a a metaphor, but what’s it a metaphor of? Towards the end of the song, she talks about the “voices of the mountains” and that’s at least understandable as a metaphor for how wind around mountains may sound melodic to human ears or something. But colours of the wind? It’s incredibly odd that her song would be able the very thing that doesn’t have colour when she could’ve talked about any other physical object around them that do.
“You don’t know”
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
Now can there be so much that you don’t know?
You don’t know …
How patronising and INCREDIBLY offensive would it be if it was John Smith saying that to her instead? Imagine if, rather than being set in a lush forest landscape, they were in the middle of a British town and he was showing her stuff around the place while saying lines like that? Maybe replace the words “savage one” with, I dunno, “dumb white man”. I don’t think many people would be happy about that, even though in this context, having Pocahontas saying that to him is seen as being okay. Interesting double standard.
However, I can’t remember what happens before this song, so maybe Smith had previous alluded to being way smarter than Pocahontas or something, and now she’s laying the smack down on him.
Rocks Don’t Have Life
You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
I’m not much into the whole property ownership thing myself. Especially with intellectual property, monopolising information is just WTF to me. I would agree to some extent that owning living things is problematic (especially sentient things); the fact that people are allowed to patent (and hence monopolise the use of) genetic material and microbiological process is just such bad idea for society as a whole. :(
However, while trees and creatures have life, rocks don’t. I don’t know what’s the point of saying that rocks have a life and spirit. And yes, they all have names, but I’m pretty sure the names were given by human beings to these things, regardless of what race of humans we’re talking about. It’s not like the nasty Brits went around pillaging this and that by purposefully not giving those things a name.
Watch Out For Bears!
Around the 0:58 mark on the video, Pocahontas and Smith sees a female bear and follows her to her den full of bear cubs. There, Pocahontas picks up a cuddly lil’ bear and hands it to Smith while the female bear shyly looks on.
In real life, probably even before Pocahontas and Smith reached the mouth of the cave, the mother bear would’ve FUCKING KILLED THEM for trying to go near her cubs. For someone who seems so familiar with nature, you’d think Pocahontas would know how protective mother bears get of her babies. Or maybe the bears in Disney-verse are just so used to human contact that people can just pick up their cubs. Because THAT’S NATURAL. Thanks, Disney. At least you made bears a little bit more realistic in Brother Bear.
Why Did the Grinning Bobcat Cross the Road Grin?
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Pocahontas is implying that possibly the answer is that the bobcat are just happy fellas or something and that the narrow-minded Brits never got it into their arrogant heads to query bobcats of the reasons behind their continuous joy. Even just ignoring the fact that bobcats obviously can’t answer, the more sobering question is, why does she imply that the bobcat WANTS to be grinning? It’s kinda like asking why the Joker is always smiling. Maybe bobcats are actually miserable animals who suffer the additional insult to injury by looking like they’re happy all the time. Or maybe the insult is assuming there’s a point in anthropomorphising them, rather than treating them as animals in their own right without needing to twisted them to fit a list of human traits. Did you ever think of that, Pocahontas?
Eh the rest of the song doesn’t warrant much more critique. It’s a nice point she makes that creatures such as herons and otters are valuable, though I don’t need to call them my friends and family to know they’re worth protecting. I think she might be exaggerating Smith’s narrow-mindedness (I certainly don’t remember him being the racist that she paints him to be in the song), but still, yay for advocating diversity. :) As I said, I like the song, it’s nice to listen to. Still, kinda silly in some parts. :P
Thanks for your comment :) First, I used to love that song but I always agreed she would be so angry if he said to her that she knew nothing.
Funny rant!
Oh and I LOVE this layout.
Thank you! I didn’t make the layout though. That’s another quick way of going around wordpress layout time-consumingness; use premade free layouts! :D
Haha, that was brilliant. But gosh, Belinda, are you implying that animism is wrong? All those rocks are crying inside, and the next time you walk through a windstorm and come out purple, you’re going to regret what you’ve said!
xD Your comment made me literally laugh out loud. I love the idea of walking through a windstorm and coming out a different colour!
Me? Suggesting that athropomorphising objects and animals for no apparent reason except to appear “deep” and “spiritual” is a laughable and shitty idea? Never! :O
There is no tonic, salve or balm that will cure the deep, deep shame of laying on a couch in the dark, singing along to Colors of the Wind.
(And pretty much knowing all the words)
Not as bad as knowing the words to “Once Upon A Dream”. :( I recommend checking out the video to the song. Aurora is totally schmoozing the prince! :P
What’ll cure everything is probably knowing the words and singing any of the songs from Aladdin or Mulan. Or even just watching the movies. Oh maybe Hercules too. Because they’re awesome movies. :P
… I never thought about the song this way. I simply like all Disney songs! You just made me feel dirty inside. :(
I think the whole colors of the wind and rocks having life ties into the Native American belief that all things have life, but now that you mentioned it, I’ll ask some of my Native American friends what they think of this song.
Aww I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you feel dirty! As I said, it’s still a very pretty song. :)
This was an interesting critique. I wish I’d watched the movie more recently! I’m pretty sure that John Smith calls her/her people savages before the song starts… I never liked Pocahontas anyway :P
I think I need to re-see the movie to gauge the context of the song. ^^;
John Smith and his men refer to Pocahontas and her people as Savages MANY times before this scene and he goes so far as to tell her that they (the English) will show her and her people how to use the land properly – to build “proper” homes and roads etc. She is responding to the English mentality that they can come in to any place – occupied or not- and claim it for themselves, rob it of its resources – GOLD, forests etc.- and shoot at the mere sight of a “savage” like herself.
And as far as rocks having a spirit – animism says that everything has a spirit – yes even inanimate objects.
Know what you’re talking about when you critique something no matter how trivial it seems to you
Animism says a lot of things, but I wouldn’t recommend listening.
i totally agree.
I’m more a fan of Mulan: the message seems to be a little more clear, and the songs generally make sense too. :P
I’ve only seen Pocahontas once but I really didn’t take to it.
I like Mulan more too! :D
So… that’s the English version… Norwegian version sings _way_ better.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_ZcwLDC97_s
She also doesn’t say anything about rocks in the Norwegian version. She says “every tree and creature”. She also says the “grinning cat in the stars” (or something like that), nothing about an actual grinning living bobcat.. So perhaps the English version is just.. so much more full of bullshit aimed to make white people feel guilty about the old “flag-theory”?
What’s the flag-theory?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uEx5G-GOS1k
Normally I really enjoy your critiques. I watched Pocahontas such a long time ago so I hardly recall the context, please forgive me I make any startling errors.
Doesn’t it say “How can there be…” instead of “Now”?
I think what she means by “you don’t know” are the true values and joys of life, simple concepts to the Natives but absolutely foreign to Europeans.
If we’re to frown upon songwriters using phrases like “colours of the wind” to appeal to our senses, aren’t we being overly critical of something that at least attempts to be pure and beautiful? Especially when there are so many lyric lines out there talking about “bitches”, “hos”, and “chicks”? (I LOL to remember my TOK teacher saying, “Homies! What IS that?! These lyrics don’t understand the subjunctive tense!”) A song called “Colours of the Smoke” really loses some beauty in the imagination.
Moving on. “But I know every rock and tree and creature, Has a life, has a spirit, has a name”. I think this is ambiguity resulting from attempts to form rhymes. Perhaps if you look at the second line in reverse order, it applies to the respective entities mentioned in the first line. Creatures have life, trees have spirits, and rocks have names. Some Native cultures also believe that rocks are spiritual, eh.
You could say the same inaccuracies of nature apply to every Disney film and then some. It’s neither a wilderness guide on “how to survive with grisly bears”, nor an exact portrayal of real life. You’d think it would take Pocahontas a lot longer to learn English (… how DID she learn? Forgot about this part)
“Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon” … that’s got to be my favourite line in the whole song, so pretty.
Then again, in a way, I admire how you can take a complete innocent song and rip it apart. It’s probably why you would make a good lawyer (no sarcasm intended, surprisingly).
Mmm I think it’s a little patronising to be painting the Europeans as being solely bent on capitalism and money whereas only the Native Americans truly know about the joys of life. It’s neat that she show their own interpretation of how to appreciate nature, but it’s not really so alien to Europeans as Disney asserts (after all, paganism was present in Europe).
The thing about imagery is that in the clip, Disney DID make the wind coloured! It certainly helped their point, but in real life there is no colour in wind. Are we seeing it from the eyes of Pocahontas who does see colour in wind? I’m all for pretty imagery, but it just struck me as being nonsensical, even for a metaphor. And I think it’s a little unfair to the song to be comparing it to shitty commercial rap songs. The latter is indefensible. :P
Oooh I’ve never considered the descriptors to be applied to each item she lists. It certainly makes more sense if interpreted that way.
Don’t forget there are talking trees and animals in the movie as well, I guess, it’s a Disney thing. But it seems a little awkward to be suggesting that something is only beautiful when it’s gentle but not when (in reality) it’s ferocious and animalistic. Though I suppose Disney doesn’t want to scare the children with a frightening bear!
Aww I wasn’t intending to RIP it apart! It’s still a pretty sounding song and as I said, parts of it promote great ideals. :)
colours of the wind is a great song, though i do wonder bout the grinning bobcat part. but overall it’s a lovely song
I think the whole colors of the wind and rocks having life ties into the Native American belief that all things have life, but now that you mentioned it, I’ll ask some of my Native American friends what they think of this song.
Yeah, I think the song makes a little more sense if you’re familiar with, at least, the perception Americans have of Native American beliefs (not necessarily the actual beliefs themselves, especially since Native Americans are a very diverse group of groups and have a diverse set of beliefs)–that Native Americans (often viewed in American perception as a monolithic group) believe that rocks do, in fact, have spirits, and that the living things are in fact our friends.
IndianLegend.com says: While cultures and customs varied, all Native American Indian beliefs were rooted in Animism, meaning that they believed the universe was bound together by the spirits within all natural life, from plants, animals, humans, water, and even the Earth itself.
So you can call the belief silly (which, I mean, I don’t believe it either), and the movie is certainly not a perfect representation overall of Native American culture or history (starting with the fact that Pocahontas wound up married to John Rolfe and living in England, as well as the fact that it falls into the same monolithic view of Native Americans mentioned above, and indulges in a fair bit of exoticizing while painting overall a rather rosier picture of the English conquest than the truth merits, and… well. you get the idea),but this was a very deeply held religious belief for many, many people.
Thanks for that link! I’d be interested to look into it.
I don’t know … I think Disney songs are just a LITTLE bit addictive … just a little bit. I’m with Amber – I saw Pocahontas once; didn’t particularly strike a chord. Mulan, however … *sings incessantly*
Then again, it is Disney, so they’re allowed to be a fair bit nuts and it won’t look suss … hrm. With that said, though – intriguing critique, Belinda. :P
Yay Mulan! :D As I said, the song “Colors of the Wind” is very pretty melodically, I quite like listening to it. I generally like most Disney songs anyway. :3
Curse you Belinda! You just got me totally hooked on this song >
Oops… brackets don’t go through…
I just spent the last two hours listening to it. Aiya.
Thanks A LOT for butchering my image of this song now. XD Just kidding. Lyrics doesn’t really do me anything usually. Strange as it may sound for an English major, I think I listen to music just for … well the music rather than the words. Even when I sing along to English songs, I barely pay attention to the lyrics, haha.
… But seriously, you totally deconstructed a song here. I think you are more of an English major than a lawyer, hahaha.
Perhaps because the movie is 1.) Disney, 2.) Animated, 3.) Not a realistic documentary, 4.) Uses metaphors which are lost on some people, 5.) It’s made for children.
I mean call me crazy.
Or maybe “critiques” like this are supposed to be read as a little tongue-in-cheek? I’m certainly not going to be writing a letter of complaint to Disney over a lil’ ditty. If I were to object to the movie being unrealistic, you’d think I would’ve been offended or some sort by a talking tree. :P
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you were offended by friendly bears in a children’s movie then wouldn’t you also be offended by a talking tree? Or a talking deer. Perhaps a talking rabbit named Thumper? But most especially by songs that are actually incorrect, after all the heart has absolutely nothing to do with dreams or wishes (in fact wishes are bogus, take that Jiminy Cricket).
Those bears weren’t going to maul Pocahontas, who was actually about 12 years old when she met John Smith, she certainly wasn’t the buxom 20-something Disney made her out to be, because it’d traumatize the kiddies. A six year old doesn’t pop in a video to see a realistic cartoon rendering of a bear, they pop in a video to see a singing bear hug bunnies.
Talking mice that can put together an evening dress in a matter of hours with the help of bluebirds and other friendly animals are obviously not real. Poison apples!? HAH! Disney movies, or any movie made for children, rarely ever make sense out in the real world and there’s not point in trying to analyze it.
Personally I took the “colours of the wind” bit to mean to look beyond what you see for something more. In fact I thought that was the whole idea behind the song.
Woah woah, no need to be throwing around the word “offended” here… I’m not OFFENDED by the song. It’s not making me blaze with anger or simmer with it either. I’ve watched heaps of Disney movies before and of course, they’re unrealistic. There’s also dragons and genies too, btw. But usually they’re consistent with some sort of internal Disney logic.
If the logic here is that Pocahontas is showing Smith around what the REAL nature is like, I find it odd that of all things, she would show Smith a bear that in real life would be quite vicious. This is the song where Pocahontas is saying “these are the things that ARE real, Smith, and you’d see them if you opened your eyes, moron” and then she goes and shows him a bear that allows you to turn her cubs. Hrm. The bear doesn’t sing, on no that would’ve been unrealistic. I don’t understand why Disney DIDN’T portray her hugging a bunny or something, that wouldn’t won’t attack people. Disney did bears in Brother Bear to be quite ferocious when needs be.
I’ve got no problems with movie that are about fictional fairytales and stuff. But… Pocahontas was supposedly based on a real life story and I expected a TINY bit more realism than the other ones. :P
But hey! I’m not losing sleep behind this song okay! Don’t take this “critique” (and I do these often!) to mean that I’m actually deeply affected by this song! I’d rather use that energy to watch Disney movies I like more. :P
The only Disney soundtracks worth listening to are the ones with lyrics written by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.) After that it’s all cliche mush and zero humor. Hercules made an effort, and Mulan sort of brought it all back, but there wasn’t enough singing in that movie. At least not of the joyful nonsensical sort, apart from “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” The theme song for Mulan (Reflection) made more sense than ALL of the Disney themes combined, however, when you put it in the context of the film (although only slightly more than “One Jump Ahead” and “Part of That World”).
I always thought “Colors of the Wind” was intentionally meant to be ironic, when she asks “Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?”
It’s a good song for kara/videoke, though ;D
I love the song “Belle” and “Be Our Guest” from B&B. I especially love the Simpsons’ parody of it with Mr Burns’ vest! :D
Haha, I’ve thought of the bear thing so many times. I mean, how many times have we been told that you’re pretty much screwed if you get between a bear and her cubs? Apparently, Disney didn’t get the memo. ;P
Have you seen Pocahontas 2? Now THAT is a work of genius! You should nab it sometime so you can write a review about it.
Oh, Disney. I love you so.
Ugh I usually hate Disney sequels, so no haven’t seen it. I’m still dreading possibly watching Mulan 2. :(
I just happened to find your site and I enjoy it very much!
The wind runs through everything (colour), basically it touches everything and carries it along to other places.
Ah thank you for giving me a quite plausible explanation for the song title. I’ve never thought of it that way before.
I hadn’t heard that song for years, and I liked it when I was kid! I didn’t know much English back then, so I had no idea what the song was about, other than colors and wind.
Now that I understand it more I still don’t see what’s so terrible about it, I read it over and over and your comments do fit, especially with the rocks having a life (XD) but I still find that the song has some of its own little meaning within its context. The song is cute, although, like other Disney songs, it makes very wide generalizations and stereotypical assumptions =P
Like you said, it still has a nice melody. I love Disney songs, even if they teach us bad things! XD
As much as I enjoyed reading what you had to say, I really just had to disagree with some of what you brought up. As others said in the comments, then main thing to really consider is that this is a children’s rendition of Pocahontas. Albeit it gives them a misconstrued version of history but it’s not like we truly have a real story to follow anyway.
But I think it’s a little pedantic to start critiquing a Disney soundtrack, and try to put apply it to realism and our “world” (aka: This ain’t no Roger Rabbit movie.) I mean, you *do* bring up valid points, but the point of songs is to get kids to sing along, and also incorporate it into the movie. To whatever person thought of colors of the wind, the animators obviously figured it suited the movie perfectly.
I think the best addition you could’ve made to the article was to try to see if at least some of the movie adhered to Native American culture. Does the “color of the wind” have validity in their beliefs? I surely don’t know, but maybe the creators of the movie at least took some time to incorporate some truth into the movie.
…I always took “colours of the wind” and “voices of the mountain” to be metaphors for skin colour and different languages. Don’t know if that was their intent or not, but…
i recently bought a smoking pipe carved from a rock, of a grinning bobcat. i dont know if bobcats grin, but, this pipe will make me grin.
bbbiaaasss?
I think colors of the wind signifies going beyond our petty boxes, past ourselves. Of course the wind doesn’t have color but it is everywhere it is need for life to sustain. We people must respect all these ’spirits’ and not waste them.
“You think I’m an ignorant savage
And you’ve been so many places
I guess it must be so
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
How can there be so much that you don’t know?
You don’t know …”
He called Pocahantas a savage before she did.
i THINK THE THEME IS EXPRESSED IN THE LAST LINES
“You can own the Earth and still
All you’ll own is Earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind.”
The earth is a gift not just an object we should abuse you must understand this before we use up what we got, before it’s too late.
i actually found that critique rather shallow and too caught up in a rather egotiscal western way of thought.
i am not from the states and do not claim to know much about native american history, but it is not uncommon for many native or tribal cultures to have a belief that every object, whether living or inanimate, possesses a spirit. therefore from pocahontas’ point of the view the lyrics would make sense.
i come from a mixed chinese and western background and therefore i can try to see two difference points of view of two distinct cultures.
i can in a way understand the feelings expressed concerning if the opening lines. however if taken in a historical context, i don’t actually find it too problematic. i am sure both cultures (white western culture and native american culture) at least during the period the story was set viewed each other as savage or uncultured. this stems from a basic difference in the system of beliefs. the opening lines therefore only serve to highlight the differences or misunderstandings between the two protagonists or both cultures…..with neither (at least at the beginning) being able to understand the other or why the other views themselves as “savage”. it is this that sets the starting point for a journey of discovery and understanding and in the case of the film..a love story.
finally regarding the title, yes wind itself has no color..but it we were to push it….when sand or leaves blow in the wind..color is added….
essentially the title is only a metaphor…a metaphor that it you are willing to look with your heart and not just your eyes…you may be able to see things you didn’t
there will always be a degree of creative license in any form of art or creative work. the idea of color does not have to literally mean color. if can imply a sense of feeling…excitment…imagination.
for example when someone’s life is described as “colorful”…it does not literally mean they wear rainbow colored clothes on a daily basis…rather it means a life that is full, exciting, and dynamic…
the same would apply to the title…it is merely a metaphor to suggest something special beyond the mundane…something we might just be able to see and feel it we opened our minds
“Me? Suggesting that athropomorphising objects and animals for no apparent reason except to appear “deep” and “spiritual” is a laughable and shitty idea?”
While I do understand that this is your personal opinion, I never understood why people try to make writers seem bombastic and nonsensical just because they show something differently than others see it.
I think it is a little narrow-minded to say that a certain image doesn’t make sense just because you don’t get it. So the wind doesn’t actually have color but…who really cares? Maybe the speaker /was/ trying to a prove a point that seemed “deep” and “spiritual”, but why does that necessarily have to be a bad thing? What makes personifying a bobcat oh-so horrible? So we don’t really know why it’s smiling…what’s the harm in wondering? I just don’t get why people condemn writers just because they make them stretch their imaginations and /think/ abit.
As a student of anthropology, I find your critique in and of itself very interesting, in what it says about Western thought.
First, to address the title of the song itself. When I was a kid, I always interpreted “colors of the wind” to signify autumn leaves being blown around by gusts of wind. In the fall climate of Virginia, where the movie is set, leaves do change colors, fall off the trees, and get caught in the wind. Even in the film itself, you see the leaves in the wind. It’s very similar to your interpretation of the “voices of the mountains”.
Next there’s the point about rocks not having spirits when animals and plants do. Animals and plants are living things, but rocks aren’t. As many people have already pointed out, many indigenous, animist cultures believe all things to have life, including rocks.
Now, what is interesting is the way in which you get defensive about this point in your comments section. Your defence is that, even if the lyric is supposed to speak from Pocahontas’ animist perspective, animism is a load of crap. I noticed you didn’t criticize Pocahontas’ belief in spirits in general, too. Do you believe in the existance of spirits? Many people would find that absurd. Animism is no less legitimate or deserving of respect than Christianity or any other belief system, and laughing at another culture’s beliefs is a sign of ignorance.
Finally, I’d like to backtrack to the beginning, where you suggest a double standard in Pocahontas hinting that John Smith is ignorant. Even without the context of the earlier scenes in the film, it is no secret that Europeans historically looked down on Native Americans as “ignorant savages”. Pocahontas, therefore, is responding to the way of thinking prevalent back then.
As to your hypothetical, supposing the song was reversed with John Smith in his native land of England singing about his worldview to Pocahontas, there’s a reason this never happens. Although the Disney movie is not very historically accurate, the general concept is – Europeans colonized the Americas, not the other way around. The Native Americans kept to themselves, living on and appreciating their own environment, while the Europeans set out to conquer new lands. There’s no need for John Smith to sing about how much Pocahontas doesn’t understand about London, because Pocahontas isn’t trying to colonize London. He’s on her turf, trying to tell her what the land is for.
Yay for people that understand the real message of the song. I don’t agree with Belinda’s opinion/interpretation/thoughts/etc of the song. I am sorry, but you are a real song pooper.
I was actually trying to find out why a grinning bobcat grins when i came across your site…but yea pocahontas was trying to prove to john smith that her way of life didnt look as….how would you say this……..savage…as he thought it would be. So yea i am still trying to find out why the grinning bobcat grins…