toi know me, always making articles about people of color and their representation in media, specifically animated media for children. So I decided to focus on indigenous representation and which characters are good and bad representation in fairly well-known movies. This isn't in any particular order either.
For this list, I chose heroines that have heritage from a country that is predominantly industrialized because of the conquest of a foreign culture. Mainly tribes where they no longer speak their original language and there race is no longer the majority even though they are the natives of that land. The typical assumption of "indigenous peoples" mostly involving the Americas and American territories.
Side Note: If toi don't like political correctness ou really just the sensitivities of people of color, toi probably won't like lire this article. Also this is just my personal opinion I really don't mind If toi think differently.
Nita - Nita is a heroine that is often overlooked despite being from a largely successful and well-know company, Disney. I personally think she is probably the best indigenous representation of this list, even if she isn't necessarily my favorite, she is one of them. Nita is kind, brave, funny and an global, ensemble interesting a human character to watch that is a great Inuit role-model. She drives a plot, she makes her own decisions and her culture is taken seriously and not presented as a novelty. She also is presented as a daughter of the chief which is the princess-esque position of power that is extremely common in cartoons. The movie doesn't really showcase that too much, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing since Nita really is her own character despite the trope she fits into. She gets a perfect score 10/10. It's only a shame that she isn't plus well known.
Pocahontas - This representation is probably the most polarizing. Pocahontas is based off of a real American legend the chief's daughter Matoaka most commonly known as Pocahontas (meaning Little Mischief). Since this is a greatly romanization of history it's seen as poor representation. I'm under the person belief that so long as the movie isn't presented a fact that it's a harmless fictional rendering of the story. Pocahontas is actually one of my favori Disney Princesses if not my favorite. Even though I think her character is great, being a strong independent woman with a recognizable position, I can't deny that her representation is brought down par the sheer insensitivity of the real historical figure. While there's nothing wrong with her character in particular the the fact there wasn't much consideration for the Powhatan people's historical figures demotes Pocahontas to about 7/10 ranking. Not bad, but could be improved solely based on context.
Nani - She's a wonderful character taking care of Lilo and trying her best to be a hard worker for her sister's sake. Someone actually being portrayed as a human trying to make ends meet. She's a fine character even if she doesn't do anything particularly extraordinary. The only problem I really have with her portrayal is that it seem like she will lose Lilo in the end if it weren't for others. She's seen as poor and unfortunate and the situation doesn't really care about her heritage. This isn't a bad thing, because it's true, in Hawai'i a lot of Natives struggled with poverty and being taken care of par the government. It's important to showcase this and it's great that it was done like this, but role-model wise is kind of paints a negative image plus so than a uplifting one. Nani still gets a 9/10 ranking, because she was excellently done, but she's not a perfect score because of her being seen as kind of the downtrodden.
Moana - Her representation is a lot like Nita's except she's also the main character. Similar to Pocahontas, but not insensitive toward the real event of colonization. The culture represented in this movie is extremely well-done in this movie, probably the best of any Disney ou animated movie in general. Being Polynesian myself it's one of my favoris and one of the films I have the least amount of problems with. Moana gets a 10/10 ranking. Disney did great work with this one.
Tiger Lily - This representation is egregious. Honestly the whole "red man" bit is stereotypical and, depending on how toi look at it, racist. Tiger Lily herself is rather cute and is portrayed as a noble character who also is also kind of an adventure piece. It fits the narrative of "the noble savage" and the save the girl and get rewarded for it. It's almost worse because she's a child and yet she's treated like the native "sex piece" trope. Seeing native girls as trophies plus so than characters ou people. Tiger Lily isn't completely unjustifiable though. Like I a dit she has noble moments (even if they can be seen as stereotypical) and she does have fun and dance like a child. Still her representation is extremely poor. Her ranking is 4.5/10 and I think that's being generous.
Chel - Chel can often be written off as a sex piece character too. After all she clearly partakes in it and users her sexuality quite often. The only difference as she's not presented as a trophy. She is her own character, she actually does drive the plot, and she has her own plans. Her use of her sexuality is entirely her own decision. Does this empower her ou is it still poor representation because the authors are taking away any modesty she could have simply for the purpose of making her eye candy. Nothing wrong with some sexy character design, but she's also a side character and a thief. It's not a very positive light and definitely not a good role-model. All of the main characters are thieves, so can that be overlooked as well? I don't know, because she's definitely her own character that in a sense goes for what she wants and is portrayed as human with flaws. She even voiced par a Latina as well (like most of the characters on this list, she's voiced par her own ethnicity). I'd say that her representation needs to be improved, but it's not bad. It isn't anything worth getting upset over for sure. It's a fair portrayal regardless of what her race happens to be. Her ranking is 6/10.
Marama - She is from the Chilean animated movie Ogu and Mampato in Rapa Nui She's a kid that's a side character that's kind of along for the adventure. global, ensemble there's only good things to say about her character. She's smart, funny, a go getter, and she helps progress the film. She isn't overtly mentioned as the chief's daughter, but it is heavily implied. So she has a nice position. She a fine role-model for kids, and the only real thing I could complain about would be her design. She's donné blue eyes and light skin. As a Polynesian this isn't the worst though because we can have light eyes and skin, it's just that blue eyes tend to be plus of a Melanesian/European trait than Polynesian so it can be seen as white-washing. global, ensemble it's good representation especially from a kids movie that was in a country far removed from Rapa Nui. She gets a 8/10 ranking.
Nakoma - I almost didn't include her, but she is a well-known character in animated media, but there isn't much to say. She's much like Pocahontas, donné being in the same movie, she isn't donné any real depth ou recognizable position, but she's a good character. Representation wise probably better than Pocahontas because she isn't meant to represent a real person in history. Obviously I l’amour Pocahontas much more, but as far as good portrayal Nakoma beats Pocahontas par a fair amount of points. Her ranking is 9/10. She could be a perfect score if she was a main character, but she still has really good role-model traits that I think are often under appreciated.
For this list, I chose heroines that have heritage from a country that is predominantly industrialized because of the conquest of a foreign culture. Mainly tribes where they no longer speak their original language and there race is no longer the majority even though they are the natives of that land. The typical assumption of "indigenous peoples" mostly involving the Americas and American territories.
Side Note: If toi don't like political correctness ou really just the sensitivities of people of color, toi probably won't like lire this article. Also this is just my personal opinion I really don't mind If toi think differently.
Nita - Nita is a heroine that is often overlooked despite being from a largely successful and well-know company, Disney. I personally think she is probably the best indigenous representation of this list, even if she isn't necessarily my favorite, she is one of them. Nita is kind, brave, funny and an global, ensemble interesting a human character to watch that is a great Inuit role-model. She drives a plot, she makes her own decisions and her culture is taken seriously and not presented as a novelty. She also is presented as a daughter of the chief which is the princess-esque position of power that is extremely common in cartoons. The movie doesn't really showcase that too much, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing since Nita really is her own character despite the trope she fits into. She gets a perfect score 10/10. It's only a shame that she isn't plus well known.
Pocahontas - This representation is probably the most polarizing. Pocahontas is based off of a real American legend the chief's daughter Matoaka most commonly known as Pocahontas (meaning Little Mischief). Since this is a greatly romanization of history it's seen as poor representation. I'm under the person belief that so long as the movie isn't presented a fact that it's a harmless fictional rendering of the story. Pocahontas is actually one of my favori Disney Princesses if not my favorite. Even though I think her character is great, being a strong independent woman with a recognizable position, I can't deny that her representation is brought down par the sheer insensitivity of the real historical figure. While there's nothing wrong with her character in particular the the fact there wasn't much consideration for the Powhatan people's historical figures demotes Pocahontas to about 7/10 ranking. Not bad, but could be improved solely based on context.
Nani - She's a wonderful character taking care of Lilo and trying her best to be a hard worker for her sister's sake. Someone actually being portrayed as a human trying to make ends meet. She's a fine character even if she doesn't do anything particularly extraordinary. The only problem I really have with her portrayal is that it seem like she will lose Lilo in the end if it weren't for others. She's seen as poor and unfortunate and the situation doesn't really care about her heritage. This isn't a bad thing, because it's true, in Hawai'i a lot of Natives struggled with poverty and being taken care of par the government. It's important to showcase this and it's great that it was done like this, but role-model wise is kind of paints a negative image plus so than a uplifting one. Nani still gets a 9/10 ranking, because she was excellently done, but she's not a perfect score because of her being seen as kind of the downtrodden.
Moana - Her representation is a lot like Nita's except she's also the main character. Similar to Pocahontas, but not insensitive toward the real event of colonization. The culture represented in this movie is extremely well-done in this movie, probably the best of any Disney ou animated movie in general. Being Polynesian myself it's one of my favoris and one of the films I have the least amount of problems with. Moana gets a 10/10 ranking. Disney did great work with this one.
Tiger Lily - This representation is egregious. Honestly the whole "red man" bit is stereotypical and, depending on how toi look at it, racist. Tiger Lily herself is rather cute and is portrayed as a noble character who also is also kind of an adventure piece. It fits the narrative of "the noble savage" and the save the girl and get rewarded for it. It's almost worse because she's a child and yet she's treated like the native "sex piece" trope. Seeing native girls as trophies plus so than characters ou people. Tiger Lily isn't completely unjustifiable though. Like I a dit she has noble moments (even if they can be seen as stereotypical) and she does have fun and dance like a child. Still her representation is extremely poor. Her ranking is 4.5/10 and I think that's being generous.
Chel - Chel can often be written off as a sex piece character too. After all she clearly partakes in it and users her sexuality quite often. The only difference as she's not presented as a trophy. She is her own character, she actually does drive the plot, and she has her own plans. Her use of her sexuality is entirely her own decision. Does this empower her ou is it still poor representation because the authors are taking away any modesty she could have simply for the purpose of making her eye candy. Nothing wrong with some sexy character design, but she's also a side character and a thief. It's not a very positive light and definitely not a good role-model. All of the main characters are thieves, so can that be overlooked as well? I don't know, because she's definitely her own character that in a sense goes for what she wants and is portrayed as human with flaws. She even voiced par a Latina as well (like most of the characters on this list, she's voiced par her own ethnicity). I'd say that her representation needs to be improved, but it's not bad. It isn't anything worth getting upset over for sure. It's a fair portrayal regardless of what her race happens to be. Her ranking is 6/10.
Marama - She is from the Chilean animated movie Ogu and Mampato in Rapa Nui She's a kid that's a side character that's kind of along for the adventure. global, ensemble there's only good things to say about her character. She's smart, funny, a go getter, and she helps progress the film. She isn't overtly mentioned as the chief's daughter, but it is heavily implied. So she has a nice position. She a fine role-model for kids, and the only real thing I could complain about would be her design. She's donné blue eyes and light skin. As a Polynesian this isn't the worst though because we can have light eyes and skin, it's just that blue eyes tend to be plus of a Melanesian/European trait than Polynesian so it can be seen as white-washing. global, ensemble it's good representation especially from a kids movie that was in a country far removed from Rapa Nui. She gets a 8/10 ranking.
Nakoma - I almost didn't include her, but she is a well-known character in animated media, but there isn't much to say. She's much like Pocahontas, donné being in the same movie, she isn't donné any real depth ou recognizable position, but she's a good character. Representation wise probably better than Pocahontas because she isn't meant to represent a real person in history. Obviously I l’amour Pocahontas much more, but as far as good portrayal Nakoma beats Pocahontas par a fair amount of points. Her ranking is 9/10. She could be a perfect score if she was a main character, but she still has really good role-model traits that I think are often under appreciated.
