What Made the Red Man Red?

Last updated
"What Made the Red Man Red?"
Song by Candy Candido and the Mellowmen
from the album Peter Pan (1953 film)
ReleasedFebruary 5, 1953
Genre Traditional pop
Length2:45
Label Walt Disney Records
Songwriter(s)

"What Made the Red Man Red?" is a song from the 1953 Disney animated film Peter Pan with music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Sammy Cahn, in which the Indians of the Neverland Tribe tell their story through dance and song. [1] Some modern critics have described the sequence as offensive due to its reliance on exaggerated stereotypes. [2] [3] [4] Although a similar depiction was displayed within J. M. Barrie's original play, later adaptations have reimagined the Natives. [5]

Contents

Production

Jonathan "Candy" Candido, who played the role of the Chief in Peter Pan, said the following in an interview with MousePlanet:

When I recorded [the song], I sang it with 10 bass singers from around Los Angeles. And if you hear the song, you'll notice my bass voice is almost twice as low as theirs ... You know, when you see the Indian chief, he's fat. I'm not fat. And he's real tall, and I'm kind of short. But you notice he looks like me. Also, he has the same dark eyebrows, and he plays with his hands like I do when I perform ... Ward Kimball's animation of the chief is full of the little visual gags that he always threw into his work, oftentimes just to keep himself amused. I especially love seeing how wildly exaggerated the chief's mouth shapes become, yet always manage to work well within the frame of his face.

— Jonathan "Candy" Candido, interview with MousePlanet [3]

Context

Peter Pan and Wendy come across the Indians (who refer to themselves as "Injuns") during their travels in Neverland after rescuing the Chief's daughter, Tiger Lily. Wishing to learn more about them, the Lost Boys ask the Indians three questions: "What made the red man red?", "When did he first say 'Ugh'?" and "Why does he ask you 'How?'" (a corruption of the Lakota word háu , which translates to "Hello" and is used only by men). This song is performed by "the big-nosed, guttural Chief character" accompanied by his tribesmen, who answer the questions. The Indians pass the peace pipe to the children (which John smokes, but becomes nauseated after) as they tell their tale. [6]

Composition

Writer Kim McLarin of NPR described the composition as a "bouncy, drum-heavy song", [7] while Neil Sinyard called it a "labored routine" in The Best of Disney (1988). [8]

Modern reception

Writing in Seeing Red: Hollwood's Pixelated Skins:American Indians and Film (2013), David Martinez said, "the animators took the liberty of demeaning an entire race in the name of entertainment." [4] [9] Wired described the song as "thoroughly appalling" and "arguably more racist than anything in the notorious Song of the South ". [10] Though Hollywood.com named the 1953 film as the third-best Peter Pan adaption that same year, it recommended that viewers "forget that whole 'What Made the Red Man Red?' part, for obvious reasons". [11] Greg Ehrbar, writing in Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records (2013), said the song "veers precariously into politically incorrect territory". [12] Sasha Houston Brown, Santee Sioux tribe member and adviser to the American Indian Success Program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, said the song was dehumanizing and embarrassing to watch as a child. [13]

In 2014, AllDay said that "the one time they break into song" is the only time the Native Americans do not speak in broken English throughout the film. [14] Bustle described the song a "big ol' pile of racism", [15] and The Guardian said that the song presents a risk of redface when performed live and is "exactly as alarming to modern eyes and ears as its title suggests". [16] The following year, Media Diversified said the "horror that was the song" reinforces stereotypes and racist attitudes. [17] Writing for Tor.com, American author and critic Mari Ness said that the "cartoon war dance" and song go even further than Barrie's play by "stat[ing] that the Indians are not just savages, but sexist savages, who force Wendy to go fetch firewood while the other boys have fun." [18]

Marc Davis, one of the supervising animators of the 1953 film, said in an interview years after the production,

I'm not sure we would have done the Indians if we were making this movie now. And if we had we wouldn't do them the way we did back then... The Indians were Ward Kimball’s stuff. Beautifully done. The Indians could not have been done that way nowadays. I like them. Very funny. Very entertaining, especially the Big Chief. [3] [19]

Disney historian Jim Korkis stated in attempt to clarify, "It is important to remember that Peter Pan was supposed to represent a young boy’s impression of pirates, mermaids and Indians and, as a result, these fanciful creations bore more of a relation to popular culture storybooks than reality." [20]

Legacy

When the film has been syndicated on television, the native scene has often been removed. [21] Because of concerns around the representation of Indigenous characters, and this song in particular, the 2002 film Return to Never Land did not feature any Indian characters. [14] However, they appear physically in the tie-in videogame Peter Pan: Adventures in Never Land and in the Disney's Magic English series.[ citation needed ] In Disney's Peter Pan, Jr. stage musical adaptation, the song is replaced by "What Makes the Brave Man Brave?", which focuses less on Native American stereotypes and more on what traits define a hero. [22]

During production of the 2015 Warner Bros. live-action film Pan , the film's developers made a deliberate choice to distance the character of Tiger Lily and her people from Native American heritage, and reimagined them as lacking any particular ethnicity, in order to "avoid the racial insensitivities of... Disney's 1953 animated film, which infamously featured the song 'What Made the Red Man Red?'" [23]

The song is sampled in the Frank Waln song of the same title, in which he raps about the legacy of genocide and colonialism and criticizes the original song for its alleged racism. [24] [25] The song was also sampled in "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" by Information Society.[ citation needed ]

References

  1. ↑ Cheu, Johnson (2013-01-04). Diversity in Disney Films. McFarland. ISBN   9781476600093.
  2. ↑ "Straight On Till Morning: Peter Pan". Im With Geek. Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  3. 1 2 3 Wade Sampson (25 November 2009). "Injun Trouble: The Neverland Tribe". mouseplanet.com.
  4. 1 2 Martínez, David (2013). "Disney's Peter Pan (1953), directed by Clyde Geronimi, et al". In Howe, LeAnne; Markowitz, Harvey; Cummings, Denise K. (eds.). Seeing Red: Hollywood's pixeled skins: American Indians and film. American Indian studies series. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. ISBN   978-1-61186-081-8.
  5. ↑ Sarah Laskow. "The Racist History of Peter Pan's Indian Tribe". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  6. ↑ "Adios, 'Ugg A Wugg': Native Composer Updates Song for NBC's 'Peter Pan Live!'". Indian Country Today Media Network.com. 24 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-07-04. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  7. ↑ "Disney's Frog Princess". NPR.org. 22 May 2007. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  8. ↑ Sinyard, Neil (1988-09-28). The best of Disney. Portland House. ISBN   9780517653463. Archived from the original on 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  9. ↑ "W&L's Markowitz Co-edits Book on American Indians in Movies". wlu.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  10. ↑ MacQuarrie, Jim (2013-02-23). "A Father-Son Review of Peter Pan". GeekDad. Archived from the original on 2015-07-12. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  11. ↑ Sage Young (2013-10-10). "Worst to Best: 'Peter Pan' Adaptations". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  12. ↑ Ehrbar, Greg (February 15, 2013). "Think of a wonderful film...any happy little film...and this might pop into your head". Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Native American stereotypes". tribunedigital-redeyechicago. 8 January 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  14. 1 2 "Your Favorite Childhood Disney Movies Are Really Racist". All Day. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  15. ↑ "Bustle". bustle.com. 4 December 2014. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  16. ↑ Yuhas, Alan (2014-12-07). "What's up, Tiger Lily? One Native American stereotype has certainly grown old". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  17. ↑ "What fresh hell is this? 'The Princess of North Sudan; more scary tale than fairy tale'". Media Diversified. 2015-05-15. Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  18. ↑ Ness, Mari (2015-06-25). "Using Tinker Bell To Shake Magic Into Everything: Disney's Peter Pan". Tor.com. Archived from the original on 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  19. ↑ Peter Pan Platinum Edition (Audio commentary). Roy E. Disney, Leonard Maltin, Jeff Kurtti, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, Kathryn Beaumont, Margaret Kerry. Burbank, California: Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 2007.
  20. ↑ "Neverland Tribe |". cartoonresearch.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
  21. ↑ "Digital Spy". Digital Spy . 2018-06-24. Archived from the original on 2018-10-26. Retrieved 25 October 2018. This scene often gets cut when it appears on TV.
  22. ↑ "21 - What Makes a Man Brave" . Retrieved 2022-05-04– via sites.google.com.[ permanent dead link ]
  23. ↑ "New Peter Pan Movie Being Protested for Color Blind Casting". clutchmagonline.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  24. ↑ "Frank Waln Releases Newest Track 'What Makes the Red Man Red'". LRInspire. 2016-02-01. Archived from the original on 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  25. ↑ "The Miseducation of Frank Waln". Pacific Standard. Archived from the original on 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
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