Introduction
A seventy-eight-minute animation film, Pocahontas, by Walt Disney, is about a Native American heroine who saved a British man, John Smith, from execution by her father. The movie has received criticism, especially from Arab Americans (Goldberg & Gabriel, 1995). The film is analyzed on three concepts; libel, privacy invasion, and copyright infringement, as affected by the United States of America’s rule of law if Pocahontas was alive.
Discussion
Concerning libel, Pocahontas has a chance to sue Walt Disney since the film conveyed inaccurate information about her as protected under United States defamation law. The movie states that Pocahontas had a romance with John Smith and ended their marriage. However, it is historically proven that she was not married to Smith but to a different man, John Rolfe, after converting to Christianity. Also, her name, Pocahontas, was not mentioned as a nickname, as her proper name was Matoaka. The wrong information may have her reputation painted negatively and portray a bad image; therefore, the organization is at fault against a private individual.
Secondly, she has a chance to sue the film company for the intrusion of privacy since the law allows a party to file a lawsuit against an organization or an individual for intruding on their private affairs and disclosing the acquired information to the public. Walt Disney released the private life of Pocahontas to the public through the media (National Archives, 2017). Also, the film has a false light relating to her marital information, which may result in possible misinterpretation by the public. Besides, the film was released without her affirmation. Thus, according to the law, she may win against Walt Disney for privacy invasion.
Conclusion
According to the Copyright Act in the United States of America, unauthorized copying of authorship is prohibited. However, in the film by Walt, Pocahontas has no chance to win the lawsuit since it is not illegal to produce a film related to a person’s life unless it is a story already produced and protected by copyright (U.S. Congress, 1958).
Reference
Goldberg, Eric & Gabriel, Mike. (Directors). (1995). Pocahantas[film]. Walt Disney Company.
National Archives. 2017. The Privacy Act of 1974. [online] Web.
U.S. Congress. (1958) United States Code: Copyright Office, 17 U.S.C. §§ 201-216. [Periodical] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, Web.