79: Cannibalism, Child-Trafficking, and Strip-tease: the Truth that Disney Buried | Dark History with Bailey Sarian
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. ♪

Hi, friends. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian, and I'd like to welcome you to my study and to my podcast, Dark History. Now, if you're new here, this is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff. I don't know.

many of us would never think about. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let me just ramble on about that hot, juicy history goss. Because there's so much of it, oh my God. First and foremost, we have to recognize Joan. Joan, you're looking fabulous. Now, if you're listening on the podcast, Joan, my sidekick here, is one-upping me by dressing up like the Little Mermaid. Does that have to do with today's topic, Joan? Are you giving us a little clue?

Or are you just trying to look fabulous? I don't know. See those new tits really paid off, huh? Looking good. Anywho, so, uh, little spoiler, you know.

Growing up, I'm sure a lot of us could say we love Disney, right? Oh, I loved going. Remember the Disney store at the mall? Do you remember those? Oh, oh, they had everything. They had princess outfits. They got the shoes, the accessories, the freaking cassette tapes, the CDs. I mean, it felt like being in a designer store except Disney, you know, and everything was so freaking expensive, right?

And since Aladdin was my all-time favorite Disney movie, I obviously wanted some Princess Jasmine swag. I mean, I wanted to be Princess Jasmine. Oh my God, I'll have to insert a picture of me and Jasmine here. I wanted to be Princess Jasmine. She had the tiger. She was just gorgeous Middle Eastern princess. She was rich.

What else did she-- poor thing. That was all she really had going for her. And I wanted to be that. So I was shocked, nay, shooketh, when I heard one of my friends tell me that she was not allowed to watch Aladdin growing up because of how controversial it was. And to me, it was like,

What? It is? Why? So obviously I went down a rabbit hole trying to get to the bottom of this controversy, which started when the movie came out in 1993. Because turns out it was showing some pretty bad stereotypes about Middle Eastern culture.

I mean, first of all, Arabic names are mispronounced throughout the movie. And the store signs in the marketplace that look like they're written in Arabic, like in the background, turns out it's not even, it's not Arabic. It's just scribbles. Literally scribbles. Oh my God, I didn't, I don't know. There were even like some lyrics from that opening song that stirred up a lot of controversy. Here's a little refresher in case you don't recall.

Oh, I come from a land from a far away place where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear. I'm really giving. I'm really trying to give. Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home. I think I got that beat right. Let me know. Yeah, so excuse me, cutting off your ear? Barbaric?

In the first 30 seconds of a kid movie? So this made a lot of people upset. So Disney ended up changing these lyrics after the release date because they were so offensive and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee protested hard. And let's not forget about how Aladdin and Jasmine traveled around on a...

pet carpet, which the pet carpet was actually, or is actually, a sacred prayer rug. And I guess breaking news here, they can't fly. But the imagination of it all, I guess, that's the debate. I don't know. What's even crazier to me is that when I dug into the original Aladdin story, the one that I thought came from the old storybook, Arabian Nights, it turns out

It doesn't exist. Aladdin is actually an ancient Chinese story. Yeah, Aladdin? He was Chinese. Some French dude in the 1700s was writing a translation of Arabian Nights, happened to hear a version of Aladdin and the Lamp, and figured, eh, you know, China's close enough to Arabia, so let's just

Let's just make it work. But this is just the tip of the iceberg because I got to looking into the origins of some of my other favorite childhood movies and fairy tales. And of course, once again, turns out none of them are good. Oh yes, behind all of them, there's actually a horror story. They just threw some glitter on it.

Made it pretty. But turns out some of the original fairy tales that inspired the Disney movies were very dark and specifically made for adults. Way back before most people were literate and there were like books to read, people relied on oral stories. Go ahead and giggle you pervs.

I said it once and I'm gonna say it again, oral stories. But that was the only way you could hear your favorite stories back then. I mean, someone remembered the whole entire thing and then would repeat it to you. People usually told each other these stories to pass the time while they were doing chores like sewing, washing clothes, fixing stuff. I mean, this essentially was the original version of keeping the podcast on while folding the laundry. And sometimes you want a story that's a little naughty

And that's when Little Red Riding Hood enters the chat.

You little slut. Just kidding. The story we all know and love goes something like this. A little girl named Little Red Riding Hood, because why not give her a name based on what she's wearing? Well, one day Little Red's mom is trying to get her out of the house or something, you know, because she asked Little Red to go take some food to her grandmother who lives on the other side of the deep, dark forest.

You know, Red, she's down. She's like, "Sure, Ma, I'll do whatever." So she puts on her signature red hooded cloak, grabs a basket of muffins, and goes on her merry way to see her grandmother. She's in the middle of the woods when she gets stopped

by a wolf. Not just any wolf, a talking wolf. And for whatever reason, none of this concerns Little Red because she goes and tells him all about her grandma, where she lives, and just basically setting up a nice little buffet for the wolf. The wolf could have just eaten Little Red then and there, but he's playing a twisted game of chess. Or maybe he just likes to play with his food. But

Anyways, but he suggests that Red pick some flowers for her grandmother along the way and points her in the right direction, giving her a little bit of a detour. So Red is like, oh my God, Wolf, great idea. Thanks. And she skips off her merry way. Meanwhile, the wolf heads over to grandma's house where he eats her.

dresses in her clothes, and waits in her bed for little Red to come knocking. When Red shows up to, you know, see her grandmother, instead, the wolf lures her closer and closer to the bed until she's close enough to snatch and gobble her right up. Right at this exact moment, a random passing huntsman hears the commotion, busts into the house, cuts open the wolf,

And I guess has this whole Jonah and the whale situation because, you know, magically both Little Red and Grandma are still alive in the wolf. And they all live happily ever after. It's so cute, isn't it? I mean, it's a happy ending except for the wolf. And Little Red learns a solid lesson about stranger danger. I mean, it's a pretty dark story if you think about it.

But oh friends, it pales in comparison to the original. So in the French version, 'cause there's a French version, adults were sharing theirs orally in the 1400s. And in their version, Little Red wasn't that little. No, no, no, nay nay. In this one, Red was quote, "A seductive young woman who performed a strip tease for the big bad wolf." Oh yeah.

What? Yeah. In this version, the wolf tells Little Red to get into bed with him. But she's like, wait, what do I do with my apron?

I mean that wouldn't be my first question if grandma asked me to get into bed with her all naked but you know I'm not her. We're not we're not judging. Anyway the wolf says you don't need that apron throw it in the fire. So the striptease keeps going and in my mind this is when little red hits play on like her boombox and starts blasting stripper music.

Sorry, I'm just trying to think of something other than milkshake, but it's totally fine. She starts blasting milkshake as she's undressing. And then Little Red is like, what next, Grandma? As she proceeds to take off her skirt, her socks, her frickin' bustle. You know, whatever they're wearing. The clothing they're wearing. And for every item of clothing, the wolf tells her to throw it in the fire. You don't need it.

Except he's a wolf, so that's a minor detail. Anyway, in this version, no one saves Little Red. She just ends up being eaten and dies, and I guess she deserved it. Because according to the culture at this time, if you are a strip-teasing little slut...

you deserved to get eaten. It was just big, you know, slut shaming, keeping women in their place. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer survey who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. To the story. So the story morphs over time as different cultures are telling it and sharing it. And by the 1600s, different versions of Little Red Riding Hood are popping up all over the world and being told to children as well as adults.

And if there's one thing people were trying to convince little girls about in those days, it was to protect your virginity at all costs. I mean, being virginal and pure back then was everything. That was your whole life. If you had sex too early, we've talked about this so many times. You're trash, right? Not now. Back then, reputation ruined, messed.

Many want to marry, disappeared, banished. But parents could enforce this by telling kids a little story about Little Red Riding Hood. A pretty young woman who goes into the woods, meets a predator, puts her trust in him, and gets quote unquote devoured as a result. Very child-friendly, but the best way to teach a child anything or teach anyone anything is to instill fear in them. Gonna die.

You know? It's like a game of telephone. The story morphs as different people tell it. I mean, at one point, the Big Bad Wolf is actually a werewolf. It gives teen wolf vibes. But finally, in the late 1600s, the oral version of Little Red is finally written down and recorded. But here's a little twist. In the first published version of the story, Little Red is, drumroll please, a cannibal!

Love, very on brand for me. Cannibals just fascinate me.

The end. Thank you for coming today, Joe. So, yes, she heads into the woods with her snacks for Granny and meets the wolf. But once the wolf gets to Grandma's, he doesn't eat Grandma. He instead attacks her, kills her, and then proceeds to cut her into little pieces. Then he puts those chunks onto a platter, like he's Jeffrey Dahmer serving...

his masterpiece or something, I don't know, and drains poor Granny's blood into a bottle. Then he dresses up in Grandma's clothes and waits for Little Red. When she shows up, she tells her Grandma that she's pretty hungry from her long journey. And the wolf is like, ooh, well, there's meat and wine in the pantry for you help yourself. Red drinks the bottle of her Grandma's blood and then eats her Grandma's.

Yeah, 'cause he served it to her, right? So she doesn't know she's eating her grandma. She's like, "What is this? Chicken? I love this." And then out of nowhere, a cat enters the story. A freaking cat shows up and calls her a slut for eating and drinking her grandma. I know, it's like, what is even going on? There's a lot happening right now. Even in the cannibal version, they found a way to slut shame Little Red

they sure did. Here's the thing I always wondered: why the red hood? I mean everyone loves a statement piece but it always seemed like a lot and one thing that's been consistent throughout this whole story is the red hood. Well it is called Little Red Riding Hood Bailey so and I can't really improvise that much but

Okay, so I looked into is there some kind of symbolism here? What I came to find out was that Little Red was actually just a symbol for female sexuality. Oh yeah, many scholars have theorized that Little Red's story is actually about a girl becoming a woman. I'm not a girl.

♪ Not yet a woman ♪ You see that? Thank you. So when she's in the woods, she's in her sexual prime, which is why the wolf is drooling all over her and ultimately trying to get into her bed. And the red cloak was a choice because it represents her period.

right? So I was like, oh wow, that's crazy. Her hood represents blood. That makes sense. According to Nora Cattale, a professor at the University of Barcelona, Little Red's cloak thing represents a big red throbbing clit.

- What? - Yeah. Which is why in the French version, Little Red was maybe super horny and they believed that she was basically quote unquote asking for it. In 1922, the Little Red Riding Hood was actually one of Disney's first cartoons. They took some liberties, we could say. I mean, the whole thing kind of looks like an acid trip. Little Red drives a go-kart and on her way to grandma, she gets a flat tire. She replaces it with a donut.

a literal donut from her basket.

And she replaces it, which is like easy peasy, whatever, with some help from her dog. And Little Red stops to dance with a flower. And this creepy man, not a wolf, a man, stops and watches her. He drives to Grandma's house, sees a note that says, "Be back soon." And then this gives him an idea. He uses some magic to shrink his car and puts it in his pocket, naturally, and shows himself inside to wait for Red.

Little Red lets herself into her grandma's place, and as soon as she's in there, the man attacks her. Her dog sees this and goes to find help, and a guy with an airplane ends up saving the day and dropping the predator into a lake nearby. At the end of the day, I think Little Red teaches us a few important lessons. Um, don't go into the woods without your pepper spray, and never do a striptease for your grandma, and also, I don't know,

use protection? I don't really know. I think my personal, because I think the whole point of these stories and sharing these stories is to teach some kind of bigger life lesson. With Little Red, it fit whatever the narrative was at the time. So as of now, I think Little Red kind of represents like, don't talk to strangers and like, tell them where you're going and stuff. But throughout history, it's just been such a

different mix of meanings and whatnot. So it's just fascinating. I mean, the striptease one was like, wow, they really went for it. Like, work, bitch. Anyway, so I would love to hear your interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood. I think it's...

Don't talk to strangers.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. This episode...

This next story kicks off in the year 1998 and it went on to make over $300 million. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about "Mulan." I loved "Mulan," the original cartoon one. Not only was Mulan the first Disney princess who was not born into a royal family, she also wasn't sent off to marry some sexual predator.

or a prince. I don't know, they just always be kissing up on these princesses a little aggressively. Anyways, on top of that, her story is all about courage, independence, and serious girl power. But the most important game-changing aspect about this movie is that Mulan was the first princess to come from an Asian country. Let's get down to business.

to defeat the Huns, right? And remember Shang, the character Shang? If you haven't seen "Mulan," sorry, excuse me. If you haven't seen "Mulan," Shang is this cartoon character that looked way too sexy for no damn reason. He is just coming out with his pecs and abs, and I was like, wow. Hi, how are you? Who are you? You're drawing? I will marry you. Like, I really want him to tie me up and make a man out of me.

You know?

But here's the thing, while everyone in the West was saying hello to this brand new princess and losing their damn minds, back in the East, specifically China, the story of Mulan is one that goes back for centuries. And the girl America came to love actually, of course, has quite a controversial history because there have actually been a bunch of versions of the character Mulan, and all of them have added to her beloved iconic status. And the

The story of Mulan, just like Little Red, there are a ton of different versions to it. It first shows up about 1,500 years ago in 500 AD. And this first version of Mulan as a formal story came in the form of a song, a ballet.

This ballad was 300 lines long, and people memorized this whole thing. So this goes to show you how important this story was to so many people. Many people were singing the Ballad of Mulan for two major reasons. One, so they could pass the time while they were working, and two, to distract themselves from the dark reality of life in China at the time. You see, Mulan shows up during something called the Wei Dynasty,

And during this time, war was kind of an everyday reality. There was lots of fighting, lots of death. So the story begins with Mulan sitting at a loom, weaving together a bunch of cloth. It's pretty clear that she seems to be bored as hell and is looking for more out of life. But then the leader of China at the time, the Khan, sends word out to all the villages that he's putting an army together to go to war. And Mulan's dad,

was on the list of recruits. But there's one big problem. Papa Moulin is very old, but he didn't have an adult son.

That's normally who would replace a father who can't go off to battle. So our girl Mulan decides, ah, screw it, I'll go. And I'm gonna pretend that I'm a man. No, no, no. Mulan heads off to the market in the east where she buys a horse. She hits up a market in the west where she scoops a saddle and then shoots over to the market in the south where she picks up a bridle, which are, you know, the reins that control the horse. And finally, she gets her weapon of choice at the market in the north, a long flask.

Whip. She returns home, she puts on some armor, says goodbye to her mother and father, and then heads out, heads out to the war. According to the ballad, after 10,000 miles on horseback through dangerous mountain passes, she goes straight to battle. Now the song doesn't give a ton of information about what Mulan did while she was in the army, but we do know she was off in battle for something like 12 straight years. Yeah.

Damn, that's a long time. During that time, generals were dying left and right.

But did Mulan? No, of course not. She's a survivor. It's safe to assume that she fought like a total badass and killed a bunch of enemy soldiers because when she returned to the Imperial Palace, the Khan says that she can have whatever she wants. Money, a job in the government, whatever. But Mulan only wants one thing.

a camel that she can ride 10,000 miles back home, which is exactly what she did along with some of her buddies from the army. When she gets back home, her mom, dad, and little sister and little brother are like, "What?" Their heads are exploding. "Holy crap, Mulan is back."

"She did that, good for her." And they knew she would like went off to war, but they were really surprised she actually survived, let alone made it all the way back home. Incredible. Everyone rejoices and they prepare for the feast, celebration feast. But before that, Mulan heads inside, goes up to her bedroom and takes off her quote, "Wartime gown." She then puts on her quote, "Old time clothes."

which sounds just like normal clothes. Mulan then fixes her hair up, throws on a little makeup, and then heads back outside. But when she gets outside, some of her old army pals are still there, and they see her as a woman for the first time. And they're like, "Huh? What?" They had no idea. Their jaw hits the floor. I mean, Mulan just revealed to them that she has been a woman this whole time.

Everyone be shooketh. All 12 years, she was fighting besides these guys. And they were like, we had no idea you were a lady, which was so confusing to me. Because I'm like, you're telling me she was rolling with these guys for 12 years, fighting battles, traveling around China. And not once did anyone notice that

I don't know. Something was a little different. She bled for a week or so. I don't know. Like not to stereotype guys, but they really aren't the most observant, are they? Like I could totally believe this because you could shave your head and your husband would be like, "How was your day today?" Anyways, so I had a lot of questions, but who cares? It's a magical story and I'm not going to take that away from you and me. In the end, Mulan defends herself and stays a hero.

But in another version, the ending takes a seriously dark turn. When Mulan returns home after years of fighting, she finds out that her father is dead. Sad. And not only that, her mom has already moved on and is remarried. Okay, lots of changes happening, right?

And then once her female identity is exposed, the king orders Mulan to become his concubine, aka his sex slave. Mulan decides she'd literally rather die. So she goes to her father's grave, says that the only man she will ever be loyal to is her dad, and then slits her own throat. The end. Like, what? Oh, shit. That's dark. That's a movie I don't want to see. That's...

Ooh, but if you've seen the original 1998 Disney movie, you might be thinking, hey, the original Ballad of Mulan is missing a couple of things. Namely, where the hell is that wisecracking sidekick Mushu? You know, he was a dragon. Where was he? And where the hell is the love story? Well, you know how Disney does it. They got to add some flavor and sparkle and, you know, make it new. And they did just that.

But I hate to break it to you. There isn't actually a small talking dragon or a magical little cricket. I know I'm so sorry about that, but...

They definitely did not exist. I'm so sorry. I know. Spoiler. They weren't even a part of the original story of Mulan. And in fact, the original myth is all about bravery, strength, and transformation. And it's truly a real feminist tale. Now here's the thing about the story of Mulan. Because the main character is a woman taking matters into her own hands, it's always been a bit polarizing for some people. And as we've learned during our journey together throughout Dark History, strong women

not really well liked throughout history, huh? Take for example when the Ming Dynasty rolled around in China. This era took place from about the year 1300 to 1600, and this was a time when the focus was on entertainment. The people just wanted to be entertained. I mean,

All the time. And they were tired of reading words. Now, because of all this, I mean, studying classic literature wasn't as important. To be fair, they were probably making the classic literature at that time. So along comes this playwright who put together his take on the Mulan story. He called it, Female Mulan Joins the Army Taking Her Father's Place. Like, wow.

What a title, huh? Just really getting to the point there. Apparently this whole play was filled with naughty humor and excessive erotica.

Which, nothing wrong with that, but in the play, when Mulan transformed from a girl to a boy, she does this by changing clothes in front of the whole audience. It came off like a striptease or a burlesque Mulan. And leading up to this, Mulan's story was all about elevating women empowerment. Ooh, yeah, baby. But this version started to objectify women. And Mulan seems to be almost obsessed with just looking good for men instead of defending her family's honor. Which is like, okay...

No, I don't know. Now, before this, only a handful of writers and poets even mentioned Mulan, much less told her entire story. But after the steamy play went mainstream, authors and historians became more interested in the tale of Mulan. And here's a little fun fact.

Some researchers believe that Mulan could possibly be based on a true story. They found skeletons of woman warriors in East Asia, and these skeletons appear to show signs that they were once horseback riders. On top of that, a pattern of marks on their shoulder bones indicate they also practiced horseback.

archery is so cool. Oh, oh, so cool. I mean, there's maybe like some truth to this story. I like to think it's real. Mulan is a badass story, whether it's true or not. You know, I think it is.

And you can't take that from me. I mean, not the ending. It's pretty, well, whatever. It's her story, not mine. Now we'll never know for sure if Mulan is based off a true story or not, but this next story we're going to talk about is definitely true and definitely horrible. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. Dot com slash darkhistory. ♪

Now this next movie we're gonna talk about is very emotional for me because it contains a song that just had such an impact on me throughout my childhood and my adulthood. Okay. It's my happy song. I love this song and it makes me cry. I love it. Colors of the Wind. Bitch. Yeah, I'm talking about Pocahontas right now. But have you listened to Colors of the Wind?

episode about why Colors of the Wind is an incredible song. I cried to that song at least once a month, okay? When the movie Pocahontas came out, the animated version from 1995, people were pretty surprised. I mean, it was very ballsy of Disney to do another multicultural movie, especially after all the Aladdin controversy.

But it was actually kind of the perfect moment to take a risk like this, in their eyes. The economy was having a good moment, so people were popping out babies. Boom. Left. Right. Uh. Uh. There was a lot of immigration into the US, and America was continuing to become more and more diverse. Love to see it. Good for her. You know? Now, more than ever, there was a desire for more diverse stories on screen.

Pocahontas was going to be different than all the other animated movies out there. I mean, first of all, Pocahontas was going to be based on a real historical figure who was also a woman of color. Gasp. What? Huh? What? I know. Whoa.

Disney's doing it! And this movie wasn't just going to be another damsel in distress love story. The president of Disney Animation at the time even said the point of Pocahontas was to quote "offer an ennobling and empowering view of Native Americans that hadn't been provided in cinema before."

So the studios got experts to advise them on how to portray Pocahontas the right way, and they really made it seem like they covered all of their bases here. They were trying. The movie ended up being all about a young princess named Pocahontas who becomes the peacemaker between her tribe, the Poetons, and the English settlers who show up to steal her people's land in the early 1600s.

And in true kids movie fashion, one of Pocahontas' parents, her mom, was dead. Of course, always. There's always a dead parent in Disney movies. It's usually the mother. Also in the movie is Pocahontas' father, Chief Poetan, and her sidekick, a raccoon named Miko, and Flit, a sassy little hummingbird.

In the movie "Pocahontas," she has a close connection with her best friend, Nakoma, and Grandmother Willow, who's like this very wise, smart tree. She always had knowledge. Wise grandmother knowledge. Like, "Don't drink that milk!"

It's expired. Very wise tree. The movie also revolves around Pocahontas' relationship with a muscly blonde English settler named John Smith.

and he was a total babe. John and his settlers are led by an evil governor who takes over the land that Pocahontas grew up on and treats the local tribes horribly. Pocahontas and John teach each other about their culture and traditions and languages. And a bunch happens.

But in the end, pretty much Pocahontas saves John from being killed by her tribe. And John is like, "I love you, Pocahontas. Come with me. Come live with me, Pocahontas." And she's like, "I can't. I'm so bummed." So romantic. And they say goodbye. And we end the movie on a really sad note. Spoiler, I know. But it's very touching. Wow, it really is. But also just the sadness of the movie, it's like it doesn't even bother you because the songs are so beautiful.

Now if you're like me, you've probably heard all of your life people say, "You know that Pocahontas is nothing like the movie, right?" And I mean, we all know movies are not 100% true. There definitely was no funny raccoon or hummingbird, I know that.

And if you're a dark history listener and just someone who knows a thing or two about history, you know the relationship between the indigenous tribes and English quote unquote settlers were way worse than what they'd show in the kids movie. But I mean, it's also way darker than that. And when I was looking into this, it was a lot. We really could have just done a whole episode on this. We really could have. I thought about it.

Still could. Like a bonus. I don't know. Just know that there are so many takes on the history and just a lot of different opinions in general about this story. But this is what I found.

First of all, the real Pocahontas, her birth name was Amanute and Pocahontas was just a nickname, which roughly translates as, quote, playful one, something your dad would call you or something. But it was definitely not her real name and not a very respectful thing for anyone else to call you. It's kind of like if they made a movie about me in a couple hundred years and it was called Shithead.

And it was like, oh, but that's just the name we gave her. It's cute. It's cute.

And I'm like, okay, sure, fuck. So the title itself was a lie. It was a name given to her by white people, the real version. So it's not off to a good start. Around the time the movie was set, Amanute was young and not a stacked 25-year-old like she was in the movie. And it seems to be true that her mother died. And also Pocahontas was her father's favorite, also just like in the movie. But the John Smith stuff...

Mostly BS. Camilla Townshend, a Pocahontas scholar and professor, studied documents about John Smith, and she found evidence that John and Amanute did spend time with one another. I mean, there are notes of his from the 1600s that say, quote, End quote. Or, quote,

Pocahontas has many white beads. We don't know exactly how they were able to teach each other words and customs from their cultures, but they did find a way to communicate. And I mean the two of them, they were on a nickname basis if he was calling her Pocahontas.

but they were not romantically involved, and they never were. Camilla points that history shows John Smith made the love story himself. She once said in an interview, quote, that story that Pocahontas was head over heels in love with John Smith has lasted for many generations. He mentioned it himself in the colonial period, end quote. What

What's even more wild is that John first met Amanute in 1607 when she was just a kid. Some sources say she was between the ages of 8 and 10, and John Smith was 27. Mmm, nice. John Smith in the movie is portrayed as this hot, steamy Ken Barbie man, just ready to open his eyes to Pocahontas' culture. In reality, John Smith, surprise, surprise, was a jerk.

He was described as being militant and was feared by many indigenous people because he was known to hold tribe chiefs at gunpoint, demanding food and supplies for his people. And John Smith aside, the storyline that any of these indigenous women in any of the nearby tribes would be loving towards a settler who is literally destroying their homes is also total BS. I don't know why I paused there, but it's BS.

When the English settlers came to town and decided to take over, they pretty much immediately stole from the tribes and even sexually assaulted indigenous women. All this after the settlers took after their home. The real story of Pocahontas starts basically as soon as the first Pocahontas movie ends. Do you remember the movie's love triangle? Should I marry Coco-om-

♪ Steady as the beating drum ♪ Oh, that's such a good song. The soundtrack.

I don't know why it speaks to me so much, but it does. Don't take it from me. Now get this, in real life, Amanute, she ends up marrying Kokoom. Yeah, they got married when she was 14. Good for her. They even have a son together, little Kokoom. Sadly though, they don't get to live happily ever after. When Amanute was a teenager, not long after she had her son, she was kidnapped by English settlers and forced onto a boat

headed for England. Now, there are so many accounts as to why Amanute was on the boat, but one thing is for sure, Amanute did not want to go with them. She was straight up kidnapped.

and she was supposed to be returned to her tribe. But instead, the settlers gave her tribe a copper pot as like a trade-off, kind of. Here's a pot. We'll take her. It's even been said that Amanute wrote the word help on the pot so her tribe would know that she did not go with the people willingly. Now, as soon as she was secured on the boat, her kidnappers went to her tribe and killed her husband, Kokowam.

Yeah. They probably knew he'd be pissed and tried to rescue her. So Amanute and her family were absolutely devastated, especially her father. I mean, she was kidnapped.

And they're being assholes to the whole tribe. There was nothing they could do to get her back without violence, which was against their people's beliefs. And Chief Poatan knew if they tried to rescue Amanute, the English settlers would get their revenge and there would be bloodshed. Like, that was a promise. So because of all this, Pocahontas would never get to go back home again. It kind of reminds you of something called human trafficking, right?

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Zip Recruiter, the smartest way to hire. So Amanute lived most of her life as a prisoner with the English. And the whole time, she was just like in a really bad place. She silently submitted for the sake of the safety of her tribe and her own survival. And sadly, the settlers took advantage of Amanute being submissive.

Her captors had no plans of sending her back to her home. They made it their mission to brainwash her into thinking everything she knew about home was a lie. For example, they told her that her father never loved her and had many opportunities to rescue her, but he chose not to. Doesn't this sound like a murder mystery story? Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It does. Like a lot of the people who kidnap people, they play these sick games. It's so gross. They're telling her like, no one's looking for you. Sorry, no one likes you. And she eventually believes it and just stays put. According to indigenousfoundation.org, Amanute was being dragged from town to town as a prop.

and that, quote, there were many English individuals who disapproved and were against the injustice that Indigenous groups endured at the hands of colonization. As a result, Amanute was brought to England as a political symbol, a show of peace between English settlers and Indigenous groups. Essentially, her English captors needed to make sure the money would keep flowing so they could build their settlements.

So they dragged Amanute along and made it seem like she wanted to be there. At some point, Amanute did come across John Smith again.

And even though we don't exactly know what their reunion was like, Amanute was angry at the way John Smith had treated her people and how he had betrayed the tribes. And what's worse, Amanute was even allegedly raped by her captors. It was during this time that she started to have a mental breakdown and was becoming more and more withdrawn. The settlers were probably panicking on what to do, so they actually brought Amanute's sister to her to help keep her from losing her mind.

I don't know, just a thought they could have sent her home, but when her sister came to visit, Amanute revealed that she was pregnant after being raped. She had to hide her pregnancy, move to another town, and give birth to her son. While she was there, she married another man named John, John Rolfe, and converted to Christianity. She was even given a Christian name. Yes, her Christian name, Rebecca. Yeah.

It's like the whitest name ever, Rebecca. I'm sorry if your name's Rebecca. It's nothing against you. It's just funny that it's not funny, but like, and that's it. This story that's been told for decades, apparently, Amanute was supposed to sail home and be reunited with her family, but she died under mysterious circumstances on the ship before she got there. Sadly, she was only 20 years old. Now, there are so many expert theories out there about why people have a

Such a romantic view of Amanute's story. It's been said the story endured all these years because in the 1800s, the country really needed some good old fashioned pro-America stories. So people did what they do best and they blended stories from other imaginary tales and took only the most romantic, least rapey, and least racist parts of Amanute's story to create a family friendly tale you can show little Jenny before bed.

Others say it's because of Jesus. Yes, Jesus. We are bringing Jesus into this. When you hear the happy version of Amanute's story, you can still walk away feeling pretty good. According to that scholar, Camilla, the idea behind it is that, quote, she admires the white man, admires Christianity, admires the culture, wants to have peace with these people, is willing to live with these people rather than her own people, marry him rather than one of her own.

Amenute, she found Jesus, got baptized and was renamed Rebecca and had a baby. It really just completely skipped over major truths in her story and doesn't make people feel bad about how horribly indigenous people were treated. And when the Disney movie came out, many people, especially Native American and indigenous communities, were very upset.

I mean, we just learned that pretty much everything about the movie was BS. I mean, if we're comparing it to the real story. But here's the thing, Disney can't make a PG movie that has rape, murder, and the truth. So I think along the way, there must have been pure intentions that went into it. I don't know. I can't, I'm not making excuses for Disney. I'm not trying, don't come for me.

And in a way, as bad as this may sound, it has kept Amanute's story alive. I mean, would we know about her story if Disney didn't make this movie? I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm not trying to say, you know, I'm just bringing up the question. But I know for me growing up, Pocahontas taught me to respect the earth and love animals and respect one another. I hate me with this damn soundtrack that I have a very personal, emotional attachment to. It raised me.

I'm sorry. So it's not all bad, but it's like, you know, it is bad. It is bad. Let's be honest. It is bad. I guess what I'm wondering and what I'm always wondering is like, why did we change these stories so much? Here's something interesting. Freud, a psychologist who you might have heard of, as well as a bunch of other famous psychologists, have said that fairy tales, despite being outrageous, cruel, and sadistic, when taken at face value, are actually crucial for helping kids develop a sense of wrong and imperfection.

And right. I mean, do you remember being a kid? No, me neither. Everything is really intense. Like if your mom didn't let you have that toy or that piece of candy, it was the end of the freaking world. It's so extreme. Your world view was so small. Well, according to the psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, the child often feels unjustly treated by adults and the world in general. And it seems that nothing is being done about it.

That was his quote. This is why in fairy tales, especially some of the old ones, the villains are always punished in really extreme ways. Like Hansel and Gretel.

The witch is baked in her own oven. Bettelheim says, quote, the more severely those bad ones are dealt with, the more secure the child feels, end quote. Essentially, even the dark sides to these stories are ultimately good because they reassure kids that the bad guys will get what's coming to them in the end. Not in Pocahontas, though.

Ah, whatever. So even though getting cooked to death doesn't sound very PG, Vottleheim says that this violence already exists within the child and must be spoken to. I mean, it makes sense. Kids do some wild stuff. I mean, when I was a kid, I would throw my Barbies into the ceiling fan just for fun and like watch them just ricochet off the walls or hit my other sisters.

It's a good time. And I didn't learn that from any fairy tales. So using Bettelheim's logic, maybe we should be telling the dark versions of these stories, the real versions, instead of the sugar-coated stories we have today. I mean, maybe we're wrong to assume kids can't handle the truth. They actually might need it to develop a sense of justice.

And look, these stories were told for a reason originally, I think. I didn't do this episode because I wanted to say your whole childhood is a lie. Because look, you can still love these movies at the end of the day and we can still learn valuable life lessons from them. I mean, go watch the cartoon Mulan and try not to be inspired as hell and think that other guy is...

So I don't know. I think we can just learn stuff. Also, I think we can learn just as much from the dark ending as we can from a happy one. So yeah, put on your old time clothes, pop some popcorn, blow off the dust of those VHSs, and still enjoy the hell out of them if you want. Just remember, there's always a story to the story. Well, everyone, thank you for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because...

Why not? Life is short. Now, I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along. Don't forget to join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, also catch my murder mystery and makeup. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices. And I'll talk to you guys next week.

Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network. Writers, Katie Burrs, Alison Filobos, Joey Scaluzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot and edited by Tafadzwa Namarundwe and Hannah Bakker. Research provided by Xander Elmore and the Dark History Researcher team. Special thank you to our expert, Jack Fowler.

Zipes and Susan E. Honeyman. And I'm your host, Bailey freaking Sarian. Okay, bye. Why are you still here? Oh my God, you're so weird.