"These white men are dangerous! No one is to go near them." — Chief Powhatan declaring the understatement of the millennium
Initial thoughts before viewing: I'm not going to beat around the bush: I love Pocahontas. She's my favorite Disney princess, and I think this movie as a whole is criminally underrated and overcriticized.
If you have never seen Pocahontas or need a refresher, here is a link to the movie's Disney Wiki page where you can read the plot summary.
Highlights:
-"Colors of the Wind" is the best song Disney has ever ever made. 🍂 “Colors of the Wind” isn’t your typical Disney fare. It’s complex in its cadence, shifting melodies, and ebb and flow of dynamics. Its lyrics often derive from Native American poetry, pushing intricate phrases like “you’ll learn things you never knew, you never knew,” while tackling topics like animism, race relations, and colonialism. It's song with a beautiful message about environmentalism and understanding one another. And yes, it did win the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1995. It is my favorite Disney song ever, and I cry every time I hear it.
-Pocahontas has the greatest Disney animated soundtrack of all time. 🥁 This soundtrack moves me deeply. With music by longtime Disney collaborator Alan Menken and Broadway powerhouse Stephen Schwartz, Pocahontas' soundtrack is filled with emotionally rich, complex, and thoughtful songs. When I watch this movie, I'm guaranteed to be a weepy mess -- the songs hit me in a way that I can't describe other than hitting me in my core. The film's finale songs in particular including "Savages Part 2" and "Farewell" (score) are riveting emotional highlights that wow.
-The best Pocahontas song you've never heard. 💕A tender love song between John Smith and Pocahontas called "If I Never Knew You" was actually left on the cutting room floor after audiences felt it slowed the story down. It was re-added to the film for the 2005 10th anniversary edition, which is the first time I became aware of this beautiful song. I kind of wish they had left the song in the original movie as it really helps round out the love story. Either way, this song is another gorgeous addition to this already winning soundtrack. I highly recommend you take a listen below!
-The visual style of Pocahontas is drop dead gorgeous. 🎨 The film's Art Director Michael Giamio drew the visual look and style of the film from the filmmaker's numerous visits to Jamestown, Virginia as well as by extensive research into the colonial period such as the tall, vertical shapes of the Virginian pine forests set against the vast horizontal landscapes. The result is a film filled to the brim with bright, pastel colors and sharp vertical styles. Talk about awe-inspiring! I LOVE THE LOOK OF THIS FILM.
-Pocahontas is an underrated Disney heroine. 💘 When I was at Disneyland once a few years ago, a friendly Cast Member asked me who my favorite Disney princess was. When I told him Pocahontas, he took a beat and said "In all my years at Disney, no one has ever said Pocahontas was their favorite." And thus we arrive at the Pocahontas problem: why is there no love for Disney's first American heroine? Do people avoid Pocahontas because they think the movie is problematic? Is she less marketable because she doesn't have a ballgown or traditional happy ending? As a character, Pocahontas kicks ass: she's open-minded, courageous, insightful, independent, and mature. In a break from the traditional princess tropes, her "I Want" song "Just Around the Riverbend" talks about how she's yearning for the freedom to keep dreaming (and rejects the notion of marriage to Kocoum). In another twist on fairytale tradition, it is actually Pocahontas who famously saves John Smith's life. She's a strong, intuitive woman who plays a crucial role in forging peace for her people. Pocahontas is also voiced by Irene Bedard, a Native American woman, and the first non-white actress to be the speaking voice of a Disney princess. Pocahontas certainly deserves more credit than she gets. And she's still my favorite Disney princess.
-Pocahontas doesn't have a happily ever after ending. And that's freaking fantastic. 💔 I used to watch Pocahontas a lot in high school because, well, I was a emo teenager and loved wallowing in Pocahontas' painful goodbye with John Smith. From a feminist POV, it's flipping fabulous to see a heroine choose anything over her prince. For the leading female protagonist to have the power of choice is incredibly compelling. The ending of the movie is all the more powerful and moving because Pocahontas says goodbye to her first love with the prospect of her entire future on the horizon.
-That damn waterfall scene. 🌊 When John Smith and Pocahontas first meet, they are surrounded by this epic waterfall which makes for a gorgeous, GORGEOUS visual backdrop. Everything about this scene, from the pacing to the the soundtrack (you can hear notes of the deleted love song "If I Never Knew You" here) is perfection. I particularly love the close ups of Pocahontas here - she's absolutely stunning. This is my favorite scene in the movie.
-Shout out to Meeko, my favorite raccoon pal. 🦝 Meeko is one of my all-time favorite Disney sidekicks. He's clever, funny, and incredibly loyal to both Pocahontas and John Smith. I've always dreamed of having a friendly raccoon braid my hair. Fun fact: If you ever encounter Meeko at the Disney parks, shout out "Biscuits!" He'll got nuts.
Disliked:
-Pocahontas should never have been made. ❌ The bloodstained history of European conquest over the Americas is not fodder for family entertainment. The fact that someone, anyone, at Disney thought that the tragic story of Pocahontas could be turned into a Romeo and Juliet style love story for feature animation is absurd.
-I wished they would have leaned away from the romance. 💔 Pocahontas' romantic relationship w/ John Smith is fine, but "Colors of the Wind" isn't a great song because it's a love ballad: it's because Pocahontas uses the song to teach John Smith about how to see the world differently. Couldn't Disney have broken barriers with a platonic love story? Pocahontas and John Smith valued one another for their respective differences - bringing romantic love into that relationship makes the movie more formulaic and frankly, problematic when you consider the historical implications of what really happened here. I would have rather they leaned into the fact that this is a story about female agency and empathy vs playing up the romance angle.
-Disney's frustrating efforts to capitalize on the real-life Pocahontas. 🤐 Disney itself attempted to play up the fact that Pocahontas was their first feature based on a real person by using the tagline "An American Legend Comes to Life" in their marketing efforts. They also purposely did a limited release of the film to coincide with the real-life Pocahontas' 400th birthday. If Disney would have embraced the fact that this movie was loosely inspired by the Pocahontas legend instead of promoting the movie as a a faithful representation of a historical figure, the critique and backlash against this movie would have been way less.
Closing Thoughts:
-How Pocahontas is thoughtless. It's fair to say that Disney's interpretation of Pocahontas is socially irresponsible to indigenous people. Despite all the good intentions in the world, taking the actual story of Pocahontas and turning it into something romanticized and well, Disney-fied, is uncomfortable to say the least.
-How Pocahontas is thoughtful. The movie has an impressive environmentalist message and focuses on a strong female character considering her independence and what it means to be a leader. As a child, I identified majorly with Pocahontas. I looked up to her. Heck, I wanted to be her. She was a bad-ass independent woman, a fierce defender of nature, and a changemaker that led with kindness and understanding. She didn't look or act like the other Disney princesses, and for the first time I really felt like I had a female heroine who represented what I cared about and was frankly what I aspired to be.
As far as representation, it's important to note that all Native Americans characters in the film are voiced by actual actors of Native American descent. Native American activist Russell Means, who voiced Chief Powhatan in the film, praised the film's racial overtones, stating that "Pocahontas is the first time Eurocentric male society has admitted its historical deceit." Means also said that the film marked "the first time, other than on Northern Exposure, that a human face has been put on an Indian female." Sophie Gilbert of The Atlantic concurred, stating that the film's narrative "had a progressive attitude when it came to interpreting history", portraying the settlers as "plunderers searching for non-existent gold who were intent upon murdering the 'savages' they encountered in the process."
-In defense of Pocahontas as a fantasy movie. If you go in to Pocahontas thinking that you're going to get even the semblance of a sort of accurate history lesson, you are 100% wrong. Despite what Disney may have ever said, the truth is that the movie Pocahontas is only very loosely inspired by an American legend. It is in no way historically accurate, and should be clearly communicated to children as such. Disney's Pocahontas is its own fantasy story, and the movie should be judged as such. I love and appreciate Pocahontas for the magic of what the movie is. And I can't hate on Pocahontas simply for the audacity of its existence.
The bottom line: Pocahontas is a feast for the eyes and ears. It's a gorgeous movie with important progressive and feminist messages. It holds significant personal meaning for me, and I will forever love this film.
My Rating: 8.5/10
Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go watch Pocahontas and cry again.
