Disney Pocahontas Myths

The Disney film Pocahontas can be viewed as a false portrayal of American history. Although it may have been made for entertainment purposes, Pocahontas is regarded to be a coming of age film for children due to its didacticism. The life lessons that one could possibly take away from the film are considerably positive, but the depiction of Native American and European cultures is deceitful. Most Disney films involve “epic romances,” in the case of Pocahontas one is not necessarily needed to convey the message of the film. Even though historical films cannot always be accurate to actual events, this film manages to stray away from the actual historical story of Pocahontas entirely. Due to this, children are presented with false information

Walt Disney’s film Pocahontas is not historically accurate, but there is value in creating cartoon interpretations of American history. As a child, cartoons are mostly important for your development, both physically and mentally. Fairy tales help children understand the complexity of life. These visions use various symbols to teach morals and cognitive skills. Walt’s film was based off the legends and folktales surrounding Pocahontas, it was not meant to be historical but to promote racial tolerance.

When the colonists came to America, they classified the Native Americans as complete brutal savages. But was that a correct assumption? The Native Americans lived a life that was a complete opposite from the way that the Europeans were accustomed to. The Native Americans believed that the land was shared by everyone and not one person could own it. The Native Americans also had a polytheistic religion which completely went against the beliefs of the colonists. The colonists viewed the Native Americans as savages and barbarians because their ways of living were different.

A major contrast between the Disney Stories and movie of Pocahontus, was that they had failed to mention her kidnapping. Pocahontas’ kidnapping was unjust and surprising as it was by the community of the man who would be her husband and later the father to her child, although Pocahontas had already been married since the age of twelve or thirteen to a man named Kocoom. Pocahontas’ early marriage was then ended when her warrior Kocoom had then disappeared, for reasons unknown. After this disappearance, Pocahontas later then married to John Rolfe as she had the choice to choose any man she wanted without the fear of being judged and called cold for her remarriage.

Many people believe the 1995 film, Pocahontas, to be the true story of a young Powhatan woman. However, the story lacks facts. Pocahontas isn’t even her real name. Matoaka, the real Pocahontas, faced mush more misery than the movie showed. Mataoka’s life in America, life in England, a comparison between the movie and real life, and how fictional portrayals of real people effect society today will show you that Disney’s inaccuracies could change history.

Pocahontas is a Walt Disney Pictures animation released in 1995 following the Disney Princess franchise. The movie is about Pocahontas, a native American lady whose home is invaded by Englishmen who wishes to exploit the land’s resources and to “civilize” the people living there. However, one of the Englishmen, John Smith, fell in love with Pocahontas. This essay studies the stereotypes of native American and them being essentialized in the media as being savages, sexism and also over romanticization, as represented in the movie.

Racism towards Native American tribes and individuals have been found throughout mainstream media. From nationally broadcasted sports games to popular Hollywood movies, Native Americans people have been stereotyped and/or culturally appropriated. Many examples of these stereotypes are blatant and have been portrayed for in the media for decades.

To begin, unlike Disney’s portrayal of what most people thought of as an epic romance of the ages, Pocahontas and John Smith were never intimate with each other. In addition, while being the

[4] Disney even goes on further to suggest that their intentions have a modern relevance when they say that “It is an important message to a generation to stop fighting, stop killing each other because of the color of your skin” (Pocahontas 37). It is quite clear that Disney never intended to write or rewrite history, as they have been so viciously attacked for doing. They are writing about tolerance and understanding, while at the same time they are giving back some respect to the indigenous people of America. James Pentecost, the producer of the film, feels that “moviemakers shouldn’t be handcuffed when using real stories as jumping-off places for works of entertainment” (Kim 24). Disney simply liked the idea of Pocahontas; they liked the message that it conveyed, and they made it applicable to Hollywood.

Pocahontas was born in 1596, in Virginia, and her name was Amonute, but she is called by her nickname, Pocahontas. She was a Powhatan Native American woman. The name Pocahontas meant “playful one” because of the environment that she lives in. She is the daughter of Chief Powhatan, Wahunsenaca. She was her father’s favorite daughter. Like any other females, she have learned how to find food and firewood. She also need to prepare feasts for any celebrations and build houses. She needs to learn all of these jobs by when she becomes an adult woman.

According to Chief Crazy Horse, Egloff, and most modern historians, following the alleged attempt on his life, Pocahontas did not fall in love with John Smith. Contrary to common belief, Pocahontas married the Indian Kocoum in 1610.

Another example is to why Disney changed the facts about Pocahontas is because Disney shouldn't have naked people in a P.G. movie. Pocahontas was a naked child when she visited John Smith in Jamestown. What would be wrong with this picture. There is no P.G. movie that has naked kids in it, this would also be inappropriate for the viewers.

The Europeans quickly agreed on a very simple (and self serving) set of assumptions about the native peoples they encountered in the New World: there were "good Indians" and "bad Indians." The good were simple, free, and innocent; the bad were degraded, brutal, and untrustworthy. All individuals, all tribes, at all times could be understoodand all were inferior in the light of Western, Christian civilization. Children are harmed when they are bombarded with stereotypical images because they internatlize these negative perceptions and will hold the images throughout their lives. When a child sees or meets a Native American, their first impressions are the ones they were shown from the books and pictures they saw.

Back in 1995, as a 20 year old woman, I was, absolutely, still in love with everything Disney. I was still very much enamored with the romance and fairy tale aspects of all their stories and movies. So when the Walt Disney Company released the animated feature “Pocahontas” in the summer of my 20th year, I had to see it. At the time, I thought I had hit the jackpot with this movie. “An American legend comes to life” is the tagline to get viewers interested in this movie. [1] A heroin, whom was a beautiful Indian and a love story, who could ask for more from a Disney movie, I thought to myself. Now, being ignorant of the true facts about the Indian woman Pocahontas and even about Indian culture and history itself, I took this story more

He was the first person to recognize and exploit the romantic potential of Pocahontas's story, and writers of both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries followed in his footsteps when they sought to retell their versions of the tale. Young confirms that, in the 1830s and 1840s, a number of playwrights wrote about Pocahontas, and virtually all of them were directly or indirectly influenced by the Pocahontas that appeared on the pages of Davis's Travels and Captain Smith (Par.25). Even Barker's three- act play, The Indian Princess, or La Belle Sauvage (1808), which is explored in this chapter, is one of the early historical plays that helped to construct the Indian Princess stereotype. Edward Buscombe, in InjunsꞋ: Native American in the Movies (2006), suggests that the play is "one of the earliest plays depicting the story of Captain Smith and Pocahontas. It is a musical play with a llibretto3.