Pocahontas Reflection

I had never even seen Pocahontas before I watched it for this class and I do not think I was really missing out. This movie almost felt like watching a documentary and seems like one of those obligatory movies Disney had to make to show its respect for Native Americans. However, something I did enjoy in this movie is that Pocahontas chooses her family instead of love. When John Smith is shot and has to go back to England to get treated, he foolishly asks her to go with him. John Smith probably would have died on the boat back and Pocahontas would be stuck in England without knowing the culture, or anyone there. She would have abandoned her family for nothing, so I am very proud of her for choosing the realistic prospect and not letting herself be influenced by love, as John clearly was. 

I was surprised at the violence in this movie. I could not believe that there was a real death of a non-villainous character in the movie: Kocoum. It was shocking that Disney would include a real murder with a gun in a Disney movie. If there is death in Disney movies, usually it's the villain that dies and usually in a magical or non violent way, like by falling off a cliff or being poisoned. 

I also found the skin color of the white people interesting in this movie. The villain, Governor Ratcliffe, had reddish skin, while a good character, John Smith, had normal colored skin for a white person. Even though the movie villainizes the white people for once in a Disney movie, they did not even make the villain truly white. Also there were some things in the movie I could see Native Americans taking offense to, such as, the talking tree. While Native Americans are very connected to nature and believe all living things have a spirit, they might find it a bit offensive to take it to the extreme and accuse them of believing a tree can actually talk to them. I could see that being interpreted the wrong way; however, it is a children's movie after all. Also, I noticed in one of the first few scenes that all of the Native American women looked the same- the only differentiators being weight and hairstyles. I think the animators could have put a little more time into that scene. 

Russell Means, an Ogala/Lakota Sioux Indian and the first national director of the American Indian Movement, plays the part of Powhatan, Pocahontas's father in the movie. I find this very surprising because I did not look this up until after the movie because when I was watching I kept thinking about how Powhatan did not sound Native American at all. I guess this shows what I know about Native American culture and their accents. 

I found the revolt against Governor Ratcliffe at the end of the movie very unrealistic. In real life, the movie would have ended with the British army slaughtering the Native Americans leaving no survivors. But this is Disney so that is not what happens in the movie.