Disney has been well known to re-create stories based on famous legends from around the world both fictional and real. What particularly interested me about Pocahontas was that it is just one of two Disney films based on real events with the other being Mulan in 1998. I want to explore Disney's approach to accurately re telling her story and how much of there Disney magic they added to the tale, also in terms of historical accuracy, representation on gender and race.
Historical Accuracy
So let us first consider the story of Pocahontas. In the early seventeenth century, the Powhatan princess was taken as a political prisoner from her tribe in Jamestown, Virginia. She was used as a display of a civilised savage in hopes to gain a sponsorship for the colonisation of The New World (Edmunds and Woodward, 1980). During her time in England she married John Rolfe and had converted to Christianity as well as changing her name to Rebecca.
Disney had picked up on the well known anecdote that Pocahontas was said to have saved John Smith's life by preventing his execution set by her own father and chief. While these historical figures did definitely exist, Disney centres on developing a relationship between them which greatly elaborates only a minor addition to her great legend (Whitley, 2013). It would be worth noting that Pocahontas was in fact only 12/13 years old at the time of rescuing John (Lackner, 1995).
Peter Schneider, president of Disney feature animation comments 'The challenge was how to do a movie with such themes and make it interesting, romantic film' (Edgerton and Jackson, 1996) which then begs the question, what was Disney's real intention here? Some feel that Pocahontas had been moulded and manipulated to fit there winning formula of a Western coming of age story which is strikingly similar to that of Simba (Strong, 1995).
It also seems that Pocahontas had been made to look like she had nothing better to do then to leisure around with John and play with nature (Schult, 2006) the sequel released in 1998 gave Disney another opportunity to explore her story and focus on other important aspects.
It is a shame to say that both films avoided her kidnapping by the English, her conversion, and her untimely death (Aleiss, 2005).
Disney had picked up on the well known anecdote that Pocahontas was said to have saved John Smith's life by preventing his execution set by her own father and chief. While these historical figures did definitely exist, Disney centres on developing a relationship between them which greatly elaborates only a minor addition to her great legend (Whitley, 2013). It would be worth noting that Pocahontas was in fact only 12/13 years old at the time of rescuing John (Lackner, 1995).
Peter Schneider, president of Disney feature animation comments 'The challenge was how to do a movie with such themes and make it interesting, romantic film' (Edgerton and Jackson, 1996) which then begs the question, what was Disney's real intention here? Some feel that Pocahontas had been moulded and manipulated to fit there winning formula of a Western coming of age story which is strikingly similar to that of Simba (Strong, 1995).
It also seems that Pocahontas had been made to look like she had nothing better to do then to leisure around with John and play with nature (Schult, 2006) the sequel released in 1998 gave Disney another opportunity to explore her story and focus on other important aspects.
It is a shame to say that both films avoided her kidnapping by the English, her conversion, and her untimely death (Aleiss, 2005).
![Picture](/uploads/2/9/2/0/29208623/8299392.jpg)
Even the sequel was criticised for the relationship shown between Pocahontas and her new husband John Rolfe claiming that it was depicted to be another love affair where she yields to his advances (Wilmer, 2011) as opposed to the practical reasons of their marriage.
Despite the bombardment of criticism and protests from fans, James Pentecost the producer feels that 'movie makers should not be handcuffed when using real stories as jumping-off places for worbs of entertainment'. (Lackner, 1999) In short, they simply liked the idea of Pocahontas, the message that it conveyed and made it applicable to Hollywood.
Chief Native American consultant Shirley Custalow McGowan quotes 'I was honoured by them...they had said that the film would be historically accurate... I soon found out that it wasn't to be... I wish my name wasn't on it. I wish Pocahontas' name wasn't on it' (Edgerton and Schultz, 2006). It is clear that Disney had only been interested in providing a predictable product.
Despite the bombardment of criticism and protests from fans, James Pentecost the producer feels that 'movie makers should not be handcuffed when using real stories as jumping-off places for worbs of entertainment'. (Lackner, 1999) In short, they simply liked the idea of Pocahontas, the message that it conveyed and made it applicable to Hollywood.
Chief Native American consultant Shirley Custalow McGowan quotes 'I was honoured by them...they had said that the film would be historically accurate... I soon found out that it wasn't to be... I wish my name wasn't on it. I wish Pocahontas' name wasn't on it' (Edgerton and Schultz, 2006). It is clear that Disney had only been interested in providing a predictable product.
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