Hi! I've seen you comment a bit here and there about Pocahontas. This movie has had this quite messy reputation attached to it since it came out and hasn't been able to escape from it since then. Personally, I've always liked Pocahontas, but I do acknowledge that it has its glaring issues, especially when it comes to the context of what actually went down and Pocahontas's true story. I'm interested in reading your thoughts on the movie and what Disney could have done better regarding the whole "diversity" and historical accuracy thing. I genuinely believe Disney had the best of intentions when it came to the themes, message and depiction of Native American culture, but the execution unfortunately did not seem the most appropriate at times. What do you think?
I donât know. I donât have a settled opinion on Pocahontas. I will say I really enjoy it, and I think maybe the aesthetics of the movie are what appeal to me the most because itâs the one I want to have on in the background most often.
When you say âwhat Disney couldâve done better regarding the whole âdiversityâ and historical accuracy thingâ and âdid not seem the most appropriate at times,â I donât know if I understand what you mean. I donât know if I understand what anyone means when they say that.
There are almost zero cold hard facts about the historical Pocahontas that EXPERTS agree on. Almost zero. So when people say âoh no, it wasnât historically accurate,â itâs like, âno, of course itâs not. Itâs a fairy tale based on a historical person that we know very little about to begin with.â Seems like what theyâre mainly mad about is that Historical John Smithâs version of Historical Pocahontas saving him is the framework for the animated film, and we all generally agree that his version was fake. And people are mad about that?
ButâŠwhy? If itâs already supposed to be a fairy tale loosely inspired by a historical person we know very little aboutâŠI mean, nobody is furious with the Robin Hood stories and going âhow dare you misrepresent Robin of Lockersley, 1160, and King Richard I!!â Because we all know that theyâre stories loosely based onâanyway. You get my point. Why would you have beef about a fairy tale being based loosely? Moving on.
You can say âbecause now generations of kids are growing up thinking thatâs the real story of Pocahontas!! What an outrage!â
âŠAll right, well, then youâre doing a terrible job teaching your kids discernment as a parent. When kids Iâm responsible for watch a movie, I tell them âitâs a movie. Itâs not real.â If itâs a movie about historical events, I tell them, âIf you want to know more about the real story, letâs learn about the real story.â Itâs not on Disney to teach your kids that a fairy tale is a fairy tale, itâs on you.
Anyway, you get it. Moving on.
Thing is, the Pocahontas movieâs message is âLove tries to understand, not to possess.â Great message. Especially good when applied to the problem of prejudice.
So then, they just shift the events, the character motivations, and the depictions around as needed, like they would any fairy tale in order to send that message in the best way. And because it is a fairy tale, not a documentary, great. Do it.
If Historical John Smithâs fake story makes that message more compelling, great. Use pieces of it. Why not? After all, they never claimed that this was the true, accurate history of colonization, the Anglo-Powhatan war, or John Smithâs interactions with Pocahontas. If they had made that claim, sure, letâs talk about historical accuracy. But they didnât, so letâs not.
Thatâs all I had to say about the âhistorical inaccuraciesâ thing.
Now letâs talk about ârepresentation.â
What is it that people have an issue with here? Did they really want Disney to animate hundreds of Powhatanâs people dying of disease? Did they want Disney to animate heads getting chopped off and women getting raped? Whatâs the argument? That Disney shouldâve made the colonists the clear and undeniable villains, the monsters of history, and the Native Americans 100% pure and innocent, wronged victims?
Theyâre not mad that Disney did a bad job representing Native Americans in a movie that was supposed to be a fairy tale. Theyâre mad that Disney didnât represent Native Americans the way they wouldâve.
Far as my eyes can see, people who call Pocahontas racist or misrepresentative just donât want the story to be âLove tries to understand, not to possess.â They want the story to be âWhite colonists were unredeemable racist monsters and sub-human tyrants who deserved to rot in hell, while the Native American people were entirely innocent victims who did nothing wrong.â
The problem is thatâs just not a true, or even helpful message for any movie to have. Sorry. The statement I just typed out up there in bold is not a true or helpful statement. And thank God the Pocahontas movie didnât make it.
Thereâs nothing racist being said in the Pocahontas movie. There are depictions of the sin of racism in the Pocahontas movie. There is a difference. Characters in the Pocahontas movie talk and sing about each other as if the other people group is sub-human. That is a depiction of racism. But the message of the movie, and the way it treats Native Americans, is to treat them like human beings. Therefore, the message is not racist.
In terms of who is good and who is bad, who is right and who is wrong, the movie very clearly shows that the Native American characters did not start the violence. The Native American characters did not want war. The Native American characters were willing to be friendly and willing to defend their land and each other. The Native American characters were the first to try and make peace with the colonist characters. And they were all (Kocoum included) entirely human characters. They were even the good-guy-coded characters, in the movieâs conflict. All of the Native American side characters are noticeably smarter, kinder, drawn more carefully, and are more heroic than the white characters. (When Thomas is thrown overboard the other white side characters leave him behind. In contrast, when Namonteck is shot the other Native American side characters rescue him immediately and fall back.) And, not a caricature among them. Meanwhile, Wiggins, Ben, and Lion are all drawn with exaggerated characteristics. The heroine is Pocahontas the Character, not John Smith the Character. So what is the issue you have?
What people think is racist is the âidealizationâ of a Native American woman falling in loveâor, as they like to say nowââcommitting herself to a white colonist.â But thatâs likeâŠa gross oversimplification of the movie. John Smith (the character) committed himself right back to her, nobody wants to talk about that? Also, they low key didnât commit themselves to each other at all costsâhe tries to, at the end of the movie, stay with her or have her come with him, and she wonât leave her home and her people?? So whatâs the argument?
Not to mention, why is anyone even upset that the character Pocahontas falls in love with a white colonist character? Are you saying that this sort of thing would never happen? That a young woman whoâs people are embattled with and mistreated by invaders would never find one invader who comes to an understanding with her, and then they fall in love? Youâre mad because that would never happen? Incorrect. It happened all the time in history. It happens all the time in other stories you love, like West Side Story.
Who the heck cares if it didnât happen exactly that way (even though maybe it did) with the historical Pocahontas? We already established that this wasnât supposed to be a historically accurate retelling, it was supposed to be a loosely-based fairy tale. And the message âLove tries to understand, not to possess,â works perfectly with a fairy tale where the girl from one side of a racially-charged hate war understands and falls in love with a guy from the other side.
I mean people who talk about Pocahontas, the historical figure, with reverence and respect, all usually agree on one thing: she did help maintain some kind of peace between colonists and Native Americans. Whether or not you think the colonists shouldâve even been there in the first place is beside the pointâsorry, but it is; they were there, now letâs deal with the reality.
So when Disney makes a movie where the goal is to tell the message âLove tries to understand, not to possess,â and they have to be true to the universally-agreed-upon âPocahontas probably helped bring some peaceâŠâ in their fairy taleâŠwhy on earth do you have a problem with Pocahontas the Character falling in love as a reason for bringing about that peace?
Itâs because you donât find âfalling in loveâ to be anything other than demeaning for a woman. And itâs because you donât want John Smith, or any white colonist character, to be depicted as human. You want them all to be unredeemable racist monsters.
The goal is no longer to have movies that say what Pocahontas said. We donât want movies where thereâs messy racism, but then it ends with attempts at peace and understanding. We want movies where thereâs entirely one-sided racism, and then revenge for that racism. Thatâs what we want. We want endless apologies and zero forgiveness.
And for better or worse, Pocahontas is not a movie about endless apologies and zero forgiveness.
IN CONCLUSION:
1. None of the âyouâ statements were directed at you, idiosyncraticrednebula. đ«Ą
2. Anyone who wants to teach me where Iâm wrong is welcome to, but you have to show your work, and you have to be consistent, you canât just say âlol imagine thinking Pocahontas isnât racist. You are the problem.â and then block me. đ all right, well, you can, but all youâll get out of it is an echo chamber.
3. If you want me to talk about the art, the storytelling, the quality of the movie outside of all this (and it should be outside of all this, because this was a fairy tale, not a historically accurate documentary) itâll have to be in a different ask, and Iâm happy to.
4. Should Disney have made it more clear that this was a fairy tale, a stylized story based only loosely on historical events? âŠYeah. Definitely shouldâve done a Prince of Egypt-style title card or something. But they didnâtâso now show me why itâs racist or misrepresentative.