Pocahontas

Race and Gender Perspectives

The film was initially applauded from a gender perspective because it emphasized a strong female character. Pocahontas's role is that of an adventurous young woman who respects the earth and communicates with trees and animals. Racially, although it depicts the Powhatan people as “generalized” Indians, the film offers a mostly positive portrayal. Disney claimed its intentions were honorable and that the production utilized Native American consultants and voice-over actors.

Several consultants, however, including Shirley “Little Dove” Custalow McGowan, had strong objections after it was evident that Disney's story was inaccurate fiction. She criticized animators for designing the lead character as a shapely woman instead of an 11-year-old Pocahontas. Physically, Disney's Pocahontas is a multicultural pastiche of four women, according to the supervising animator, having Asian eyes, flowing hair, and white supermodel Christy Turlington's face and body. The phrases “Indian Barbie” and “Poca-Barbie” were the predominant descriptors in film reviews and widely used product endorsements.

Film Plot Versus History

In the Disney version, in 1607, a ship of British settlers, including John Smith and Governor John Ratcliffe, set sail for the New World seeking gold. The Englishmen build a fortress, James Town, while Smith encounters Pocahontas, who earlier argued with her father because she did not wish to marry Kocoum, a warrior. Pocahontas teaches Smith about life; they fall in love; Kocoum and other warriors engage in a fight with the English; and Chief Powhatan declares war, captures Smith, and plans to execute him. Pocahontas successfully stops Smith's execution, and when Ratcliffe attempts to shoot Powhatan, Smith saves his life by taking the bullet instead. The final scene shows Smith sailing back to England to heal while a lovelorn Pocahontas remains to help her people.

Historians concede that a mythology of Pocahontas serving political purposes has existed. However, the verified account of Pocahontas includes her being approximately 11 years old in 1607, when John Smith arrived and never saving him from execution but instead being kidnapped by the British in exchange for prisoners held by Chief Powhatan. She subsequently was required to convert to Christianity, and marry colonist John Rolfe, a 28-year-old widower, and was used as a symbol of the potential to “civilize savages.” The [Page 1713]non-Hollywood Pocahontas, baptized as Rebecca Rolfe, was presented to society in England as evidence of the good will between the Powhatan and the settlers, and she tragically died at 20, homesick for her people. She was buried in Gravesend, England. Many critics have questioned whether Disney had a responsibility to portray an accurate account of a true historical figure, while others appreciate an American Indian heroine in a major film production despite the fictionalization.

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