Disney Movie to Be Remade in 2020

Disney's Pocahontas turned 25 years old in 2020. While that might be cause for nostalgia for many '90s kids, two and a half decades after its release, the animated film remains the most problematic Disney Princess movie.

The film received mediocre reviews at the time of release, and stands at 55 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It was liked even less by historians, including Shirley "Little Dove" Custalow-McGowan, who served as consultant on Pocahontas but later said she wishes her name weren't attached. Along those same lines, what few strides it makes for multicultural representation in Disney film catalog is overshadowed by criticism from Native American organizations, including the Powhatan Renape Nation, Pocahontas' tribe.

Why Disney's Pocahontas Is So Problematic

Before the 1995 release of Pocahontas, Disney executives had high hopes for the film. Studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg predicted that, not only would Pocahontas be a commercial hit, it would earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, like Beauty and the Beast just a few years before it. Animators even turned down work on other Disney projects like The Lion King, thinking Pocahontas would be more prestigious than other movies in production. Instead, Pocahontas only narrowly defeated Batman Forever (then in its second week) at the box office, and won only two Oscars, for Best Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song, for "Colors of the Wind."

Pocahontas was Disney's first animated film based on history, and it's in the extremely loose adaptation where it becomes so seriously problematic. The story is set against the backdrop of early U.S. history and the colonization of the New World that led to the utter devastation of the Native American population. So, already we're starting on fragile ground.

The real Pocahontas was 12 to 13 years old during the period the Disney movie covers, yet she's depicted as 18 to 19, according to supervising animator Glen Keane. She actually married John Rolfe, not John Smith; some historians maintain that marriage was forced upon her after a kidnapping. She was also later forced to travel to Europe as an ambassador/attraction, and died of pneumonia on the voyage back to her homeland. The story was changed because the filmmakers deemed the true tale too violent and complicated.

Pocahontas' name was Amonute, and she went by Matoaka privately. Although she was called Pocahontas, that is a Algonquian nickname that roughly translates to "playful one." Additionally, the filmmakers declined to consult the Powhatan Renape Nation, according to Chief Roy Crazy Horse, who roundly criticized Disney's Pocahontas for its inaccuracies.

Disney's Pocahontas Had Troubles From Its Very Concept

Disney has a history with insensitive treatments. One might recall Song of the South, or maybe not, because the 1946 film was never released on home video due to criticism of its racist portrayals and stereotypes. Set in the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction, it's another situation of a hot potato that Disney didn't successfully handle.

That said, Pocahontas did contribute one culturally significant milestone to the Disney legacy: Irene Bedard, who plays Pocahontas, is the first non-white actress to be the speaking voice of a Disney Princess (Jasmine, the first non-white Disney Princess, was portrayed by white actress Linda Larkin). However, it's worth noting that Pocahontas' singing voice is that of Judy Kuhn, who is Jewish. The film also cast several Native American actors, most notably James Apaumut Fall as Kocoum and Russell Means as Powhatan.

Voicing John Smith is none other than Mel Gibson. Of course, Gibson wasn't a controversy lightning rod at the time, but he's come under fire over the years for racially incendiary language and rhetoric. His tainted track record casts an additional shadow on the Disney film.

The mishandling of the subject matter seems to stem from the initial concept for the film. Director Mike Gabriel pitched it by writing "Walt Disney's Pocahontas" on a picture of Tiger Lily from Peter Pan. On the back, he wrote the tagline, "an Indian princess who is torn between her father's wishes to destroy the English settlers and her wishes to help them — a girl caught between her father and her people, and her love for the enemy." The desire to make the film a romance was never altered, and instead, historical facts were changed in order to make the pitch come to life.

Pocahontas still has its share of adoring fans, just like any Disney movie. It's still available from Disney, including on Disney+, where it bears a warning label for "tobacco depictions." Some fans argue the historical adaptation is so loose that it's easy to enjoy as fantasy. Even so, Pocahontas remains the most problematic Disney Princess movie.

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Jason Boyd (8 Articles Published)

Jason Boyd is a writer/journalist and founder of Fictionphile.com.

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Disney Movie to Be Remade in 2020

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