Representing the 7th Disney Princess with her strong connection with nature and a free-spirited personality, Pocahontas gives the franchise a character with historical context. In 1607 the British settlers of the Virginia Company sail to the “New World’ to settle a colony. Once they arrive they are confronted with the Powhatan tribe of Native Americans.
Pocahontas is the daughter of Chief Powhatan and is about to be wed to one of the brave warriors of the tribe despite her willingness to marry him (she believes Kocoum is too serious of a man).
After settlers arrive in Jamestown, they immediately start to dig for gold. The Captain of the ship, John Smith, leaves the fortress and he meets Pocahontas. Captivated by each other’s different worlds, the two immediately bond and realize that they care deeply for each other.
Kocoum finds out about the secret relationship between John and Pocahontas. He tries to kill John but before he can do so a bullet from one of the crewman’s gun quickly kills him. The tribe is furious and declares war on the crewmen beginning with an execution of John Smith.
Pocahontas runs to save John from his execution by throwing her own body over his and protecting him. She convinces her father, the Chief, of creating peace between the two cultures.
In the end John Smith is forced to return to England but when he asks Pocahontas to come with him, she declines and says that she must stay with her tribe. They then individually live Happily Ever After.
The one thing that is interesting about all the Disney films is the strong relationship between the father and daughter characters. An article published in the Southern Communication Journal discusses these relationships and their success rates. The father-adolescent daughter relationship in Pocahontas consists of the father allowing his daughter freedom to navigate her adolescence. These Disney relationships never include maternal ones; in most of the films the mother is always absent. In Pocahontas in Particular, the “mother figure” is reduced to a talking tree. Although Grandmother Willow does give great advice to Pocahontas, she could never replace the real thing.
An aspect of the film that I deem different from the rest of the franchise up to this point is time is the addition of historical context to the film. Pocahontas was a real person in the 1600s and so was John Smith. According to a journalist at the British National daily newspaper The Guardian, the events, although exaggerated for the movie, had historical accuracy to them. There are of course historical inaccuracies, such as the missing language barriers and the natives and the colonists making peace. Even though the film was well researched, the production wanted to give children the inaccurate portrayal of colonialism –viewing it as a cheerful, and cooperative effort.
Another stereotype made throughout the film is the poor portrayal of the Native American culture. Cornel Pewewardy, a professor at the University of Kansas, writes that the Disney version of Pocahontas contains powerful distortions. For example, in the movie, Pocahontas disobeys her father and goes out to meet Captain John Smith. This most likely would not have happened during the time period in the movie, as it was a cultural norm for all tribal members to adhere to any strict command from a parent.
This is the first of the Disney Princess movies that does not end with the two lovers running off in the sunset together. Rather the two live their own separate lives, despite that option. Pocahontas remains her free-spirited self and continues to live as her own “Colors of the Wind” instead of someone else’s. Pocahontas shows the first break away from the stereotype of needing a man to be happy. Throughout the film, she never portrayed the “Woe is me” attitude and in the end she is the one who rescues the man, not the other way around. She chooses her family over her true love.