Pocahontas Review

Pocahontas is a classic Disney film that I enjoyed watching, and I felt like there were also many controversial aspects that I could observe. For one thing, I liked the fact that Pocahontas is a Native American woman whose goal is to follow her own path. At least for women, I believe this is a step in the right direction. Another aspect that I thought was interesting about the film were the secondary characters of Meeko and Flit. I always connect more with the sidekick characters because they are usually funny, loving and focused on helping the main character. The last part of the film I enjoyed was the song Colors of the Wind. I feel that this particular song gives a clear message of how the European settlers don't value the earth and all of its beauties/purposes because they are too focused on their own destructive ways. 

This statement gets me into my next point of the many dislikes I had for this film. The overall movie is told from a very Westernized point of view, for instance, the Native Americans are called Indians as well as savages. The fact is, the European, White settlers should be considered the savages since they invaded, took over and destroyed lands that weren't there own. This way of interpretation can give the view that Caucasians always have the upper hand and are superior to other cultures; therefore, they "own" any land or control anybody they want. It can also give the impression that the Native Americans were the "bad guys" when in actuality they were the victims. This leads into another point in the fact that this movie glamorizes westernization and the extermination of the Natives who originally lived in the USA. The glamorization takes the cruel and gruesome reality out of what actually occurred in history as well as how inhumane many of the actions that occurred during that time were. Also, from an animation standpoint, the Native American characters themselves were very much similar to each other. All of the men had muscular bodies, square jaws and black hair. Yes, that was what Native Americans most likely looked like at the time, but the differentiation between physical features was lacking. This brings upon the notion that everybody who is not Caucasian is the same, and it almost denotes the notion of individualization upon different cultures. 

As far as evil goes, Governor Ratcliffe's character screamed villainy. His appearance alone revealed that he was dark and conniving. The most obvious villainous traits were his mustache, droopy eyes, large body size, and dark coloring. His contrast to the younger, more physically appealing John Smith is drastic. As we talked about in class, Governor Ratcliffe also brings on a more feminine appearance. He has pigtails with pink bows on the end, his coloring is pink and purple, and he carries a small dog around. This transgendered villainy portrays female characteristics as having negative connotations. Overall, Governor Ratcliffe's personality is extremely narcissistic and obnoxious, so his physicality only heightens his villainous characterization.