Pocahontas

Episode Summary

In pursuit of another Oscar-worthy animated feature, Disney chose a culturally significant protagonist and pumped up the romance for Pocahontas (1995).  Unsurprisingly, good intentions didn’t prevent a group of white men from creating a hugely problematic film, rife with gross historical inaccuracies, racism, and misogyny! Pocahontas underperformed at the box office, and the only Oscar went to Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz for best original song.

Episode Bibliography

Aleiss, A. (1995, June 24). Maidens of Hollywood: Pocahontas is the pure expression of filmmakers’ fantasies about Indian women. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-06-24-me-16519-story.html

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Bodenner, C. (2015, June 30). Does Disney’s Pocahontas do more harm than good? Your thoughts. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/06/pocahontas-feminism/397190/

Bradley, D. (1995, June 23). Disney gives Pocahontas sexiest cartoon image ever. The Free Lance-Star, 26.

Červinka, P. (2015, April 21). The making of Pocahontas — A legend comes to life. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJApIC4BIhM

Chief Roy Crazy Horse. (n.d.). The Pocahontas Myth. Powhatan.org. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20131024050146/http://powhatan.org/pocc.html

Chief Seattle Speech – The Suquamish Tribe. (n.d.). The Suquamish Tribe. https://suquamish.nsn.us/home/about-us/chief-seattle-speech/

Cochran, J. (1995, June 16). Pocahontas needed an ethnic look. Entertainment Weekly. https://ew.com/article/1995/06/16/pocahontas-needed-ethnic-look/

Custalow, L. L., & Daniel, A.L. (2016). The true story of Pocahontas: The other side of history. Fulcrum Publishing. 

Disney Magazine: Cast and Crew Interviews. (1995, July 31). The Waterfalls: A Pocahontas site. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://cbl.orcein.net/pocahontas/misc/interviews.htm

Dundes, L. (2001). Disney’s modern heroine Pocahontas: Revealing age-old gender stereotypes and role discontinuity under a facade of liberation. The Social Science Journal, 38, 353-365. 

Dutka, E. (1995, June 11). The Angriest Actor: Native American activist Russell Means focused his fierce will at Wounded Knee. Can a revolutionary co-exist with 'Pocahontas'? Los Angeles Times. https://web.archive.org/web/20150524095505/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-11/entertainment/ca-11761_1_native-american

Ebert, R. (1995, June 16). Pocahontas movie review & film summary (1995). RogerEbert.com. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pocahontas-1995

Ebert, R., & Siskel, G. (2019, January 6). Congo, The Glass Shield, Pocahontas, Fluke, 1995 – Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews. Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://siskelebert.org/?p=3485

Edgerton, G., & Jackson, K. M. (1996). Redesigning Pocahontas: Disney, the “White Man's Indian,” and the Marketing of Dreams. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 24(2). doi: 10.1080/01956051.1996.9943718

Gilbert, S. (2015, June 23). Revisiting 'Pocahontas' at 20. The Atlantic. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/06/revisiting-pocahontas/396626/

Gleiberman, O. (1995, June 16). Pocahontas. Entertainment Weekly. https://ew.com/article/1995/06/16/pocahontas-4/

Goldberg, E., & Gabriel, M. (1995). Pocahontas [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures. 

Green, R. (1975). The Pocahontas perplex: The image of Indian women in American culture. The Massachusetts Review, 16(4), 698-714. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25088595

Kempley, R. (1995, June 23). 'Pocahontas': A hit or myth proposition. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/pocahontas.htm#kempley

Kutsuzawa, K. (2000). Disney's Pocahontas: Reproduction of gender, Orientalism, and the strategic construction of racial harmony in the Disney empire. Asian Journal of Women's Studies, 6(4), 39-65. doi: 10.1080/12259276.2000.11665893

Mallory, M. (2012, February 23). Pocahontas and The Mouse's Gong Show. Animation Magazine. https://www.animationmagazine.net/top-stories/pocahontas-and-the-mouses-gong-show/

Ness, M. (2016, February 18). The uneasy mix of prestige and a cute raccoon: Disney's Pocahontas. Tor.com. https://www.tor.com/2016/02/18/the-uneasy-mix-of-prestige-and-a-cute-raccoon-disneys-pocahontas/

Ono, K. A., & Buescher, D. T. (2001). Deciphering Pocahontas: Unpackaging the commodification of a Native American woman. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 18(1), 23-43. doi: 10.1080/15295030109367122

Pewewardy, C. (1996). The Pocahontas paradox: A cautionary tale for educators. Journal of Navajo Education, (Fall/Winter). http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/pewe/writing/Pocahontas.html

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Rickey, C. (1995, June 11). Disney takes over N.y. park for premiere of 'Pocahontas' to Many, the four-screen event was woodstock for the family. philly.com. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20140728162302/http://articles.philly.com/1995-06-11/news/25692966_1_disney-standards-pocahontas-central-park-conservancy

Rickey, C. (1995, June 18). Disney's 'Pocahontas': Is it fact or fiction? What did she wear? Did she style her hair? Were she and John Smith a pair? philly.com. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20150626153346/http://articles.philly.com/1995-06-18/entertainment/25692271_1_pocahontas-irene-bedard-powhatan-confederacy

Rountree, H.C. (1998).  Powhatan Indian women: The people Captain John Smith barely saw. Ethnohistory, 45(1), 1-29. https://doi.org/10.2307/483170

Rountree, H. (2020, December 7). Marriage in Early Virginia Indian Society – Encyclopedia Virginia. Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/marriage-in-early-virginia-indian-society/

Sito, T. (1996). Fight to the death, but don’t hurt anybody! Memories of political correctness. Animation World Network. https://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.7/articles/sito1.7.html

Smith, J. (1624/1907). Generall historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles: Together with the true travels, adventures and observations, and a sea grammar. Macmillan.

Stack, P. (1995, June 18). Disney's new animated feature / Meryl who? Pocahontas has summer's steamiest romance. SFGATE. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Disney-s-new-animated-feature-Meryl-Who-3030920.php

Steed, K. (2014, October 7). Interview with Glen Keane, Disney veteran and legendary animation artist (Part 1). Skwigly. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.skwigly.co.uk/glen-keane-interview/

Sterbenz, C. (2014, April 5). The real story of Pocahontas is much darker than the Disney movie. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-real-story-of-pocahontas-2014-4

Strong, P. T. (1995, June 30). Review of Pocahontas [Blog post]. Popular Culture and American Culture Associations/H-Net Discussion List.

Ziebarth, C. (2005, December 19). A conversation with Eric Goldberg. Animated Views. https://animatedviews.com/2005/a-conversation-with-eric-goldberg-2/

Thanks to Katie Seelen for her research assistance.