Disney’s Pocahontas vs. Matoaka

As we gear into fall, and the inevitable season of appropriation and fantasy stories I want to share a paper I did while I was at UCLA. I took a course in the history of film animation and I remember telling my professor, Mr. Soloman that I wanted to write about the two different narratives of Pocahontas. Well, Professor Soloman, was not as eager as I was to write about Pocahontas, and he of course encouraged me to write about the wonderful work animators have done to children’s narratives (including Disney’s Pocahontas), but I wanted to write about the narrative not about achievement of white animators, but about the Pocahontas narrative and what it represents to children. So after a long debate about me, an Indigenous woman wanting to share my prospective of the narrative and yes I would include the works of the animators, I was given the greenlight to write my essay. Here it is…

Pocahontas has become an international iconic figure whose life has been routinely reinstating the historical narratives of the encounter between Native Americans and English settlers. In addition, the animated image of Pocahontas exemplifies exotic, sensual, sexual and innocence of a young Native American woman. As a public icon she has also generated a commodification with young girls and popular culture that will continue for decades.