There was a Tiktok I saw years ago about this movie that always stuck with me: “Disney’s Pocahontas is like making a movie about Anne Frank if they aged up Anne and made her dress sexy, had her fall in love with a Nazi soldier and if they made the message ‘both the Nazis and the Jews were flawed’l
Putting it into perspective yeah, goddamn that’s messed up… if Disney wanted to not change anything about the movie’s plot they should just have changed all the names, and say it was inspired by Pocahontas, not actually use her image.
@@nikkiralaniakea9527or even better, they could have used an indigenous legend instead of a real story, mulan is based off a poem, Hercules is also based off a Greek tale, I don’t see why it was hard for them to just pick a tale from an indigenous tribe and adapt it into a movie
@@FG-tu4fq Not really. Steven universe's problems with the diamonds are a lot more complicated than that. No one really likes the diamonds, it's only the story that treats them as anything less than inhuman monsters, not the characters.
Like I stated in your Disney’s live action movies video: Changing the skin tone of a mythical creature is grounds for criticism but revising a historical figure is fine for some reason. They tarnished the legacy of a real child who died in the hands of her abusers and they f*tishise her pain. The commodification of indigenous women’s suffering was disgustingly obvious and this movie remains one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. This should’ve never been allowed in theatres.
What they did was disgusting: I don’t understand why they ever thought this was acceptable. I love it when my history teachers throw shade at this movie, as they should.
Legit all of this because what the fuck. But honestly Disney had oppressive rhetoric scattered all across it's media blatantly for decades and Walt is a known antisemite and racist. Not surprised but it's still so gross
Disney's Pocahontas and the real Pocahontas were SO different that I question why they didn't make create an original Native American Disney Princess because that's literally what she was.
They could've! It would've been nice to have a movie about a native American princess, they could've raised some awareness about her culture and the effects of colonisation if this wasnt the 90s /j
People always and only viewed Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy as sad figures of history even though they both are legacies whom without a doubt help shaped America during the 50s/60s. Not a lot of people know that Marilyn read a lot because she dropped out of high school at age 15 to marry a sailor (even though she was a minor and he was an adult 🙃). She was also a smart businesswoman and was very pro civil rights. Also, Marilyn was much more of a feminist figure than we choose to think. Like, she wasn't afraid to put the creepy men in their place during her day... She was also the reason why Ella Fitzgerald got the gig at The Mocambo Club. They both were really good friends and she told the manager that if they hire Ella, Marilyn will be sitting front row for her opening night 😊. I wish THESE positive and influential sides of Marilyn's life were represented more than just her dark sides
If there's anything Disney should especially be ashamed of, it's how they handled the history of Pochahantas, it was disrespectful and hurtful. Another historical figure that Hollywood ruined for profit
The poor woman was literally a child not an adult! It's also so sad how her remains are in Europe yet they refuse to let her be buried by her tribe on her land back home.
With Pocahontas I can definitely understand the viewpoint of people not wanting white people to write characters of color, especially if they're based on real people, without doing research about the culture the character comes from. And before anyone jumps down my throat for 'hating white people', I am white myself.
Yeah! Same! White Latina here. I feel like if white creators want to write and direct a movie about non white people, they should do their homework. Steven Spielberg is a white Jewish man yet he made the remake of West Side Story WHICH ended up becoming one of THE most successful movie musical remakes of our time! He did his homework and lots of studying on different aspects of Puerto Rican culture and ACTUALLY CASTED Puerto Rican actors to play the Puerto Ricans on film! With some help from Miss Rita Moreno, herself... Having seen both films I think both versions are the best. However, I still have a soft spot for the '62 version because despite the tone deafness of white ppl in brown face 😔, the message forever holds up and I feel the remake carried that torch It's not impossible to tell accurate stories if you do the work...
When will Disney learn to leave brutalized women out of their romanticized fanfic films? Maybe one day Disney will learn how to include Indigenous women into their Disney Princess lineup without controversy.
The first time I realized that an animated movie was lying about & exploiting an actual dead person for profit would have to be Don Bluth's "Anastasia." Couldn't even be arsed to pronounce her name correctly. Outside of Disney, there's also two animated movies based on the Titanic (both from Italy?) that deny anyone ever died on the ship. It's kinda up in the air on whether Mulan was real. While China let the cultural inaccuracies of their first adaptation slide, there was a lot of things in their live action remake China hated, & they even filmed it in China where they could have gotten advice from locals.
Not to mention what John Smith called Pocahontas in the movie and he's also portrayed as a hero in the movie and looking back now I see a lot of disgusting things disney has done and it makes me want to go to other smaller studios and creators who don't get enough attention who are well...better
Admittedly I enjoyed Pocahontas as a kid because of the music and the animation. I didn't like it as much as I loved The Lion King, but I have fond memories of watching it with my childhood friend. However, as an adult, I cannot ignore the glaring issues Pocahontas has as a film and considering that one of my two best friends is half Native American, because I know how horrific white people treated Native Americans (especially Pocahontas) due to living in a state that has a lot of history focused on it, Disney really messed up. Comparing Pocahontas' treatment to Marilyn Monroe's is an interesting take. I've seen people point out that Disney was using the overused cliche of "good white person in a bunch of bad white people" for Pocahontas, but not that. I've also seen people focus on how messed up romanticizing the relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith was (along with aging her up and basing her appearance on mostly non-indigenous people). However, I've never seen your take. This was another interesting and informative video. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Also thank you for bringing up Jessica from Miraculous Ladybug! Not only was she treated poorly throughout the Miraculous New York special like you pointed out, but other fans (including Immaturity of Thomas Astruc on Tumblr) have pointed out that her entire character is a harmful racist stereotype. No, she's not THE worst Native American stereotypical character, but she's one of the most recent. Other fans have done better analyses of her than I could possibly do, but to name a few things I took away from it that support the argument that Jessica (like many characters in Miraculous) is a harmful racist stereotype: -Having Jessica's mentor and adoptive mother be a white woman considering all that indigenous individuals went through BECAUSE of white people was a dumb move. The show has enough white and white passing characters so there was no reason Knightowl couldn't have been an indigenous woman. -Having one of Jessica's key personality traits be "helping others." Native Americans being guide characters for white (and white passing) people is historically accurate, but could also be seen as offensive in a franchise where that wasn't really a necessary character trait for her. Jessica already wanted to prove herself and was somewhat defiant so they should have just worked with that. -Jessica was given the Eagle Miraculous, the "Miraculous of Freedom." Considering that she is an indigenous girl who was not only treated poorly by characters in the special (several of which were white or white passing) but whose people have been HISTORICALLY mistreated by society, this was a REALLY dumb move on Thomas Astruc's part. Someone in the writer's room should have seriously told Thomas Astruc "you know, it might be a good idea to give her a different Miraculous because that might offend indigenous fans," but that never happened! -The entire design of her hero suit was a racist stereotype. I can understand wanting to base the design on the associated animal (in this case, an Eagle), but the rest of the design is riddled with cliche Native American tropes. -Jessica's civilian design is rather racist too. Um...Astruc? I live in a state with plenty of indigenous people and even though they're in touch with their culture, NONE of them dress in a way that blatantly points out "hello, I'm Native American!" I still keep up with Miraculous Ladybug, but because of all the harmful (and often times, racist) stereotypes in it, I can't show it to my little cousins. I also can't watch it with one of my two best friends of over 20 years because she's half Native American and I don't want her to see one of the few times she's represented be a harmful, racist stereotype! There are already WAY too many stereotypical Native American and indigineous characters in media! I'm not surprised Astruc did so without a second thought (considering all the other harmful stereotypical characters he's created), but considering Disney already was in hot water over their OWN portrayals of Native Americans (Peter Pan and Pocahontas being the two most noteworthy ones), they should have said "we're not airing the New York special unless you redesign her." Disney, I know you can do better, but the fact that you allow Thomas Astruc get away with all these harmful stereotypes is VERY concerning!
I rewatched the movies recently, as I have become more educated on Pocahontas's real story in recent years and was curious how inaccurate it was. There were several articles I referenced while watching illustrating the differences between the movies and her real life. It seemed to me Disney really took this indigenous woman's tragedy and marked her as a symbol of 'girl empowerment' when she wasn't empowered at all. She was abducted and tortured, and did what she had to in order to survive. I think you should talk about Disney's racism towards indigenous people regarding the Peter Pan movie if you haven't already.
The biggest point of irony in this for me was that among studio workers, Pocahontas was considered superior to the other film in production at the same time, the Lion King. It’s evident how much the former was upheld, judging by the quality of art. But at the end of the day, the Lion King was more popular and successful, and made MUCH more money
Doesn’t just effect how they view the Powhatan woman (real name Matoaka), but also how they view all Turtle Island Indigenous women. Men too, with how they depict the Powhatan men as stoic and violent. Movie is messed up.
The fact that Pocahontas was a child who was hurt so much, it did ruin the movie for me. And I think if I remember right, Native Americans were happy about the representation but completely objected to them basing it off an actual tragic story, but Disney did it anyway.
Imagine if Disney made a movie about Christopher Columbus falling in love with a native woman and befriending the natives as if he hadn’t brutally murdered them irl
My elementary schooling on American history was unfortunately pretty typical for the US, but I’m glad one of my teachers let us read childrens books about the true story of Pocahontas. That changed how I saw the movie. It was already bad to see how ignorant and racist the European characters were, but it’s so messed up how Disney romanticized the story.
also I want to add that a while back in 2014 I believe ( the year could be off) a young woman named Rebecca Coriam went missing on the disney wonder and disney covered up the evidence (no surprise) and she's been missing ever since, I know this doesn't have anything to do with the subject of this video but the fact that disney was willing to cover up evidence and leave this young woman's family without coverage of what happened to their daughter, just so they could protect their company should be enough to make us cut our losses and go to smaller studios and creators who don't get enough attention
Disney, leave Pocahontas alone challenge. In all seriousness, I didn't get the controversy with the Pocahontas movie until I got older and did research. It's absolutely messed up how Disney romanticized her life story.
@@antonioalford4403 True but here, they used an actual living person, not a legend, not some fairy tale or a myth, an actual person that lived a tragic life.
It also irritates me that Disney worked with a Native American woman on this movie and when the movie started to become a historically insensitive love story with an aged up Pocahontas she was unhappy and left and didn't want credited but they still credited her anyway, I don't think I'll ever not find it weird they took a real historical person who was a child taken from her tribe and forced to become English and made her into a Disney princess and tried to make her adult and sexy in their own words
Although I liked that Pocahantas appeared in "Ralph Breaks the Internet", an admittedly underwhelming sequel to "Wreck-It Ralph". I don't think Pocahantas should be used in a Disney project until they do her justice. I'm not saying that because I never had much of an attachment to "Pocahantas" when I was a kid. I'm saying that because Pocahantas' real story was horrifying and tragic! Also, it's a miracle that she actually has descendants. It took until her and John Rolfe's great-grandson, John Bolling, having more than one kid for there to be any real stability in the bloodline!
I hope Disney regrets making Pocahontas. I used to like that film and would sing the karaoke version of Colors Of The Wind 😬. Then, finding out the real story and how they told the story was f*cked up! To this day, I have not watched that trash again. If they plan to remake Pocahontas, tell it correctly or leave it alone!
I watched Pocahontas a long time ago and after watching it I can see why a lot of people especially indigenous people don't really like the movie and i also don't know why Disney decided to make a sequel it wasn't needed at all but then again Disney loves to make pointless sequels
Disney actually did do research and knew the actual story of Pocahontas when writing the movie.🤦🏽♀️( they literally had a chance to tell the real story or scrap the movie and didn’t🤢)
Even when I ignore the problematic elements. I always thought that the movie was boring. I thought the music was great but it wasnt as intresting as other animated movies. Being set in pre-colonial Virgina also made the films settings feel boring and empty its just field and the ocasional cliff or mountain. The best song in the movie is literally just people walking across settings we already saw at the begining of the film which is also why I believe the begining of the movie should have been cut. I only watched the film because of my high school history teacher tearing the film to shreds and assigning us to deconstruct it. So maybe I would like the movie more if it wasnt homework.
I loved the Pocahontas movie as kid. I loved her relationship with John Smith. But as I got older it really hurt to find out the whole thing was a romanticization of her life. She was a 12 year old girl who was kidnapped and abused. And her great love John Smith was actually her abuser. I feel like Pocahontas was still a beautiful movie, that for a lot of us our first positive viewing of a native woman. But they definitely should of just made a new movie with original characters.
I was never really into Pocahontas growing up, but my dad got me a Pocahontas music box when I was a baby because it was the Disney movie that came out that year. Looking at it just makes me sad now that I know the full story. I still cherish it to an extent and don't blame my dad for just getting the Disney music box they had in stock for his little girl, but it's still pretty fucked up seeing a real historical figure spinning around in a box to help little white babies like me go to sleep.
Seeing you sort of break down your past biases for and toward this movie was really nice to see, it lets people understand that no one is without fault in their viewpoints and everyone needs time in order to grow and change, at least if they're willing to do so.
As someone who loved the movie when they were in grade school, I’m so glad that Indigenous people opened my eyes on how horrible the movie Pocahontas is. And for blonde, I just want to say that while I grew up watching old Hollywood movies and doing musical theater, Marilyn needs to rest because once I heard that they filmed in her literal house where she passed, I was so angry at both the director and Ana de armas when she said that she asked Marilyn Monroe “permission to film.” While people have talked about how Marilyn was a devoted humanitarian, she also converted to Judaism and was an lgbt ally when Montgomery Clift was the first to come out to her.
I love vintage and classic movies and I also believe in carrying these old stars legacies (unless their horrible ppl then screw them). However, time and time again... Marilyn Monroe has been screwed over and exploited. Instead of romanticizing her pain, can we please get a more accurate and RESPECTFUL adaptation of Marilyn's life? Thank you... Signed, People who are tired of Hollywood romanticizing pain
Imo it looks like Pocahontas seems to have two intersecting problems: The fictionalization of a real person, and also redefining the narrative of an indigenous person violently affected by colonization. It's just. yeah super nasty. I have a whole essay I can write about both if prompted, but Pocahontas feels like a perfect example that encapsulates both problems at the same time. I can only hope that more awareness of the issues arise and do my best to contribute to that when possible.
Ooohhh... last time disney said they were doing a remake to be more "faithful" to the original story, it was that awful Mulan. I do NOT trust them with pocahontas. Holy hell no no no just make a new original story! Written by native people!
You know, maybe not everyone knows this. But there is a Marvel superhero that is Native American. It's disappointing that she doesn't have a movie, because I would have loved to see that. However, maybe it is better there one unless someone can try their best to be accurate. As a result, it makes me want to find it and write a book on it. I would do it accurately, but ya, I just brought it up since we were talking about Pochanotas and how terrible the movie was. Sorry for the randomness.
There are a lot of Native/Indigenous Marvel superheroes, and it’s really wonderful! I really, really like Warpath and Thunderbird. They’re Apache, and their powers are so cool. Dani Moonstar was in the (very terrible) New Mutants movie, and she’s Cheyenne. I loved seeing Echo, who’s also Cheyenne, on the Hawkeye show, and I’m excited to see her on her own show.
@@jax_firestorm9689 Wow, thanks for the update. I always wanted to know that. Still though, I think they should have more attention. Tbh, I'm sick of the Avengers and want different content. Giving some of those superheros a chance to sign in their own movie would be awesome.
Can we talk about how Disney needs to see the colors of the wind because they obviously don’t understand the song themselves when Pocahontas was a child during this time they portray her as a legal person who has a happy ending. She did not like other indigenous have a happy ending and got harmed from white ppl
Oh please. 1997's "Anastasia" was also grossly historically inaccurate, and no one cared - cuz they liked how the movie was made. And speaking of "brutalized", the real Anastasia most likely died when her family was gunned down execution-style in one room. So there.
This movie came out when I was 8...I don't recall ever really liking it when I was a kid; I found it...just kinda boring and dragged a lot. I didn't really start to realize how gross it was and to hate it until my 20's. It has the problem of a lot of movies about Indigenous people, especially in the '90s; the problem is not so much that the stories are sugarcoated, but rather that it was written to coddle its white audience and reassure them that they're not the bad guys. GET OUT was literally the first movie I saw that portrays racism (let alone antiblack racism) and doesn't do that, almost as if Jordan Peele, rather than assure his white audience that they're "the good ones," instead posits "I don't know; *are you* part of the problem? Let's find out." And before people whine about "oh, it's a kids' movie, tho!" I'd like to ask this: Is that not part of the problem?
Pocahontas the Disney movie is basically settler colonial fan fiction. And this is not to disparage fan fiction in any way I really like fanfiction. Perhaps saying that it's a fictionalized biopic but at its essence is the reimagining of a true historical event/story with someone spicy romance written it. Blonde is Marilyn Monroe fanfiction.
There was a Tiktok I saw years ago about this movie that always stuck with me: “Disney’s Pocahontas is like making a movie about Anne Frank if they aged up Anne and made her dress sexy, had her fall in love with a Nazi soldier and if they made the message ‘both the Nazis and the Jews were flawed’l
Putting it into perspective yeah, goddamn that’s messed up… if Disney wanted to not change anything about the movie’s plot they should just have changed all the names, and say it was inspired by Pocahontas, not actually use her image.
@@nikkiralaniakea9527or even better, they could have used an indigenous legend instead of a real story, mulan is based off a poem, Hercules is also based off a Greek tale, I don’t see why it was hard for them to just pick a tale from an indigenous tribe and adapt it into a movie
I don't like TikTok but that does not lie at all.
That sounds like Steven Universe
@@FG-tu4fq Not really. Steven universe's problems with the diamonds are a lot more complicated than that. No one really likes the diamonds, it's only the story that treats them as anything less than inhuman monsters, not the characters.
Like I stated in your Disney’s live action movies video: Changing the skin tone of a mythical creature is grounds for criticism but revising a historical figure is fine for some reason. They tarnished the legacy of a real child who died in the hands of her abusers and they f*tishise her pain. The commodification of indigenous women’s suffering was disgustingly obvious and this movie remains one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. This should’ve never been allowed in theatres.
Disney’s Pocahontas continues to age like rotten milk within each and every passing year.
Disney…just let this poor woman rest in peace. 😞
What they did was disgusting: I don’t understand why they ever thought this was acceptable. I love it when my history teachers throw shade at this movie, as they should.
Legit all of this because what the fuck. But honestly Disney had oppressive rhetoric scattered all across it's media blatantly for decades and Walt is a known antisemite and racist. Not surprised but it's still so gross
Your history teachers seem like they actually care about the subject they teach thank GOD
Disney's Pocahontas and the real Pocahontas were SO different that I question why they didn't make create an original Native American Disney Princess because that's literally what she was.
They could've! It would've been nice to have a movie about a native American princess, they could've raised some awareness about her culture and the effects of colonisation if this wasnt the 90s /j
People always and only viewed Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy as sad figures of history even though they both are legacies whom without a doubt help shaped America during the 50s/60s. Not a lot of people know that Marilyn read a lot because she dropped out of high school at age 15 to marry a sailor (even though she was a minor and he was an adult 🙃). She was also a smart businesswoman and was very pro civil rights. Also, Marilyn was much more of a feminist figure than we choose to think. Like, she wasn't afraid to put the creepy men in their place during her day...
She was also the reason why Ella Fitzgerald got the gig at The Mocambo Club. They both were really good friends and she told the manager that if they hire Ella, Marilyn will be sitting front row for her opening night 😊. I wish THESE positive and influential sides of Marilyn's life were represented more than just her dark sides
If there's anything Disney should especially be ashamed of, it's how they handled the history of Pochahantas, it was disrespectful and hurtful. Another historical figure that Hollywood ruined for profit
The poor woman was literally a child not an adult! It's also so sad how her remains are in Europe yet they refuse to let her be buried by her tribe on her land back home.
With Pocahontas I can definitely understand the viewpoint of people not wanting white people to write characters of color, especially if they're based on real people, without doing research about the culture the character comes from. And before anyone jumps down my throat for 'hating white people', I am white myself.
I love your take actually! IT'S VERY WELL THOUGHT! CURE PASSION!
Yeah! Same! White Latina here. I feel like if white creators want to write and direct a movie about non white people, they should do their homework. Steven Spielberg is a white Jewish man yet he made the remake of West Side Story WHICH ended up becoming one of THE most successful movie musical remakes of our time! He did his homework and lots of studying on different aspects of Puerto Rican culture and ACTUALLY CASTED Puerto Rican actors to play the Puerto Ricans on film! With some help from Miss Rita Moreno, herself... Having seen both films I think both versions are the best. However, I still have a soft spot for the '62 version because despite the tone deafness of white ppl in brown face 😔, the message forever holds up and I feel the remake carried that torch
It's not impossible to tell accurate stories if you do the work...
You're right and should say it! I also love your icon, it's pretty cute.
When will Disney learn to leave brutalized women out of their romanticized fanfic films? Maybe one day Disney will learn how to include Indigenous women into their Disney Princess lineup without controversy.
The first time I realized that an animated movie was lying about & exploiting an actual dead person for profit would have to be Don Bluth's "Anastasia." Couldn't even be arsed to pronounce her name correctly. Outside of Disney, there's also two animated movies based on the Titanic (both from Italy?) that deny anyone ever died on the ship. It's kinda up in the air on whether Mulan was real. While China let the cultural inaccuracies of their first adaptation slide, there was a lot of things in their live action remake China hated, & they even filmed it in China where they could have gotten advice from locals.
Not to mention what John Smith called Pocahontas in the movie and he's also portrayed as a hero in the movie and looking back now I see a lot of disgusting things disney has done and it makes me want to go to other smaller studios and creators who don't get enough attention who are well...better
Admittedly I enjoyed Pocahontas as a kid because of the music and the animation. I didn't like it as much as I loved The Lion King, but I have fond memories of watching it with my childhood friend. However, as an adult, I cannot ignore the glaring issues Pocahontas has as a film and considering that one of my two best friends is half Native American, because I know how horrific white people treated Native Americans (especially Pocahontas) due to living in a state that has a lot of history focused on it, Disney really messed up.
Comparing Pocahontas' treatment to Marilyn Monroe's is an interesting take. I've seen people point out that Disney was using the overused cliche of "good white person in a bunch of bad white people" for Pocahontas, but not that. I've also seen people focus on how messed up romanticizing the relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith was (along with aging her up and basing her appearance on mostly non-indigenous people). However, I've never seen your take.
This was another interesting and informative video. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Also thank you for bringing up Jessica from Miraculous Ladybug! Not only was she treated poorly throughout the Miraculous New York special like you pointed out, but other fans (including Immaturity of Thomas Astruc on Tumblr) have pointed out that her entire character is a harmful racist stereotype. No, she's not THE worst Native American stereotypical character, but she's one of the most recent.
Other fans have done better analyses of her than I could possibly do, but to name a few things I took away from it that support the argument that Jessica (like many characters in Miraculous) is a harmful racist stereotype:
-Having Jessica's mentor and adoptive mother be a white woman considering all that indigenous individuals went through BECAUSE of white people was a dumb move. The show has enough white and white passing characters so there was no reason Knightowl couldn't have been an indigenous woman.
-Having one of Jessica's key personality traits be "helping others." Native Americans being guide characters for white (and white passing) people is historically accurate, but could also be seen as offensive in a franchise where that wasn't really a necessary character trait for her. Jessica already wanted to prove herself and was somewhat defiant so they should have just worked with that.
-Jessica was given the Eagle Miraculous, the "Miraculous of Freedom." Considering that she is an indigenous girl who was not only treated poorly by characters in the special (several of which were white or white passing) but whose people have been HISTORICALLY mistreated by society, this was a REALLY dumb move on Thomas Astruc's part. Someone in the writer's room should have seriously told Thomas Astruc "you know, it might be a good idea to give her a different Miraculous because that might offend indigenous fans," but that never happened!
-The entire design of her hero suit was a racist stereotype. I can understand wanting to base the design on the associated animal (in this case, an Eagle), but the rest of the design is riddled with cliche Native American tropes.
-Jessica's civilian design is rather racist too. Um...Astruc? I live in a state with plenty of indigenous people and even though they're in touch with their culture, NONE of them dress in a way that blatantly points out "hello, I'm Native American!"
I still keep up with Miraculous Ladybug, but because of all the harmful (and often times, racist) stereotypes in it, I can't show it to my little cousins. I also can't watch it with one of my two best friends of over 20 years because she's half Native American and I don't want her to see one of the few times she's represented be a harmful, racist stereotype!
There are already WAY too many stereotypical Native American and indigineous characters in media! I'm not surprised Astruc did so without a second thought (considering all the other harmful stereotypical characters he's created), but considering Disney already was in hot water over their OWN portrayals of Native Americans (Peter Pan and Pocahontas being the two most noteworthy ones), they should have said "we're not airing the New York special unless you redesign her." Disney, I know you can do better, but the fact that you allow Thomas Astruc get away with all these harmful stereotypes is VERY concerning!
I rewatched the movies recently, as I have become more educated on Pocahontas's real story in recent years and was curious how inaccurate it was. There were several articles I referenced while watching illustrating the differences between the movies and her real life. It seemed to me Disney really took this indigenous woman's tragedy and marked her as a symbol of 'girl empowerment' when she wasn't empowered at all. She was abducted and tortured, and did what she had to in order to survive. I think you should talk about Disney's racism towards indigenous people regarding the Peter Pan movie if you haven't already.
The biggest point of irony in this for me was that among studio workers, Pocahontas was considered superior to the other film in production at the same time, the Lion King. It’s evident how much the former was upheld, judging by the quality of art. But at the end of the day, the Lion King was more popular and successful, and made MUCH more money
Me watching Pocahontas as a child: 🥹😍😁🥰
As a teenager: 😭🥺😊🤗
As an adult: 😬😒🤢😡
Doesn’t just effect how they view the Powhatan woman (real name Matoaka), but also how they view all Turtle Island Indigenous women. Men too, with how they depict the Powhatan men as stoic and violent. Movie is messed up.
The fact that Pocahontas was a child who was hurt so much, it did ruin the movie for me. And I think if I remember right, Native Americans were happy about the representation but completely objected to them basing it off an actual tragic story, but Disney did it anyway.
Imagine if Disney made a movie about Christopher Columbus falling in love with a native woman and befriending the natives as if he hadn’t brutally murdered them irl
oh no not THAT movie 💀
My elementary schooling on American history was unfortunately pretty typical for the US, but I’m glad one of my teachers let us read childrens books about the true story of Pocahontas. That changed how I saw the movie. It was already bad to see how ignorant and racist the European characters were, but it’s so messed up how Disney romanticized the story.
also I want to add that a while back in 2014 I believe ( the year could be off) a young woman named Rebecca Coriam went missing on the disney wonder and disney covered up the evidence (no surprise) and she's been missing ever since, I know this doesn't have anything to do with the subject of this video but the fact that disney was willing to cover up evidence and leave this young woman's family without coverage of what happened to their daughter, just so they could protect their company should be enough to make us cut our losses and go to smaller studios and creators who don't get enough attention
Disney, leave Pocahontas alone challenge. In all seriousness, I didn't get the controversy with the Pocahontas movie until I got older and did research. It's absolutely messed up how Disney romanticized her life story.
@@antonioalford4403 True but here, they used an actual living person, not a legend, not some fairy tale or a myth, an actual person that lived a tragic life.
@@antonioalford4403 Exactly! It's one thing if they made their own Native American princess which they should have done in the first place.
Can you imagine Disney thought Pocahontas was going to be more successful than the Lion King?
It also irritates me that Disney worked with a Native American woman on this movie and when the movie started to become a historically insensitive love story with an aged up Pocahontas she was unhappy and left and didn't want credited but they still credited her anyway, I don't think I'll ever not find it weird they took a real historical person who was a child taken from her tribe and forced to become English and made her into a Disney princess and tried to make her adult and sexy in their own words
Although I liked that Pocahantas appeared in "Ralph Breaks the Internet", an admittedly underwhelming sequel to "Wreck-It Ralph". I don't think Pocahantas should be used in a Disney project until they do her justice. I'm not saying that because I never had much of an attachment to "Pocahantas" when I was a kid. I'm saying that because Pocahantas' real story was horrifying and tragic!
Also, it's a miracle that she actually has descendants. It took until her and John Rolfe's great-grandson, John Bolling, having more than one kid for there to be any real stability in the bloodline!
I hope Disney regrets making Pocahontas. I used to like that film and would sing the karaoke version of Colors Of The Wind 😬. Then, finding out the real story and how they told the story was f*cked up! To this day, I have not watched that trash again. If they plan to remake Pocahontas, tell it correctly or leave it alone!
I watched Pocahontas a long time ago and after watching it I can see why a lot of people especially indigenous people don't really like the movie and i also don't know why Disney decided to make a sequel it wasn't needed at all but then again Disney loves to make pointless sequels
Me and my cousin watched this video together and after you said your intro I said “Yeah she stole that from PBS kids! What you wanna do?” 🤣
Can we talk about the exploitation of Whitney Houston since her death? She came to my mind while watching this video.
Disney actually did do research and knew the actual story of Pocahontas when writing the movie.🤦🏽♀️( they literally had a chance to tell the real story or scrap the movie and didn’t🤢)
Even when I ignore the problematic elements. I always thought that the movie was boring. I thought the music was great but it wasnt as intresting as other animated movies. Being set in pre-colonial Virgina also made the films settings feel boring and empty its just field and the ocasional cliff or mountain. The best song in the movie is literally just people walking across settings we already saw at the begining of the film which is also why I believe the begining of the movie should have been cut. I only watched the film because of my high school history teacher tearing the film to shreds and assigning us to deconstruct it. So maybe I would like the movie more if it wasnt homework.
I loved the Pocahontas movie as kid. I loved her relationship with John Smith. But as I got older it really hurt to find out the whole thing was a romanticization of her life. She was a 12 year old girl who was kidnapped and abused. And her great love John Smith was actually her abuser. I feel like Pocahontas was still a beautiful movie, that for a lot of us our first positive viewing of a native woman. But they definitely should of just made a new movie with original characters.
I was never really into Pocahontas growing up, but my dad got me a Pocahontas music box when I was a baby because it was the Disney movie that came out that year. Looking at it just makes me sad now that I know the full story. I still cherish it to an extent and don't blame my dad for just getting the Disney music box they had in stock for his little girl, but it's still pretty fucked up seeing a real historical figure spinning around in a box to help little white babies like me go to sleep.
that's the power of media :(
combine it with ignorance and you can really change the world views of so many people. sad
Seeing you sort of break down your past biases for and toward this movie was really nice to see, it lets people understand that no one is without fault in their viewpoints and everyone needs time in order to grow and change, at least if they're willing to do so.
Pocahontas was clearly made to look like an adult, especially with the fact that her age is around 11...
As someone who loved the movie when they were in grade school, I’m so glad that Indigenous people opened my eyes on how horrible the movie Pocahontas is. And for blonde, I just want to say that while I grew up watching old Hollywood movies and doing musical theater, Marilyn needs to rest because once I heard that they filmed in her literal house where she passed, I was so angry at both the director and Ana de armas when she said that she asked Marilyn Monroe “permission to film.” While people have talked about how Marilyn was a devoted humanitarian, she also converted to Judaism and was an lgbt ally when Montgomery Clift was the first to come out to her.
I love vintage and classic movies and I also believe in carrying these old stars legacies (unless their horrible ppl then screw them). However, time and time again... Marilyn Monroe has been screwed over and exploited. Instead of romanticizing her pain, can we please get a more accurate and RESPECTFUL adaptation of Marilyn's life? Thank you...
Signed,
People who are tired of Hollywood romanticizing pain
Imo it looks like Pocahontas seems to have two intersecting problems: The fictionalization of a real person, and also redefining the narrative of an indigenous person violently affected by colonization. It's just. yeah super nasty.
I have a whole essay I can write about both if prompted, but Pocahontas feels like a perfect example that encapsulates both problems at the same time. I can only hope that more awareness of the issues arise and do my best to contribute to that when possible.
Thank you so much for this video. I learned so much.
Points were made facts were laid
The Pocahontas movie gives white supremacy vibes
Ooohhh... last time disney said they were doing a remake to be more "faithful" to the original story, it was that awful Mulan. I do NOT trust them with pocahontas. Holy hell no no no just make a new original story! Written by native people!
You know, maybe not everyone knows this. But there is a Marvel superhero that is Native American. It's disappointing that she doesn't have a movie, because I would have loved to see that. However, maybe it is better there one unless someone can try their best to be accurate. As a result, it makes me want to find it and write a book on it. I would do it accurately, but ya, I just brought it up since we were talking about Pochanotas and how terrible the movie was. Sorry for the randomness.
There are a lot of Native/Indigenous Marvel superheroes, and it’s really wonderful! I really, really like Warpath and Thunderbird. They’re Apache, and their powers are so cool. Dani Moonstar was in the (very terrible) New Mutants movie, and she’s Cheyenne. I loved seeing Echo, who’s also Cheyenne, on the Hawkeye show, and I’m excited to see her on her own show.
@@jax_firestorm9689 Wow, thanks for the update. I always wanted to know that. Still though, I think they should have more attention. Tbh, I'm sick of the Avengers and want different content. Giving some of those superheros a chance to sign in their own movie would be awesome.
Kinda off topic but i love your garfield poster in the background
OMG GIRLICIOUS IN THE BACKGROUND
Can we talk about how Disney needs to see the colors of the wind because they obviously don’t understand the song themselves when Pocahontas was a child during this time they portray her as a legal person who has a happy ending. She did not like other indigenous have a happy ending and got harmed from white ppl
I like Irene Bedard and she is a super talented woman, who also happens to be part-European part-Native American.
Oh please. 1997's "Anastasia" was also grossly historically inaccurate, and no one cared - cuz they liked how the movie was made. And speaking of "brutalized", the real Anastasia most likely died when her family was gunned down execution-style in one room. So there.
This movie came out when I was 8...I don't recall ever really liking it when I was a kid; I found it...just kinda boring and dragged a lot. I didn't really start to realize how gross it was and to hate it until my 20's. It has the problem of a lot of movies about Indigenous people, especially in the '90s; the problem is not so much that the stories are sugarcoated, but rather that it was written to coddle its white audience and reassure them that they're not the bad guys. GET OUT was literally the first movie I saw that portrays racism (let alone antiblack racism) and doesn't do that, almost as if Jordan Peele, rather than assure his white audience that they're "the good ones," instead posits "I don't know; *are you* part of the problem? Let's find out."
And before people whine about "oh, it's a kids' movie, tho!" I'd like to ask this: Is that not part of the problem?
Pocahontas the Disney movie is basically settler colonial fan fiction. And this is not to disparage fan fiction in any way I really like fanfiction. Perhaps saying that it's a fictionalized biopic but at its essence is the reimagining of a true historical event/story with someone spicy romance written it. Blonde is Marilyn Monroe fanfiction.
Ooo I’m early
hiiiii