Fixing the Powhatan Princess

As Disney continues to go through its roster of animated classics and converts them to live action movies, I find myself wondering what they might do with one of my favorite heroines. We’ve seen great renditions of Cinderella, Mowgli, and now Belle. I imagine many of our favorite childhood stars will get a moment in front of the live-action camera, and I love the nostalgia these movies bring, but what also captures my attention is the “aging” these new scripts get in their new versions. It feels like Disney has been paying attention to the superhero movies as of late, taking the source material and “modernizing” it so that a wider audience can enjoy them. We’re seeing characters more flushed out, more diverse, with faults and tackling realistic challenges. With this in mind, it’s time to talk about one of our own American Princesses, Pocahontas.

Problems in the Animated film.

In order to “fix” the story, we have to first discuss what went wrong with her first appearance on the silver screen. Pocahontas came at a time commonly referred to as the “Disney Renaissance”. Animation almost died in the late seventies and early eighties, thanks to advancements in movie magic. Movies like Star Wars and Tron seemed to be the future of film, transporting us to worlds that before only paint and ink could take us. Disney animation answered in kind, opening up those story books once more and bringing Disney animation back to its roots. Ariel, Belle, Aladdin, these movies created a resurgence of popularity in the full-length animated feature and in turn provided a whole new generation their fondest childhood memories at the movies. Then the money took over. VHS tape sales went through the roof, Disney on ice was born, park ticket sales skyrocketed. Soon every story of a famous female in history was a gold mine… which brings us to Pocahontas.

The Powhatan Princess is still a story mired in controversy and mixed accounts (most of which I will discuss later), but Disney was hungry for more stories. The Grimm brothers’ supply was running low and in an effort to diversify their roster the executives decided that putting their own spin on the young lady’s life would get them success in the box office. The problem lies in their total disregard for any accuracy whatsoever.

First off, the landscape in the movie is completely wrong. The mouth of the Chesapeake does not look like the Colorado Rockies. Diving off of cliff faces, singing about giant redwoods, meeting the white man in a lagoon where he pops out from behind a waterfall… what setting were these animators looking at? The landscape panels look more like the mythical lands of Sleeping Beauty or Fantasia than of Virginia. Second, turning Pocahontas into a Barbie doll is wildly disrespectful. Not only has it caused controversy amongst those who battle with body issues and the constant argument over society forcing images onto young girls of what “right” looks like, but it is completely inaccurate to the historical account. Pocahontas was by all accounts, in her early teens when Jamestown was founded. It makes her story that much more triumphant that a young girl could speak such wisdom and stop grown men from descending into madness. I won’t nitpick the other issues I’ve held with the movie, like the sidekicks or the god-awful forced love story, but you get the idea that this movie has a lot of issues that need to be dropped when the live action feature finally comes along.

Time for a History lesson

So, I’m no professor, and I’m sure that a lecture on Pocahontas’ life is neither wanted nor needed here, but you do need to know at least a little about her life in order to see the truly magical potential. Disney was right to pick Pocahontas for a film, she really is an inspirational heroine whose story NEEDS to be told to not only young women, but young men as well, it just needs to be tred carefully. Also, keep in mind that much of her story comes from John Smith’s personal letters, and he contradicts himself plenty in the telling.

Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan, chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, a mighty nation of many native American tribes in the Chesapeake area. Chief Powhatan had a child from a woman in every tribe in his nation, but Pocahontas was his favored. Her mother died bringing her into the world, and so she was raised by her father as she could not return to her people like her siblings usually did. Pocahontas was known as fiery, excited, and often a joy to her father and her tribe.

When the first British colonists founded Jamestown, young Pocahontas brought offerings of food to the men, who desperately needed it. Jamestown had a difficult first year, as they had brought miners, businessmen, and no farmers. Had it not been for Pocahontas’ kindness, many would likely have starved. There was tension between her father and the British, but not as much as the movie likes to portray. John Smith was captured at one point, but was treated kindly and as a guest. Powhatan knew he needed to keep these new men close so he could keep an eye on them, friends close/enemy closer philosophy, and so awarded the men land in his kingdom. During this time with John, Pocahontas befriended the much older Englishman. Despite the lands given to the Englishmen, negotiations began to break down, and hostilities grew. John Smith, still a captive guest of the Chieftan, was the be executed as an example to the white man. By John Smith’s own account, it was Pocahontas’ act of placing her head onto his that saved him from her father’s executioners club. There was no love affair, but mutual respect, friendship, the crossing of divides. When John Smith had to return to England after a gunpowder accident (NOT being shot by some fictional “governor”), Pocahontas stopped visiting the colony. She had lost her friend, and the colony reminded her too much of that loss.

Fast forward a bit and the Jamestown settlers want more territory, and they’re willing to overthrow Powhatan for it. They collude with a tribe in the Powhatan Confederacy that hold less than happy relations with Powhatan and orchestrate a coup. They invade another tribe and take prisoners, one of which is the visiting Pocahontas. In an effort to ease tensions and bring peace between the English and her people, Pocahontas studies the bible, converts to Christianity, and takes the name Rebecca, as she identified with her the most. (Rebecca was also a well-known peacekeeper). In response, the English married her to a wealthy tobacco farmer, John Rolfe, and took her to England to meet the Queen. Surely some saw her as a “domesticated savage”, but others saw her for what she tried to be, a bridge between worlds, a sign that two peoples can come together. Unfortunately, Pocahontas did not live very long in England and was never able to return to her lands. Subjected to the same diseases and viruses that had plagued the Europeans for centuries, Pocahontas died in 1617 at the age of twenty-one.

So, what are we focusing on?

That is an extremely watered down version of the woman’s life, but you can easily see a theme there. Peace. Pocahontas dedicated her life to helping her tribe and her friends, two very culturally different people, to work and live together. A message we are still struggling to comprehend today. A message that we need to constantly reinforce, generation after generation. It’s a great theme to explain to children and remind adults of. But I think there is something else that needs to be said about her life… She failed.

Pocahontas did not have a happily ever after, and neither did her people. The Powhatan nation was decimated against the oncoming tide of British and European settlers. The peace she fought so hard for was ultimately futile. The sad history of the Native Americans is evidence of that. It might not be a bad lesson to teach not just our children, but their parents as well. Just because you work hard at something, just because you put your blood, sweat, and tears into a dream, doesn’t automatically make it happen. Sometimes the luck of the draw is against you from the start. Sometimes we need to remember our somber history, our tragedies, our failures, and learn from them. Sometimes it takes one person’s sacrifice to ignite a fire to do better in the next generation, to be more accepting, to be more open for peace. Maybe Pocahontas didn’t achieve peace in her time, but through the magic of movies she can help achieve peace in ours.