One of the blogs I follow, Disney In Your Day, is reviewing different Disney movies (because I guess she’s seen them all?! That’s a commitment!) and she recently reviewed Pocahontas. This is particularly timely for me because I am showing it to Wee One for the first time.
Despite my better judgement, I love the Pocahontas.
First of all, and let’s just dispense with acknowledgement that Disney movies are often problematic, and this one is no exception. Disney made money off a story of a Native American person, and I would wager very little of any tribe received compensation. Also, it completely rewrites and whitewashes Native American’s history, who have already had so much history stolen and hidden from them. I’m already explaining to WO – at two years old – that this is a fictional story and that what really happened was not as nice as the movie shows. Having said all that:
I do love this movie. It was before Mel Gibson went mad, the first time Christian Bale played in a Pocahontas movie, and I really love the emphasis on connection with nature. “You can own the earth and still, all you’ll own is earth until…” I also love the emphasis on listening to your spirit, taking a breath and making a choice based on that.
Also, it came out about my senior year of high school, so I associate the music with that time in my life. Especially the song, “If I Never Knew You,” the “love” ballad between Pocahontas and John Smith.
I was in show choir my senior year of high school, and my then-boyfriend was too. About a week before graduation, the choir had a special little singing event, and he sang the male part with out friend Elizabeth, and he dedicated the song to me. For that night, I felt on top of the world. I was about to graduate, I had my future ahead, and my cute singer boyfriend just dedicated a song to me.
Of course, we broke up the day after graduation (he was younger than me and we knew it was going to happen) and he came out of the closet, which wasn’t even that big a surprise. I had a crappy year (leading up to the accident).
But the memory, associated with this movie, captures a very special sliver of time.
What do you think of it? Have you seen it?
This is part of my series “Thoughts on Disney movies,” where I’ve gone back to watch all of the animated Disney features, starting with Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, and then share my thoughts on the blog. Highlights: Pocahontas has lots of the elements that I love about an animated Disney film. It’s both…
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