Pocahontas Response

Alright, so I just recently watched Pocahontas for the first time. Honestly, I have to say that this movie is disappointing for me compared to the other Disney movies. I have really enjoyed all of the Disney movies that I have seen before this, but I just felt like this movie is lacking something. The whole progression of the movie feels very long to me, even though the movie itself is very short. Maybe if they displayed the movie a little more historically accurate then it would have been better, but the conflict between the settlers and the Native Americans are severely downplayed. Let's not get into that right now. There's already been enough outrage about that.

Let's take a look at the representation of the villain in Pocahontas. Take one look at the two characters below and just guess which one is the villain, just based on visual appearance.

Obviously the villain is going to be the character with the fair complexion, blonde hair, strong jawline, and blue eyes, right? Of course not. That's obviously the hero, John Smith. You know, the guy who Pocahontas falls in love with. The villain is Governor Radcliffe, the overweight man that has exaggerated features with bows in his hair that appears to be wearing eye shadow and lipstick. I mean, of course the beautiful people can't be cruel and evil, right? Only ugly people can be bitter and evil, right? This is just typical Disney. This is just one example of many. It's almost as if Disney is trying to get children to believe that ugly people and people who do not display heteronormativity are evil and dangerous. Let's not make any negative assumptions, though. Instead, I will just assume that this is an accident so I can move on. 

Governor Radcliffe is an evil man, no doubt. He trivializes Native American lives, assuming that they are all savages simply because they do not have the same technology that the Europeans have. Radcliffe at one point orders one of his men to shoot any of the "savages" on sight, no questions asked. On the same note, Governor Radcliffe is an ambitious man. Radcliffe is not just simply killing the Native Americans just to kill them. He is being greedy, searching for gold in order to gain wealth, power, and status (as shown in his song "Mine, Mine, Mine"). Although his actions are disgusting and unforgivable, his motives are understandable, since most people desire the same status that he does. He could simply be ignorant and racist as a result of the delusion he faces due to his obsession with finding the gold to get power. He could just be crazy. At one point, he even comes to the spontaneous conclusion that the Native Americans are hiding the gold from him. He has no valid reason to believe this, but he is so caught up in this fantasy that he is ready to kill all of the Native Americans in the village. In a way, he could be seen as a sympathetic villain. Even though his beliefs and actions are inexcusable, it could just be because he is crazy and unsatisfied in life.

Disney could have done a lot better with this movie and the villain.