Pocahontas — The Idea of Colonization
1995 Production by Walt Disney
Pocahontas is the movie released in 1995 by Disney Walt; it was a romantic, adventure, and cartoonist film. Pocahontas was a daughter of Chief Powhatan, who fell in love with England colonizer John Smith. Unfortunately, differences in values between the two parties resulted in war between the natives and the colonizers, which puts John’s life at risk. Motivated by Smith’s love, Pocahontas successfully drove peace and unity to both countries before the war began.
In starting United States of America was not powerful as it is today, even they didn’t exist initially, but there was something that has been making them super powerful, and that is nothing but colonization. In search of profitable areas, many historical colonizers have destroyed several countries and lives. The same idea is depicted in this movie Pocahontas when some colonizers start their journey in search of gold in Powhatan village.
In this movie, Walt Disney introduced the audience to two types of colonialism: Smith colonialism and the colonialism of Emperor Ratcliffe. Smith is portrayed as a hero and Ratcliffe as a villain. Therefore, while Ratcliffe longed for gold and power, Smith longs for a world of new opportunities and entertainment, featured in the song Mine, Mine, Mine. As Ratcliffe sang about his desire for gold: “It is gold, and they are mine, mine, mine, Smith reveals his own self-sacrificing nature: “I have always wanted a world like this. It’s wild again, a challenging world that I can’t design.
Hundreds of accidents await, and I do not plan to miss anyone. Smith’s initial attitude toward the indigenous people is very disrespectful as he confirms that they must fight against them. Like the Ratcliff, John and his friends also think that these Powhatan people are trying to take authority on their gold, and they won’t allow any colonizer (outsider) to take this authority from them until unless they will lose in the war. But this attitude of John lasts until he meets Pocahontas, and she introduces him to the beauty of her island. As the film progresses, Smith was fascinated by this new world and its people, and especially by the Pocahontas. When the film reaches a turning point at the assassination attempt of Smith, then Native Americans recognize their mistake and lay down their weapons. Ratcliffe instead holds the rifle for a chance to shoot Powhatan, who was attempting to kill Smith. Suddenly Smith jumps in front of the shot that was aimed at Chief Powhatan; Smith portrays a remarkable character development to the Amerindian community compared to that of Ratcliffe. Smith’s courage swept over Ratcliffe’s evil spirit, declaring himself a hero and winning the confidence of not only the natives but also the audience. By comparing two different attitudes as the film introduces Smith’s greatness, and the height of principles and the view of the world in which they act, therefore, there are two colonial roles which are assigned to Pocahontas: Smith’s friendly and lovely colonies and another one is an evil colonial impersonation of Emperor Ratcliffe.
The film invites the audience to choose between the two colonial representations by presenting Smith’s form of colonialism as heroic and good and Ratcliffe as exploitation and evil. John presents the character of a colonizer who doesn’t like to start the war between the two armies unless and until there is a strong reason instead of the blindness of the gold. Such a form of colonialism helps the audience to see the other side of the historical colonization because many of us have built up a sinful and egocentric image of the historical colonizers, who initiated the war to take authority over land or a woman. On another side, the cruel form of colonialism that Ratcliff depicts reminds the audience about the British colonizers who tried to make India’s land their own in order to find the hidden profitable sources. The accent in which the film shows the Powhatan village and its beautiful land, and rivers, looks the same as one in which the British had depicted India as “Golden Sparrow” in the 10th century.
Throughout this movie, the writer points out the ways in which the English colonies called the New World to erase the long, complex, and beautiful history of the indigenous peoples of that land. He laments the fact that colonialism in the area always requires the domination and eradication of everything that has never happened before. In this movie, the writer also shows that Pocahontas or any other individual could prevent a new nation from the destruction of its people if he/she can convince the colonizers and natives that there is also another way instead exterminating the chosen world. At last, Disney leads people to believe that there are always only two alternatives, a colonizer who is as smooth as John Smith and evil as Ratcliff.
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