The 1995 Disney film "Pocahontas" is the narrative that sticks in most people's minds. But who is the real Pocahontas?
Edited by Samantha Liu
As Thanksgiving approaches, I’m reminded of my time in elementary school, when we would dress up as pilgrims and Native Americans and pretend to have a feast together. One of the highlights of the half day before Thanksgiving was watching Disney’s Pocahontas- the talking raccoon Meeko always made me laugh. The film follows the story of Pocahontas, a young Native woman who meets John Smith, a white settler who has come with other settlers to search for gold. Pocahontas teaches John Smith about their traditions and the importance of the environment and they slowly fall in love. The movie was always one of my favorites. Looking back, however, I realize that one of the most popular portrayals of indigenous peoples falls far from the truth. Here is the true history of Pocahontas.
What did the film get right?
As shown in the Disney movie, Pocahontas, also known as Matoaka, was the daughter of chief Powhatan and was very much loved by her father. The movie also correctly shows that her father wants her to marry another tribe member, Kocoum. Pocahontas is never wed to Kocoum in the movie, but historically, Pocahontas did have a short marriage with Kocoum a few months after John Smith left Virginia. However, after these two (somewhat) correct elements, the movie quickly strays further and further toward historical inaccuracy.
Where did the film go wrong?
First off, one major thing that the Disney movie changed was Pocahontas’s age: in the movie, she is 18 and John Smith is somewhere in his 20s. They also meet right away after John Smith and the rest of the crew lands. In reality, however, the settlers landed in winter, and they met Pocahontas and the tribe sometime in spring. Also, when Pocahontas met John Smith, she was only about ten to twelve years old, making their alleged romance
extremely disturbing, as well as simply implausible . In order to create the satisfying, feel-good romance arc between the protagonists, Disney stepped up Pocahontas’s age However, there was never a relationship between the real historical figures, and such a story would be problematic in context.
Furthermore, the film barely touches on the true tragic plight suffered by indigenous tribes, including Pocahontas herself. When the settlers began increasing demands for food and land, their relationship with Pocahontas’s tribe quickly crumbled. Pocahontas was taken captive aboard the ship of Englishman Samuel Argall from 1613 to 1614. In this same year, she met John Rolfe, another English settler. He wrote to the governor about his attraction to Pocahontas and suggested a marriage to her as an act of alliance. As a result, Pocahontas converted to Christianity, changed her name to Rebecca, and had a son named Thomas. However, historical records reveal that Pocahontas told her sisters that she was r*ped, so John Rolfe may have not been the father of the baby. Years later, Pocahontas fell sick, and in March of 1617, she died and was buried in Gravesend.
Why is the story of Pocahontas important?
The true story of Pocahontas deserves to be talked about because it’s drastically different from what Disney shows us. Disney shows the story of Pocahontas through a rose tinted lens. What was the violent extirpation of tribes, forced conversion to Christianity, and manipulative marriage of Pocahontas has been turned into a romanticized princess-friendly retelling. It reflects our tendency to downplay the atrocities that white settlers brought onto communities of color, especially Indigenous and Black communities. Yet, Disney capitalized on the brutal colonization story, turning it into willful romance between Pocahontas and the people who took her captive. It is an unacceptable erasure of Native history.
It is important to remember the horrors that Indigenous communities have faced and are still facing and figure out how non-native people can help while amplifying Native voices.
For more resources on Indigenous History and ways that you can help, these are some starting points to help you begin:
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