Pocahontas
“Pocahontas” is one of most phenomenal animation movies of the 20th century. The film was released in 1995 by Walt Disney under the direction of Mike Gabriel. It is evident that the film captures some crucial historical moments of America when European settlers had discovered it. Notably, the movie shows the resultant reaction of two different worlds, the foreign civilized one, and the native primitive one. A review of the movie “Pocahontas” focuses on the prevailing events and what changed after the arrival of the foreigners in the New World.
The film’s setting occurs in the 17th century when the first ships from England came to the New World. In the film, the viewer can see a ship dubbed “Susan Constant” under the direction of Captain John Smith on a voyage to the New World carrying a group of settlers. As such, it can be stated that film captures the first phase of colonization, which entails settlement of the foreigners. The new settlement that the English settlers wanted to occupy was already under inhabitation of the indigenous tribe named Powhatan that was ruled by Chief. The chief’s daughter Pocahontas was marked for marriage by the tribe warrior named Kacoum, but she was not at peace with the arrangement.
The discovery of the New World and an accelerated settlement of the European settlers facilitated the creation and emergence of the current United States of America. The settlement disrupted the normal way of life in the Powhatan Kingdom, especially, after Smith and Pocahontas fell in love. After Kacoum had discovered Pocahontas love affair with Smith, he tried to kill Smith but got killed in the process. After the Powhatan tribe had become aware of Kacoum’s murder by the English man, it declared war on the settlers, but Pocahontas managed to convince her side to avoid bloodshed.
The element of personal struggle is evidenced in the film, especially, in the life of Pocahontas. Specifically, she was betrothed to a man she does not love despite being the warrior of the tribe. The other personal struggle is on the side of Smith who was challenged with the task of balancing the interests of his people and the natives. The foreigners were in search of gold and other resources, but the natives wanted their tribes’ integrity to be upheld. The struggles depicted in the film were similar to one that immigrants are facing in America today in an attempt to live and attain the American Dream.
The design elements of the film qualified as strategic ones, and managed to capture the cultural and historical context of the time. The choice of costumes communicated the contrast between primitive world and the civilization as Smith and the rest of the crew were dressed in the modern clothes while Pocahontas and the rest members of the Powhatan tribe wore clothes typical for the natives. The choice of weapons between two groups also communicated the contrast in technological advancement between the two worlds as the natives used bows and arrows while the settlers had guns.
The visual aspect of the film provided the insight of the timing in the history. The racial skin tone of the members from the two sides aimed to draw the difference between the Englishmen and the natives. The landscaping lacked modern buildings and other forms of the infrastructure communicating that the New World was in its early stages of colonization. For instance, the natives lived in huts while the settlers managed to put up wooden structures. Horses and ships were the primary means of transportation, which perfectly fit the timing context. From a personal perspective, the film attained its objective of depicting the early settlement of the first bunch of European settlers in the New World. It is the fact that there were crashes between the settlers and the natives and they were always bloody, but the film opted to cover a love story unfolding between a foreigner and a native.
Given these points, it is clear that “Pocahontas” is an animation film that manages to take the viewer way back in the 17th century. It was the time when the new bunch of European settlers came to the New World. However, instead of the focusing on the bloody crashes that happened between the settlers and the natives, the film developed a love story unfolding between characters from two worlds.