Released in 1995, Disney’s animated Pocahontas has been fading in terms of recognition. Before all others who are discussed like Moana and Princess Tiana, Pocahontas was actually the first woman of color as a lead in a Disney flick.
Dealing with telling a story where Native Americans are the main focus, Disney bit more than it could chew at the time when it came to the discourse of Native Americans roles in stories. For example, the Pocahontas story is the mother of the “noble savage” issue in media. It’s the literary concept that idealizes the idea of “uncivilized man,” seeing them as symbols of innate goodness due to not being exposed to the corrupting influences of civilization. It’s a very black and white view of a culture and takes upon itself a racist view almost mirroring the concept of benevolent sexism. It's topics like that which makes Pocahontas a good film to examine though.
Despite its shortcomings, it arguably had one of the most important Disney lessons that the real world still struggles with: having peace and love between different societies. The moral is that despite people looking and thinking different, they are still people who deserve respect. Even though the lesson is important, it can easily be passed over since the theme is explored in tons of other media.
The film is still a classic. We even saw Pocahontas recently in the new Wreck-it-Ralph trailer along with all the other princesses! So let’s revive this Disney classic some more with these comics!
19 Grandma NO
Grandmother Willow is wise, but she is also sassy. Grandmother sass is always on Disney’s character trait menu. She makes the dumb joke, “My bark is worse than my bite,” to John Smith. I’m sorry, my eyes just rolled so hard that they left my face.
Grandmother Willow leaving the tree and walking the earth like something out of an Eldritch Horror story is what the movie really needed. If the colonialists saw that walking around, they would’ve jumped back into their ship, sail away, and never return.
A lot of fans ask why Pocahontas was not attracted to Kocoum.
I mean, look at him! Disney fans were fanning themselves when they saw his character for the first time. How he looks is all we get though. He says very little throughout the whole film. It begs to question if he really was interested in Pocahontas since he barely even spoke to her. Maybe the Disney team feared that since they made Kocoum so handsome, that if they gave him any sort of personality, he’d be more likable than John and ruin the direction they wanted to take.
Willow’s relationship advice maintains a lot of doubt from me. Like many stories about minority cultures, Pocahontas comes to a decision between what she loves and her culture. There is something sketchy about these stories where they always show that love is the right way and sticking to their cultural traditions is the wrong way. Is that cultural assimilation undertones that I’m sensing?
Comic artist is unknown.
18 Colorless
“Colors of the Wind” is probably the most famous out of all the songs in Pocahontas. It is clever, as the song reflects the Native American perspective that the entire earth is alive and that mankind is dependent on nature. Even the writer, Alan Menken said, “It really is one of the most important songs I’ve ever written.” The song confronts John Smith’s Eurocentrism, the belief that the whole world should be more like Western Europe. It basically introduces the entire moral of the story too. Menken wrote the song with Stephen Schwartz, who was known for writing “Godspell and Pippin.”
“He did a lot of research about American Indian folklore, and we listened to a lot of tribal music. It was born out of the modality of Native American music, but it quickly moved to its own place, which is hard to define. The grand, slow elegance. It’s a very serious song, but there was no getting humor into Pocahontas. God knows we tried. We wrote a song for Grandmother Willow to try to add some comedy, but we just couldn’t. The only other option would have been to give a song to the pug and the raccoon, and they don’t even speak!”
Comic was made by kalooma.
17 Odd Lyrics
The “Savages” song was definitely the most heavy handed out of the Pocahontas soundtrack. It covered very dark themes that played out in the film such as genocide, othering, and xenophobia. It was also probably the least popular song in the movie, which critic review mostly on the negative end of the spectrum. “’Savages’ lacks the vivacity and wit that Menken's late partner, Howard Ashman, brought to previous Disney musicals,” said Rita Kempley from the Washington Post. Many just found it to be distasteful.
“This is a very common critique of the movie and for good reason,” wrote Caitlin Corsetti from Gurl. “The song ‘Savages’ is gross. You can read the lyrics for yourself if you like. This song didn't need to be in the movie. They could have portrayed the issues between settlers and Native Americans without throwing in a catchy song that perpetuates the idea that Native American people aren't human. Oh but Disney also has the Native Americans in the movie singing too, so it's fine.”
The song has been subject to education research, such as in a paper that examined postcolonial theories on Disney animation. “[The] song ‘Savages’ does not lack political incorrectness; moreover, it is nothing but the shocking anger and grievance felt against the other,” wrote Nóra Borthaisr, a PhD student at the Institute of English & American Studies at the University of Szeged.
Cabbages are far less controversial.
Art was made by Omny87.
16 Shouldn’t be taken literally
A fact about “Colors of the Wind” is that some of the lyrics were inspired by a famous letter written by Chief Seattle to Congress. His letter is definitely worth a read. It opens with, “The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?”
It’s an alternate universe where John Smith doesn’t understand metaphors.
The letter continues one with the same beautiful imagery that “Colors of the Wind” crafted for its audience. “We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.”
Like the song, the letter is also sobering. It makes you think about how we have cared for the earth since the colonization of the Americas.
Comic was made by MoondreamofA.
15 The Wind is Black
This comic is funny in the most cynical of ways. If the Native Americans or the real Pocahontas herself saw how the land is now in 2018, it would probably feel miserable.
Even the famous letter from Chief Seattle wondered about this. He wrote, “Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.”
The whole segment is pretty haunting when we think of how much infrastructure has occurred in the past hundred years. After all, the letter is getting to be nearly 200 years old. A lot of change has occurred since then.
As for the colors of the wind before pollution, it seems the movie just used leaves to define it. Sort of golden warm colors were used in the leaves that rode the wind in Pocahontas.
Comic artist is Imane.Imagination.
14 Curly Hair Scare
Here is something a little more lighthearted. The artist for this comics’ name is Angela Mary Vaz, and she is known as the author of an Instagram blog called Stray Curls, which documents her curly hair. This panel of Pocahontas is actually one of many of Vaz’s work out of her “Curly Princess” series where she draws comics of all the princesses if they had realistic curly hair.
Besides Merida’s gorgeous head of fluffy hair, most Disney princesses had just sleek, straight hair. While part of it could be some indoctrination of beauty standards, curly hair is also probably hard to animate. Merida’s perfect curls got a ton of animation recognition. Hair curls have to be firm but also soft in movement, which is why it’s an animator’s nightmare.
“I have become obsessed with curly hair. It is truly fascinating; curly hair defies physics in the way it moves and behaves,” said Claudia Chung, the simulation supervisor who worked on Brave. “We used 1,500 hand-placed, sculpted individual curls. It took us almost three years to get the final look for her hair, and we spent two months working on the scene where Merida removes her hood and you see the full volume of her hair. When I first saw the storyboards for ‘Brave,’ I drooled; I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I knew this was going to be so much fun.”
Comic artist is Angela Mary Vaz.
13 A Bad Transition
Back to the dark humor! Grandmother Willow is definitely the source of the best Pocahontas jokes.
Grandmother Willow actually almost did not exist. Before she developed into a character, they Disney team had a different idea for a nature spirit guide. It was going to be “Old Man River.” A voice actor was even selected, Gregory Peck! The change happened due to him declining the role and suggesting that Pocahontas have a maternal guide instead.
There is a rumor that at one point, the story was going to have Grandmother Willow as a stump tell someone the story of Pocahontas 300 years after colonization.
Something about that idea has a Lorax feel to it.
What if it was like this comic though and Grandmother Willow’s spirit appeared in someone’s toilet paper and told them to story of Pocahontas? If your toilet paper did that, what would you do after the story was over? Nothing would feel right anymore.
I’m surprised this concern wasn’t addressed in the actual movie. We clearly see the white men cutting down trees, so why doesn’t Pocahontas fear for Grandmother Willow? The story could’ve been very different if Pocahontas went to where Grandmother Willow was just to see a barren stump.
Comic was made by Gone to Rapture.
12 The Discomforts of Nature
Nature is either romanticized or demonized by media for entertainment and there is little in-between. If you want a full realistic taste of how difficult nature can be, watch an episode of Naked and Afraid where two people have to live in the wilderness for about three weeks. It makes you wonder how people survived without a roof over their head and access to clean water.
Forget about snake attacks and bears. The little common things in nature build up: sunburn, allergies, bug bites, dirty water, cold nights, and just feeling unclean. Any of those things that we easily overlook can be deadly.
Pocahontas probably had more resources, knowledge, and experience though. Growing up in a tribe not only makes her capable but comfortable in nature. I guess what I’m saying is, we all are probably just wimps. Who can blame us though? We are now born and raised to not be used to the harsher ways of nature. The more experienced of us probably got it through Boy Scouts or family camping trips.
You know what? Survival classes should be a part of public education. That would be fun and we actually wouldn’t feel useless in the middle of the woods.
Comic artist is unknown.
11 Expectations vs Reality
So many hair scares! There is literally a hair care blog called “Pocahontas Hair Secrets,” so despite all princesses having perfect hair, Pocahontas’s has been particularly recognized by the hair-care community.
Since it was very common for Native Americans to braid their hair, it’s a wonder why the Disney team decided to keep her hair loose and wild. Searching for Pocahontas hair online gets you a ton of braid pictures. Perhaps Disney’s logic isn’t so strange though since it’s that loose and wild look that makes her look so unrealistically fabulous in the wind. In fact, didn’t her hair constantly billow in the Wreck-it-Ralph 2 trailer despite there being no wind?
Is her hair and the wind also a joke in the Disney offices?
Pocahontas's was not the only hair that Buzzfeed tackled. They also showed how Ariel’s hair would be like limp seaweed if she emerged from the sea. Jasmine’s voluminous hair was also edited to be more normal. Belle’s hair was shown to not behave and stay in its ponytail. Snow White with fizzy hair, Mulan with static hair, and Cinderella with bedhead hair. Out of all those though, Pocahontas’s hair really stands out. We can’t just get passed her sleek locks.
Comic was made by Loryn Brantz.
10 Greedy Crossover
The seagulls of Finding Nemo were unforgettable due to their single-minded greed and only saying the word, “Mine,” throughout the film. Audiences found them so funny that they became a reaction image meme for a while. Their singular goal is to get food. Perhaps what was so amusing about them is many people have experienced seagull greed on their trips to the beach. You just open a bag of chips and suddenly a flock is landing next to you.
Governor Ratcliffe is a pretty different creature altogether, but he certainly is greedy. Like the song “Savages,” he was also on the heavy-handed spectrum of the movie. His xenophobia is crazy radical even for the movie’s time period. Like most Disney villains, he’s power hungry and wants to be rich. He’s not very memorable or fun to watch and is probably one of Disney’s most unpopular villains.
He does literally shout “Mine! Mine! Mine!” during the digging for gold musical number. His one-track mind and flat character is pretty reflective of the seagulls in Finding Nemo.
Want to know something weird? There is a rumor that Governor Ratcliffe was based on a real historic figure, Sir Edward Wingfield. Unlike his Disney incarnation, he wanted peace with the natives but war escalated due to tribe hostility. It was John Smith that invaded the tribes while the Governor was sent back to England to due being accused of corruption for hoarding food in Jamestown in times of famine.
Art was done by Lokotei.
9 Peepahontas
My god the internet is a weird place. This panel is part of a series of Disney princesses as peeps in celebration of Easter for Cosmopolitan. Go to their website to see Snow White, Jasmine, and other Disney princesses as peeps. It’s pretty adorable actually. I can picture some sweets and Disney lover having this as a poster in their room.
Speaking of loving Disney, aren’t you curious about what the real historic figure Pocahontas had in common and not in common with her Disney self?
As you can imagine, the real Pocahontas story is actually really tragic.
The story isn’t for the faint of heart, so this is very G-rated information out of the tragedy package. First of all, she actually had a native husband and child. Pocahontas’s mother was also named Pocahontas, and she wasn’t around because she passed on in childbirth.
Pocahontas’s name was actually Matoaka, but the name of her mother stuck to her because her grieving father saw her mother in her and lovingly would call her so. She was only nine or ten years old when John Smith, who was twenty seven, came into the picture. With that age gape and the protection of her tribe at the time, Pocahontas had little to nothing to do with John Smith’s life.
Art was done by Isaiah Stephens.
8 Jurassic Princess
In celebration of Jurassic World, talent rose from the ashes and made a series of Disney princesses has raptors. Like the peeps, it’s also easy to imagine a Jurassic Park and Disney fan to have this as a poster on their bedroom wall.
Refocusing back on what’s true about the Native American princess, there is very little evidence that she ever helped the colonists in Jamestown. Jamestown was twelve miles from Werowocomoco and being ten years old, Pocahontas would not have made such a journey by herself. If that doesn’t satisfy you enough, there was also large bodies of water in the way that would take heavy canoes to cross.
She did however visit Jamestown with her people as a gesture of peace. If a kid is there, it’s pretty doubtful any violence would take place right?
In a weird way, John Smith was more of a villain in the real Pocahontas’s story than anything else. Historians proved that a lot of what John Smith wrote and claimed was mere fabrication. He claimed Pocahontas saved his life twice only after the fact that everyone else was no longer alive to refute that claim. At the time he claimed she saved his life, his letters made no mention of such a thing. He also often threatened natives for food. It sounds like he was an all-around jerk.
Art was done by Laura Cooper.
7 Something looks different about her
Why does Pugahontas look sad? Is that just what a pug’s face looks like? Pugs are like the most unnatural production of breeding in history. Humanity has bred them to the point where they can barely breathe right. Maybe that’s why they look sad all the time. We bred them to look sad because we’re insane.
In fact, there was a pug in Pocahontas and his name was Percy.
He was General Rattcliffe’s pet. Didn’t he feel pointless? We already had a raccoon and hummingbird. Is it because the animals couldn’t talk that we had to add three times as many of them to the story? Why didn’t Pocahontas see Percy and just go, “Wow, you really messed up what was once a decent animal. Look at it, it can barely function.” Percy’s existence should have been proof to Pocahontas that the white people couldn’t be trusted. Give them a couple hundred years and they can turn wolves into that gremlin! With that as evidence, imagine what they can do to people and plants.
The pug even gets character development. His alignment goes from bad to neutral to good. Did anyone actually care? At least the pug did not talk.
Art was done by Jennisney.
6 Paint with all the colors of the sea
At this rate there will be lists of princesses if they were just pieces of paper, princesses if they were phones, or even princesses if they were first aid kits. We’re just addicted to incarnating them into everything! It’s pretty fun and whacky though.
So why a narwhal? The question to ask on the internet is never just why, but why not? Narwhals are pretty hip since they are like a combination of a whale and unicorn. Just owning a piece of narwhal merchandise automatically makes you cool. The artist for this piece has done a ton of narwhals, so they know what that’s all about.
Want to learn more about the real Pocahontas? Kocoum was actually a real person as well. Historians even believe that during a courtship dance, it is likely Pocahontas danced with Kocoum. He was the younger brother of Potowomac Chief Japazaw. The two of them married at around 14 years of age. Congratulations to those who shipped them in the movie I guess. Unfortunately the colonizers later kidnapped Pocahontas in a strategic attempt to have more control over the Native Americans. Their plan worked as the tribe’s feared any retaliation to the colonizers would hurt Pocahonatas.
Art was done by Hayley Cassatt.
5 Terrible Pun
Do people even poke on Facebook anymore? That used to be popular in like 2003 but the thrill seems to have died out. But you know what has never died out? Dad jokes.
Despite the dad talking about Facebook, he seems to be looking at a book instead of a computer screen. This comic is borrowed from something else and the words have been replaced. There is another version where the kid asked his dad for help with his Pokemon team. It ends with the dad saying, “I have no son.” That one makes a little more sense since the dad isn’t using a computer!
Maybe the dad has no idea what he’s doing and he thinks Facebook is actually a book of faces. Then he just literally pokes a word or face.
The kid in the first panel also looks scared. Does he think his dad is up to no good? Maybe the kid is up to no good so he’s trying to attempt an ordinary conversation but can’t help his nervous sweating.
The joke is also a stretch because there is no one named Hontas. I suppose that only makes this even more of a dad joke.
Comic artist is unknown.
4 The wonders of nature
Whelp, time to burn down the forest! No matter how much you romanticize nature, there will still be spiders. At least they aren’t as big as the ones in Australia?
Pocahontas looks proud to have spread spiders all over John Smith too. She’s like, “My children, you are finally free.”
Pocahontas coming back as an angry spirit that destroys us all with spiders would make sense. After she was kidnaped, her life went downhill from there. She only got some tribe members allowed to visit her due to her anxiety and depression as a captive in Jamestown. Due to the visit, the tribe learned and passed down information that Pocahontas was treated very poorly. She was forced to wear English clothes and was told that her father didn’t love her because he never came to rescue her. He couldn’t even attend her wedding with John Rolfe for fear of being captured, so he could only send her a pearl necklace. It was doubtful that the marriage was out of love since John had a lot to profit from his tobacco industry through the marriage and Pocahontas was never allowed to visit her family.
Eventually she was converted to Christianity and took on the name Rebecca.
Comic artist is unknown.
3 Strong Wind
Here’s hoping you like a lot of wind and hair jokes. Pocahontas was drawn with her long hair looking gorgeous whenever the wind blew through her it.
Anyone with hair actually as long as this princess though, knows that the wind is a merciless rival to beauty and elegance. It’s not just hair even; her dress would probably not behave either.
It’s no secret that Pocahontas has a strong connection to nature. She has Grandmother Willow, her raccoon and hummingbird friend, and the wind seems to whisper secrets in her ears. However we have to admit that Disney drew a princess who has magical hair. To get hair like that, you need some amazing shampoo and conditioner. So what resources would Pocahontas use for her hair?
Well, there are actual answers. Tribes had their hygiene taken care of through their knowledge of plants like aloe vera, which is a natural moisturizer. The saw palmetto plant has properties that prevent baldness and work against dandruff. Stinging nettle also prevents baldness. Even what we typically think of a cooking spice like rosemary could be useful for stalling grey hair. Their hair was also protected through braiding and not constantly getting messed with through everyday washing, dying, straightening, or curling.
With all that in mind, maybe Pocahontas’s hair isn’t so unbelievable after all.
Comic was made by Amy Mebberson.
2 Historically accurate age
Adorable! As mentioned before, Pocahontas was around ten years old around the time John Smith began bothering her Native American tribe. With that in mind, this art probably is a more accurate Disney depiction of the princess. She and Kocoum did court each other at age fourteen as well.
She was barely twenty one when John Rolfe, Pocahontas (aka Rebecca), and her son Thomas visited England. They even travelled with the accursed man who kidnapped her, John Argall.
Despite the colonizers poor treatment of Native Americans, the people of England were happily ignorant and would disapprove of their mistreatment.
Pocahontas was a pawn for the colonizers to show England that they were at peace with the tribes.
Pocahontas perished on their way back to the Americas after a dinner. According to all records, she was in good health so it’s very likely she was poisoned. Who it could have been who poisoned her is lost to history. There were records that she met John Smith and yelled at him in England for his mistreatment of her people. How ironic would it be if he was at fault and we made them romantically involved in Disney?
She wasn’t even allowed to be buried with her people, and her ashes are still somewhere in England. At this point they can never be returned as we don’t know which ashes are hers anymore.
Artist is unknown.
1 Sleek hair, sleek beard
Paint with all the colors of your beard! The white people would probably leave because they are jealous of her beard. If her hair is so good, imagine if she had a beard! We need more women with beards in our lives. In fact, that should be Disney’s inspiration for a new Disney princess.
Buzzfeed has no chill when it comes to what they’ll do with a picture of a princess. They really like messing with the hair especially. Like many of the other on this list, Beardahontas is part of a series of princesses with facial hair including Mulan, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Aurora, and even Nala.
Well, to end our story about the real Pocahontas, her father passed on only a year after he learned of his daughter’s demise due to grief of having not saved her. With all this dark history in mind, the whole movie and sequel feels in bad taste. It sounds like John Smith was worse than the governor, at least for the Native Americans. Maybe Pocahontas is an attempt to ease white people guilt. With that in mind, maybe it’s a good thing that this movie is fading out of pop culture.
On a more cheerful note, can you imagine standing next to Beardahontas with her silken beard caressing your face in the wind?
Artist is unknown.