His tainted track record casts an additional shadow on the Disney film. Of course, Gibson wasn't a controversy lightning rod at the time, but he's come under fire over the years for racially incendiary language and rhetoric. Voicing John Smith is none other than Mel Gibson. RELATED: Disney Ditches Tucker Carlson Over Anti-Black Lives Matter Backlash The film also cast several Native American actors, most notably James Apaumut Fall as Kocoum and Russell Means as Powhatan. However, it's worth noting that Pocahontas' singing voice is that of Judy Kuhn, who is Jewish. That said, Pocahontas did contribute one culturally significant milestone to the Disney legacy: Irene Bedard, who plays Pocahontas, is the first non-white actress to be the speaking voice of a Disney Princess (Jasmine, the first non-white Disney Princess, was portrayed by white actress Linda Larkin). Set in the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction, it's another situation of a hot potato that Disney didn't successfully handle. One might recall Song of the South, or maybe not, because the 1946 film was never released on home video due to criticism of its racist portrayals and stereotypes. Disney's Pocahontas Had Troubles From Its Very ConceptÄisney has a history with insensitive treatments. Although she was called Pocahontas, that is a Algonquian nickname that roughly translates to "playful one." Additionally, the filmmakers declined to consult the Powhatan Renape Nation, according to Chief Roy Crazy Horse, who roundly criticized Disney's Pocahontas for its inaccuracies. Pocahontas' name was Amonute, and she went by Matoaka privately. The story was changed because the filmmakers deemed the true tale too violent and complicated. She was also later forced to travel to Europe as an ambassador/attraction, and died of pneumonia on the voyage back to her homeland. She actually married John Rolfe, not John Smith some historians maintain that marriage was forced upon her after a kidnapping.
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PRINCESS POCAHONTAS MOVIE
The real Pocahontas was 12 to 13 years old during the period the Disney movie covers, yet she's depicted as 18 to 19, according to supervising animator Glen Keane. Related: Disney's Splash Mountain Ride To Be Remade With Princess & the Frog Theme So, already we're starting on fragile ground. history and the colonization of the New World that led to the utter devastation of the Native American population.
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The story is set against the backdrop of early U.S. Pocahontas was Disney's first animated film based on history, and it's in the extremely loose adaptation where it becomes so seriously problematic. Instead, Pocahontas only narrowly defeated Batman Forever (then in its second week) at the box office, and won only two Oscars, for Best Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song, for "Colors of the Wind." Animators even turned down work on other Disney projects like The Lion King, thinking Pocahontas would be more prestigious than other movies in production. Studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg predicted that, not only would Pocahontas be a commercial hit, it would earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, like Beauty and the Beast just a few years before it. Before the 1995 release of Pocahontas, Disney executives had high hopes for the film.