MovieChat Forums > Moana (2016) Discussion > Does Pocahontas feel native to you?

Does Pocahontas feel native to you?


She is really tall and sort of has a model shape.
I'm not sure if she left any impression when I saw the movie. I've always thought her design looked kind of generic

I guess it could have been the movie's style. If I recall John Smith had sort of a Ken Barbie look to him.
With flowing blonde locks, etc

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I feel like with Moana they did a really good job making her look authentic. Mulan also did a goor job in that department
For Pocahontas though I never really think of her that way
Even her clothing feels off

I'll have to watch that movie again tho
Only saw it once.....

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Well we could argue she and John Smith are too perfect look wise. I am not a expert on native Americans but judging by the real live indans I seen in Western tv they can have good cheek bones and perfect straight hair. http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/pma2WB7UrUc/hqdefault.jpg

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Cheek bones and straight hair aren't what I was complaining about.... I said she was too tall, lol
Cheekbones and straight hair are the typical features for them.
If you don't think you've seen any natives irl, you probably have and are unaware. (Mexicans)

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I think, maybe, she did not look like a typical native america.

I mean, she caught the eye of two englishmen, married one of them, and the guy after John Smith brought her to England, where she became popular almost like a celebrity. And this was in the 17th century.

All these suggest she might have looked "different" than the norm.

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Well they did used to take natives back with them to show off to their country.
So was probably her willingness rather than visual difference. After all, she saved his life.

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Well they did used to take natives back with them to show off to their country.


What? I have never once heard of that. And even if they did, Pocahontas was different. She was the first native American to be assimilated into English culture.

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What? I have never once heard of that.

Then you never studied it lol
She was taken back because she wanted to and saved John's life...got engaged to that other guy also
Not because she looked 'different'
That's absolutely rediculous

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Well they did used to take natives back with them to show off to their country.


I don't think the other poster meant Pocahontas, but in general. Your post seem to suggest this is a regular occurrence at that time.

If it is, then can you provide links or reference that prove that is was a regular occurrence in that time? (Late 16th century/early 17th).

Then you never studied it lol
She was taken back because she wanted to and saved John's life...got engaged to that other guy also
Not because she looked 'different'
That's absolutely rediculous


Far from ridiculous.

She looked different and exotic to the eyes of Caucasians. And most likely very beautiful as well. This is not hard to assume.

Being exotic looking is often associated with looking beautiful AND different. You don't need to study history to know that this a universal perception.

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I don't think the other poster meant Pocahontas, but in general. Your post seem to suggest this is a regular occurrence at that time.
They did. Starting back with Christopher Columbus. They would take natives back and have them preform for the royal court. All European settlers or conquistadors would bring back natives to show off. Pocahontas didn't go back alone either.

Far from ridiculous.

Nope.

She looked different and exotic to the eyes of Caucasians.

All of the women did.

And most likely very beautiful as well.
Yeah women in general.
Your assumption is idiotic.

All of the native women looked EXOTIC and different to them.
When people say _____ woman looks exotic they are referring to an ethnicity that they normally do not see. There is zero to say Pocahontas looked unlike other female Natives. She just happened to save John from being killed.

Facts.

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Well Squanto was taken to England and later returned to America where he eventually meet the pilgrims. Pocahontas was taken captive and ended up marrying a white guy. But she may have had an Indian husband who got killed fighting the English. She ended up going to England but ended up dying young (probably due to sickness).

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That's a myth. She had a brief encounter with John smith. She married John Rolfe. He raped her and passed her around to the other men at Jamestown. He took her to England where she was used in propaganda. She died supposedly of syphillus on the way back to the states at age 21.


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If you are asking about whether her physical appearance looks authentic enough, then yes.. I think Pocahontas looks like an authentic Native American. She has a round face, distinct cheekbones, and almost Asian like eyes. Not to mention straight black hair. This is very reminiscent of many Native American features. Even her best friend Nakoma looks very authentically Indian. I thought Disney did a good job faithfully drawing out the tribesmen.

I'm curious to see how Disney will make a Latina Disney princess. I think it's not a matter of "if" but "when"? I'm sure they will do a great job there too.

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Not really. Like you said, she's the most bland-looking female Disney character ever. Not helping that she has the personality of a rock, but considering "every rock and tree and creature has a life, a spirit and name" maybe this was intentional. She has a voluptuous figure, no nose for some reason, and even her actual clothing doesn't feel inspired by Native American work. It just looks like something that my sister would wear on a night out, but with a much shorter skirt.

One of the reasons I like Moana's design is that, despite early complaints that they were just making her look like a darker-skinned Anna or Rapunzel, the animators and designers actually put effort into making her look imperfect. They gave her a pudgier face, hair that actually hits her when she swings it, and an actual Polynesian outfit. Maybe it's just because of improved animation, but it genuinely looks like it was sewn by hand.

Maybe I'm just biased since I have a lot of problems with Pocahontas, but one thing that disappointed me most, but really pleased me with Moana, was the amount of cultural influences on the film.

Moana wasn't just a movie with a Polynesian protagonist. It genuinely feels like a Polynesian world. You can tell the directors and everyone working on it did years of research and got so many small details right, like how Moana, despite being the chief's daughter, is not considered royalty and is treated as such. Or even how they use tattoos to show their life experiences, and even adding a funny twist to it by making Maui's animated. Face it, if they made this film the same way they made Pocahontas, they'd just say the tattoos were there because it looked cool.

Whereas with Pocahontas, not only did they flat-out refuse an offer from an actual Native American tribe for help with the film's authenticity, they ended up just doing something not only culturally inaccurate, but also somewhat culturally insensitive. You kind of get the impression that you're not really watching a film where the crew spent years researching real cultures, but rather spent years researching how those cultures were portrayed in every other movie before it.

Hell, even the songs show how much more effort went into the authenticity of Moana. Half the songs in this movie's soundtrack are in the native language. Whereas in Pocahontas, most of the songs were just the usual Alan Menken music disguised as cultural music.

As for the actual historical stuff, well honestly, I feel the film would have been better in that regard if it had original characters in a story inspired by the story of Pocahontas. If Disney had changed the names of the characters they could have gotten away with their original story. But they tried to pass it off as "the true story of Pocahontas", which is why a lot of people were disappointed, and actually quite offended, by the film.

"How come nobody's ever tried to be a superhero?" - Dave Lizewski, 2010.

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One of the reasons I like Moana's design is that, despite early complaints that they were just making her look like a darker-skinned Anna or Rapunzel, the animators and designers actually put effort into making her look imperfect. They gave her a pudgier face, hair that actually hits her when she swings it, and an actual Polynesian outfit.
Can we really call those "imperfections" ?

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Compared to a character design like Pocahontas, yes.

"How come nobody's ever tried to be a superhero?" - Dave Lizewski, 2010.

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How? Simply different features
Maybe Pocahontas has more tall western model body ideal. but I'd hardly call Moana's look imperfection. Moreso fitting of her ethnicity
Moana was quite voluptuous as well

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Dunno why the Hawaiian critics hated it, then. It lost.

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What?

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I know next to nothing about Polynesian myths or culture, same goes for Native Americans, apart from depictions in Western media (I don't live in the US).

For me, Moana had a very myth-like narration. I felt like I was being swept up in this huge pool of rich mythology and stories (whether they are authentic or not). The beautiful score with polynesian lyrics probably added to that feel.

With Pocahontas, I never felt like I was told a story entirely Powhatan. I didn't like the film at all, so I am biased, but Pocahontas was a story about the conflict between natives and colonists and it was not Pocahonta's story.

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Well, then we can agree to disagree. Pocahontas' design was the opposite of generic for my taste. She had a quite unique and distinctive design.

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