Pocahontas (franchise)

Disney's Pocahontas
Original work The historical figure of Pocahontas
Films and television
Films Pocahontas (1995)
Direct-to-video Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)
Games
Video games
Audio
Soundtracks
Miscellaneous
Theme park attractions

Pocahontas is a Disney media franchise that commenced in 1995 with the theatrical release of Pocahontas.

Film

Pocahontas

Pocahontas is a 1995 American animated musical romance-drama film and is the 33rd Disney animated feature film. It was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and had a limited release to theaters on June 23, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures. It belongs to the era known as the Disney Renaissance, from 1989 to 1999.

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World is a 1998 straight-to-video sequel to the 1995 Disney film Pocahontas. The sequel focuses on Pocahontas' journey to London, England with John Rolfe to negotiate for peace between the two nations, although her death is omitted from the film's ending.

Video games

Disney's Pocahontas

Disney's Pocahontas is a video game based on the 1995 film of the same name, was released on the Sega Genesis in 1996. The Sega title was developed by Funcom on contract with Disney. It was followed by a later release for the Game Boy and PlayStation on June 10, 1996, nearly a year after the film's premiere. A Super NES version of the game was under development around the same time as the Genesis version, but was canceled due to development being too far behind to coincide with the Genesis release.

Disney's Animated Storybook: Pocahontas

Disney's Animated Storybook: Pocahontas is a part of the Disney's Animated Storybook game series.

Theme park attractions

The Spirit of Pocahontas

The Spirit of Pocahontas was a stage show. It was performed in the Fantasyland Theater at Disneyland in California and on the backlot theater that was originally constructed for the Beauty and the Beast stage show at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It opened at Fantasyland on June 23, 1995 and ran through September 4, 1997. It opened on June 23, 1995 at Disney's Hollywood Studios and closed after eight months in February 1996. The show ran for half an hour with special effects and a score and songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. The show played five times each day.[1]

The musical told the story of Pocahontas through the perspective of her Native American tribe. Storyteller, Werowance, and the Powhatan tribe tell the story of Pocahontas as they remember it. When Pocahontas is summoned, Werowance takes on the role of her father, Chief Powhatan. To represent the English settlers, members of the tribe don silver ceremonial masks. English adventurer, John Smith, materializes from a burning campfire. The puppet face of Grandmother Willow appears on a huge willow tree to offer guidance to Pocahontas and John Smith.

Pocahontas le Spectacle

Pocahontas le Spectacle was a stage show that opened on May 12, 1996 in the Chaparral Theater in the Frontierland section of Disneyland Paris. It dealt with much of the same story as The Spirit of Pocahontas. Audience members were given the opportunity to watch the "filming" of the movie Pocahontas, and some volunteers were asked to take the stage as extras in the production. The entire show was done in a combination of English and French. The show’s run ended on August 29, 1999.[2]

Like The Spirit of Pocahontas, the show retells the story of the Disney film version of Pocahontas from the perspective of the storyteller, Werowance, and the Powhatan tribe.

Pocahontas Indian Village

Pocahontas Indian Village is a part of the Frontierland section of Disneyland Park in Paris, France. Pocahontas Indian Village: Just Around the River Bend is a playground based on a traditional Native American settlement.[3]

Pocahontas and her Forest Friends

Pocahontas and her Forest Friends was a live stage show at Disney's Animal Kingdom at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It took place at the Camp Minnie-Mickey land at Grandmother Willow’s Grove, which is a 350-seat outdoor theater built for Pocahontas and her Forest Friends. The show opened on April 22, 1998 and closed in 2008. It was a 12-minute show.

The show was about Pocahontas from the 1995 Disney film of the same name. In the show, Pocahontas and Grandmother Willow, along with a new young tree character named Sprig and a host of live animals, teach the audience about the beauty of nature and how to live with Mother Nature in peace and harmony.[4]

Music

Pocahontas: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack

Pocahontas: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 1995 Disney animated film, Pocahontas. It contains songs from the film written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, conducted by David Friedman, and performed by Judy Kuhn, Mel Gibson, Linda Hunt, Jim Cummings and David Ogden Stiers among others, and singles by Jon Secada and Shanice, and Vanessa Williams, along with the film's score composed by Alan Menken. It was released by Walt Disney Records on May 23, 1995 on CD and audio cassette.

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World soundtrack

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack EP from the 1998 Disney film, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World.

Other

Disney on Ice: Forever Love featuring Pocahontas

Disney on Ice: Forever Love featuring Pocahontas was a Disney on Ice show, which made its debut in 1996, a year after the release of Disney's Pocahontas. The ice show toured the United States and the world until 2000.

Mickey and friends presented many classic Disney animated films on Ice, but the main attraction of this show was Disney's newest animated film, Pocahontas. All of the stories presented in the show are about one major theme: a love that lasts forever. Pocahontas's love is presented to the audience as she and her true love, John Smith, paint with all of the "colors of the wind," as they do in the film.

Controversy

Pocahontas is the most well-known example of a Native American woman in mainstream media, and the reception of the 1995 film she stars in has been controversial.

Despite Disney's claims that the Pocahontas franchise was meant to counter prejudice and create cooperation, critics have argued that the storyline contains unacceptable historical inaccuracies.[5] These include the fact that Pocahontas was not the real name of the woman depicted in the film, and that a romantic relationship never existed between her and Smith. Pocahontas II has been named as a negative portrayal of Native Americans in film, due to the apparent comparison of Pocahontas to a wild animal.

Critics say the franchise contains harmful stereotypes, overlooks real history, and overshadows the opportunity for real Native American women to be represented in a fair way.[5]

Characters

The asterisk (*) means that some characters are mentioned or made cameos.

     = Direct to video

Historical people/animals Pocahontas
(1995)		 Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World
(1998)
Pocahontas Green tick Green tick
John Smith Green tick Green tick
Governor Ratcliffe Green tick Green tick
Chief Powhatan Green tick Green tick
King James Green tick* Green tick
Grandmother Willow Green tick Green tick
Nakoma Green tick Green tick
Percy Green tick Green tick
Meeko Green tick Green tick
Flit Green tick Green tick
Ben and Lon Green tick Red X
Thomas Green tick Red X
Wiggins Green tick Red X
Kekata Green tick Red X
John Rolfe Red X Green tick
Queen Anne Red X Green tick
Mrs. Jenkins Red X Green tick
Uttamatomakkin Red X Green tick
William Shakespeare Red X Green tick*

References

  1. ↑ Epstein, Benjamin (June 23, 1995). "The Spirit of Pocahontas". Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Pocahontas le Spectacle". April 29, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Pocahontas Indian Village".
  4. ↑ Huffman, Alan (2006). "Pocahontas and her Forest Friends". Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Edgerton, G.; Jackson, K. (1996). "Redesigning Pocahontas: Disney, The "White Man's Indian," And The Marketing Of Dreams". Journal of Popular Film and Television. 2 (24): 90–98.
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