This is the seventh article in the evaluation of the Disney Princess movie series.
The movie to be reviewed today is "Pocahontas (Pocahontas)". This movie and the subsequent "Mulan" and "The Princess and the Frog" are both Disney's princess movies after entering the golden age and growing courage. The series of hands-off attempts not only focus more on the issues that people of color face in different historical environments-the social status of black American women in a specific period (as for Princess Jasmine in "Aladdin", the theme of people of color It’s irrelevant to the theme of the whole movie), but also dare to draw and adapt real people who have had a major impact in history (American colonization, Mulan joins the army for his father,), instead of just adapting fairy tales or folk Anecdote within the comfort zone.
Although the first two of these three films ("Pocahontas" and "Mulan") have acceptable market reaction and public opinion evaluation, they have succeeded in three consecutive films for "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin". For the works that have established the quasi-ACE status of the princess series in Disney’s IP, the performance of not advancing or retreating seems to prove that this route seems to be incompatible with the princess series. Therefore, although "Pocahontas" is still a movie produced during the Disney Renaissance, in my opinion, since the beginning of this film, Disney's princess series has entered a bottleneck period of more than ten years .
In the "Kingdom Hearts" series that has almost all the princess series included, as of "Frozen" (due to the development cycle of "Kingdom Hearts 3", "Pocahontas" should not have been included when it was released. There is room for time in the game), only three are not included-"Pocahontas", "Brave" and "Princess and the Frog". Considering that "Brave" belongs to the adopted goddaughter, it is excusable not to be included, and the fact that the first two daughters were not included is enough to explain the status of the two films in the eyes of Disney and Square Enix as an outsider.
Personally, "Pocahontas" does not have a great appetite for me. First, because it is involved in historical themes for the first time , it is extremely easy for people to unconsciously take personal historical views in real life when watching movies. Substitute into the magical world that is supposed to be wild (and "Pocahontas" is also the first movie in the princess series without any magic at all), thus breaking the magical atmosphere and reality that Disney movies should have presented Disengagement; second , some problems in the film's narrative make it possible to fully explain the story of "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast". The film length of about 80 minutes is completely insufficient in this film. There is a kind of story suddenly. At the same time, due to the complexity of the real historical subject matter (American colonial events), such a movie should have used a longer time to slowly tell the story more clearly and transform the characters’ emotions. The performance is more natural, so 80 minutes is really not enough in this movie.
Contrary to the film that "carries too much, but neglects to tell", since I really have no love for this film, I don't think it is necessary to spend too much criticism on the hearts of fans who love this film. , So in this article, I will not be as praising as my previous reviews, but will briefly mention a few shortcomings to quickly pass this article.
Awkward historical subject
First of all, the choice of the subject matter of the film is very ridiculous. The historical background of the film is set during the colonial period of the British Empire on the North American continent, and the villain corresponding to the native Indians set in the film is the colonizer of the British Empire. However, as far as the American children and teenagers are the main viewers of Disney movies, they are the descendants of the villains in the film. I don't know how the children who had studied history had reacted when they saw this plot setting. At least I feel a little embarrassed for them when I watch this movie.
Due to the selection of the real historical background, the ending of the film is actually of little significance-after all, we have already learned the bloody and brutal ending from the history books. Because of this, the resistance of the Indians appears to the audience more like a man’s arm when the tide is gone, and the heroic lobbying of Poka Conti is like a marriage between the two countries (though whether it is in the movie or in history Poka Conti and Smith In the end, they were not together). The short-term peace brought by the film "the invaders retreat, the Indians keep their homeland" in the film, the seemingly peaceful ending of the years is also unconvincing. As a result, the selected historical background and the temporary ending inconsistent with the final ending in history made the film lose the magic power of "let the audience into another world" that the movie should have.
In addition, although the film chose Boca Conti as the character prototype, the content of the film actually deviates too much from the real Boca Conti in history. It is rumored that at the time of the rescue of Smith incident at the end of the film, Pocahontas Conti was only 10 years old. In addition, Pocahontas Conti did not have a romantic relationship with the male protagonist in the film. The new male protagonist in "Yuan 2" is married, which also makes the traditional "princess-prince" pairing in the film strange and untenable.
Hasty plot ending
The biggest problem with the script of this film is that the final climax and ending of the film are too hasty . In the evaluation of the previous three princess movies, I was able to find the metaphors for the central idea throughout the film-"The Little Mermaid" uses sound as a metaphor for the right to speak, and "Beauty and the Beast" uses a reading metaphor to understand and understand Respect, the magic lamp used in "Aladdin" metaphors that greed restricts freedom. But in "Pocahontas in the Wind", the first half mainly talks about listening to the inner voice and respecting nature. In the famous song "Colors of the Wind", it also implicitly mentions the blind spots of fetishism and the respect for spirituality. Among the themes involved, listening to the inner voice is the most boring and palest thought; at the climax of the war between the Indians and the British colonists, the only theme that remains at this time It was this pale "listening to the inner voice". In the eyes of the audience, Baojia Conti's entanglement was easily broken by the result of a "wagging arrow = compass" dream interpretation, and he made a heroic move to save people. In the end, the most important truce decision was actually made under weak persuasion to "be tolerant and not war." Then, it seemed that it was necessary to make some smoke-smelling finishing touches for the battle scenes on the string. The villain Raleigh stood up for the screenwriter and shot the male protagonist full of evil, which aroused public outrage from the crowd who did not know the truth. In the end, at the cost of his own expulsion, he got a seemingly futile ending of the film.
Many of the previous dialogues and lyrics have been lost in the second half of the film and I have to wonder whether the plot of the film is like "Pocahontas" has been castrated halfway . Among them, the necklace Baojiaconti inherited from his mother was supposed to play a more important role in the transformation of the character's motivation and the awakening of identity, but it basically did nothing in the second half of the plot. Regardless of historical facts, I personally think that at the beginning of the film, Baojiaconti’s childhood memories with his mother will be added, and the theme similar to "tolerance to people is equal to respect for nature" is implicit in Baojiaconti. The bond with the mother may allow this prop to carry a more important role in the subsequent plot, and at the same time make the central idea of the film more prominent.
Undoubted picture effects
The above mentioned so many shortcomings does not mean that the film is useless, Disney has never disappointed on the screen. In order to make Poka Conti appear smart and stretched in the animation, the characterization of Poka Conti seems to use live action copying technology again. A closer look at the interaction between Poka Conti and other characters in the play will reveal their number of frames. They are all completely different, as if the characters in TV dramas and movies have been cut into the same picture. In addition, the film boldly uses a background composed of gorgeous gradient colors, and the effect of using the floating side of the leaves to show the wind is also refreshing. If you still can’t feel the beauty of these pictures when watching a movie, I strongly recommend to take a look at "Pocahontas 2". Under the guidance of cost saving as the first objective, both character work and leaf special effects have shrunk. You can't see it, let alone the broken personality and the illogical plot, then you will definitely miss the beautiful look and feel that a generation has brought to you.
Although the shortcomings of "Pocahontas" are easily magnified by the previous three successful princess movies, the shortcomings of "Pocahontas" are easily magnified too obviously, but I have to admit that "Pocahontas" is still a favorite of many people today. The princess movie, the legacy of the script from its adaptation of historical themes was inherited and carried forward by the follow-up "Avatar", which has created another cross-age classic. Disney’s adventures and breakthroughs in this movie will be worthwhile. People will always remember.
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