Pocahontas (franchise)

Pocahontas is a Disney 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 animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. 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 game

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.

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.

• The Virginia Company
• Steady As the Beating Drum
• Just Around the Riverbend
• Listen with Your Heart
• Mine, Mine, Mine
• Colors of the Wind
• If I Never Knew You
• Savages

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. 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.

Characters

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

     = Direct to video

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