Disney's Pocahontas and the Politics of Representation: Commodifying the Postcolonial Exotic

This paper critically examines Disney’s Pocahontas (1995) as a case study in the commodification and distortion of Indigenous histories and identities within global popular culture. Though marketed as a multicultural and feminist corrective to earlier Disney films, Pocahontas is shown to reproduce colonial ideologies through narrative romanticization, historical inaccuracy, and the exoticization of cultural difference. Drawing on theoretical insights from postcolonial studies, feminist critique, and media scholarship, including the works of Graham Huggan, bell hooks, Leigh H. Edwards, and Paula Gunn Allen, the paper analyzes the film's portrayal of the titular character as a mediating figure who facilitates colonial reconciliation through personal sacrifice. Through song lyrics, dialogue, and visual design, the film domesticates and aestheticizes Indigenous identity, transforming a history of violence into a consumable fantasy. The paper argues for the need to reclaim Indigenous narratives from such corporate framings and to center voices that challenge, rather than comfort, dominant cultural myths.