erm Last time I talked about what I think is the best scene in what I think is the best movie, and this time I’m talking about what I think is the best scene in an incredibly blah and more than a little problematic movie.
I like this scene because:
a) Pocahontas’s dive, while illogical for many reasons (such as death) is cool.
b) It shows that Nakoma and Flit are right about everything and also that the movie, for whatever reason, doesn’t think so.
c) I have tipped a canoe and it sucked. But afterwards I thought, “Ah, whatever, now I’m like Nakoma.” Which is not true but I can dream.
The movie is blah because its main characters have no character and John Smith is the worst. It’s more than a little problematic because it seems to suggest that the inherent wrongs of colonialism are all down to one dude, who is coded as remarkably gay as well, so, you know. Colonialism is all good, otherwise. Also Pocahontas was a real person, and was kidnapped and held for ransom which makes the movie’s choice to turn her initial experience with colonialism into a boring love story a whole other level of uncomfortable.
Of all the subjects to make a Disney movie about, the impending genocide of America’s First Nations people was probably not the best one to choose.
But it’s a good scene.
