Random Thread & The Interchangeable Inside Joke

[AmandaSparks730]

Grandmother Willow: Now then, there's something I want to show you. Look.
[dips her vine in the water in which glowing ripples begin to form]
Pocahontas: The ripples.
John Smith: What about them?
Grandmother Willow: So small at first, then look how they grow. But someone has to start them.
John Smith: They're not gonna listen to us.
Grandmother Willow: Young man, sometimes the right path is not the easiest one. Don't you see? Only when the fighting stops, can you be together.
[Pocahontas smiles]
John Smith: Alright, let's go talk to your father.
[Pocahontas and John hug each other]

 

[AmandaSparks730]

John Smith: Pocahontas...
Pocahontas: [hugs him] I'm so sorry.
John Smith: For what? This? I've gotten out of worse scrapes than this. Can't think of anything right now, but...
Pocahontas: [tearfully] It would've been better if we never met. None of this would've happened.
John Smith: Pocahontas, look at me. I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.
Nakoma: Pocahontas?
Pocahontas: I can't leave you.
John Smith: You never will. No matter what happens to me, I'll always be with you, forever.
[Pocahontas leaves]

 

[AmandaSparks730]

Lon: [Lon and Thomas are gazing at the new world for the first time] It's incredible!
Thomas: And it's all ours. I've never seen anything like it!
Ben: [approaching] It could look like Ratcliffe's knickers for all I care, so long as we get off the stinking boat!

 

[AmandaSparks730]

Pocahontas: [singing] You think I'm an ignorant "savage" and you've been so many places; I guess it must be so, but still I cannot see if the savage one is me. How can there be so much that you don't know? You don't know.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

[Percy is chasing Meeko]
John Smith: You see what I mean? Once two sides want to fight, nothing can stop them.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

Grandmother Willow: Come closer, John Smith.
[she inspects him]
Grandmother Willow: He has a good soul. And he's handsome, too.
John Smith: Oh, I like her.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

A song titled "If I Never Knew You" was cut after children in test audiences found it boring. At the time, it was almost fully animated, with the exception of color. The unfinished sequence was shown in ABC's 1997 airing of the film. For the 10th anniversary DVD release, the animation was completed and the song inserted back into the film, as well as a short reprise in the final scene.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

The Europeans using matchlock muskets was a nice touch. This is exactly what mariners would be using at the time, as the wheellock was too delicate and expensive and the snaphaunce (forerunner of the flintlock) was still too new and unreliable for general use (especially at sea).

 

[AmandaSparks730]

This is one of Disney animated movies inspired by a true story, the other being Mulan (1998).

 

[AmandaSparks730]

The Disney executives had all the secondary animal characters, such as Meeko and Flit, lose all their dialog in order to make the film a bit more serious.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

Animators working on the film regarded it as being one of the hardest films ever produced by the studio. The complex color schemes, angular shapes and facial expressions meant that the film was in production for 5 years. The hard work paid off, however. Pocahontas herself is now frequently cited as being one of the most beautifully and realistically animated characters in the Disney canon, her fluid movements mainly being attributed to rotoscoping.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

In their quest for authenticity, the Disney studios hired mostly Native American actors to do the voices. They also employed Native American consultants and had a session with a real shaman. Despite these efforts, prominent Native American activists issued an open letter condemning the film for its historical inaccuracies and stereotyping of the Indian people.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

"Pocahontas" was put into production at the same time as The Lion King (1994). Much of the animating talent at the studio opted to work on "Pocahontas" as they saw it as more of a prestige production than the latter film.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

The animation style is of a more flat and geometric appearance, first employed by the studio back in 1959 on Sleeping Beauty (1959) and in 1961 on One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). It would be a style that was re-used on Hercules (1997) (1997) and, to a lesser extent, on Mulan (1998) (1998).

 

[AmandaSparks730]

At the time, Disney cartoons traditionally featured a show-stopping musical number. Previous examples would include the "Kiss the Girl" segment from The Little Mermaid (1989) (1989), "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast (1991) (1991) and "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin (1992) (1992). This proved to be problematic however with "Pocahontas" as the story didn't really lend itself to such an ornate production number. Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken penned several songs, of which the leading contender was a song called "In the Middle of the River", but it was eventually dropped when it was decided that the song simply didn't fit within the dramatic context of the story.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

John Candy had provided a large amount of voice work into a character named "Redfeather", a turkey, and Pocahontas's sidekick. However after Candy's death in 1994, the concept was scrapped.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

Many at Disney had high hopes for the movie upon initial release. Then studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg regarded it as a more prestigious project than The Lion King (1994), and even believed that it had a chance of earning an Academy Award nomination for "Best Picture", following in the steps of Beauty and the Beast (1991). However, the movie was less successful commercially than was hoped. Because the film dealt with more adult themes and tones, it did not appeal to younger children as much as earlier Disney hits had.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

In the very first draft of the script the character of "Grandmother Willow" was written as a male character who was the spirit of the river, the character was named "Old Man River". The song "Just Around the Riverbend" was written for this character to be sung. Gregory Peck was offered the role and as much as it pained him to do it, turned down the role because he felt the title character needed a motherly figure to turn to for advice. Soon the filmmakers agreed with him and the character was changed.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

Pocahontas must be one of the few cartoon characters to be granted a proper "photo spread" in Harper's Bazaar. For the June 1995 edition, Gianni Versace, Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui and Isaac Mizrahi all designed special outfits for her which were then drawn by Disney animators for the magazine.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

In real life, Pocahontas would have been more likely to be topless.