page_title: Pocahontas (character)
section_title: Personality and design
hierarchical_section_title: Pocahontas (character) / Development / Personality and design
context_page_description: Pocahontas is a semi-fictional character who is the title character of Walt Disney Animation Studios's 33rd animated feature film Pocahontas, and its direct-to-video sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. The character and the events she goes through are loosely based on the actual historical figure Pocahontas.
  Pocahontas, as the daughter of a Native American paramount chief of the Powhatan paramountcy, is the first American Disney Princess. Pocahontas is also the first Disney Princess to have two love interests. In both films she is voiced by and physically modeled after Native American actress Irene Bedard, and her singing vocals were performed by Broadway singer Judy Kuhn.
  Pocahontas is the seventh member of the Disney Princess line-up.
context_section_description: Keane also wanted Pocahontas to be written as a confident adult, unlike Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989) or Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991). The film's producer, Jim Pentacost, viewed the character as "the strongest heroine we've ever had in a Disney film." Disney spokesman Howard Green said that the studio desired for the film to portray its Native American characters in a "real" and "fair" way, in contrast to the "very comic, broad" and inaccurate portrayal of Native Americans in Peter Pan (1953). Green also said that the studio did not want the film to reinforce stereotypes about indigenous peoples of North America. The film's crew met with Ray Adams, the chairman of the United Indians of Virginia, and showed him ten minutes of unfinished animation and the song "Colors of the Wind" to see if they had portrayed Pocahontas in a way which would not be offensive. Adams felt that the character's outfits were an accurate representation of Native American clothing and commented that Pocahontas was shown as "very beautiful and very intelligent and very loving, which the Native Americans are. We usually aren't portrayed as being loving, but the settlers would not have survived the first three winters if we had not been loving and helped them."
  Renowned for animating female characters such as Ariel, supervising animator Glen Keane was immediately tapped to draw the titular Indian princess. Following the demands of Jeffrey Katzenberg to make the title character "the most idealized and finest woman ever made", Keane first began to sought his inspirations for his depictions for Pocahontas from Shirley 'Little Dove' Custalow-McGowan and Devi White Dove, women he had met during the research trip to Virginia. Keane recalled meeting the women:
  So I turned around and there's this beautiful Indian woman walking up; a Native American. She said 'Are you Glen Keane? The animator that's going to do Pocahontas?' I said 'Well, yeah.' And then from behind another tree another woman came up and she said, 'Well, my name is Shirley Little Dove, and this is my sister Devi White Dove, and we are descended from Pocahontas.' And as they stood there, I mean I took a picture of both of them, and between their faces was Pocahontas' face in my mind – I could see her.
  Other inspirations were Christy Turlington, Natalie Belcon, Naomi Campbell, Jamie Pillow, white supermodel Kate Moss, Charmaine Craig, and Irene Bedard, who provided the character's speaking voice. Keane also looked to a 1620 depiction of Pocahontas from a history book, though Keane would state she was "not exactly a candidate for People's 'Most Beautiful' issue [so] I made a few adjustments to add an Asian feeling to her face." Pocahontas and all her tribesmen were depicted barefoot in the movie, presumably to signify their connection to nature. Due to the complexity of the color schemes, shapes, and expressions in the animation, a total of 55 animators worked on the design of Pocahontas' character alone, including Mark Henn and Pres Romanillos. Filipina college student Dyna Taylor was paid $200 to model for the character. She was given an image of the character that Keane autographed with the words "To Dyna, with gratitude for the inspiration you gave us." Disappointed that she was not credited in the film, Taylor considered suing Disney but was advised against doing so by a lawyer she consulted. Keane told The New York Times that he deemed Taylor's contributions to the film unworthy of a screen credit. Keane felt that the final version of the character was akin to a tribal version of Eve and less sexual and more athletic than earlier Disney character Jessica Rabbit.
caption: Animator Glen Keane likened Pocahontas to a tribal version of Eve.
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