Pocahontas and Heraclitus

The other day I looked up information about the philosopher Heraclitus. I knew that in The School of Athens Raphael had painted Michelangelo's features on the figure of Heraclitus (see detail above), but I didn't know much about the philosopher himself. I learned that Heraclitus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher (or in art history terms, one who lived during the Archaic period). He is best known for emphasizing that the universe is constantly changing, a sentiment which is typified in this phrase attributed to him: "No man steps in the same river twice."

I realized later that same day, when listening to a Disney soundtrack with Sam, that Pocahontas basically sings these same words in her song, "Just Around the Riverbend." The song (see clip HERE) starts with the phrase, "What I love most about rivers is you can't step in the same river twice" (my emphasis). Who knew that Pocahontas, a Native American during the early colonial period, was well versed in ancient Greek philosophy? ;) More seriously, though, I think that this subtle (albeit ahistorical) nod at philosophy does help to emphasize wisdom and perspicacity of Pocahontas's character. (She also has some interesting post-Equal-Rights-Movement sentiment in "Colors of the Wind," which is interesting given that this story is set during the colonial era, but that's a different ahistorical point!)

On a side note, I also wanted to mention that I've decided that Pocahontas's singing voice (sung by Judy Kuhn) is my second favorite voice of Disney female characters. (It is second only to that of Aurora, who has always been my favorite Disney singer). Lately I've had a lot of time to scrutinize the voices of Disney characters with Sam's soundtracks, and many of the female voices are a bit too nasaly or "forward" to my liking. The voices of Rapunzel (from "Tangled") and Meg (from "Hercules") are my least favorite, I think. Pocahontas/Judy Kuhn has a really nice "mix" sound, though, which I like a lot.