Missing Matoaka
“Missing Matoaka” is an alternative audio track to Disney’s “Pocahontas” designed to set the historical record straight. Matoaka—her real name—was not the heroine of some romantic adventure as portrayed in the Disney film and popular culture. In reality, she was the unfortunate protagonist in one of the first documented cases of a missing and murdered indigenous woman.
Available at MissingMatoaka.ca, this alternative audio is scored with music, sound effects, and dialogue that come together to tell the real story of Matoaka and was created using indigenous voices and instruments to ensure its authenticity.
I love the purpose and mission of this project, but I also love the project itself. As someone who cherishes creation and is always impressed and enamored by new forms of creativity, inspiration, and art, I love the central idea behind this mission:
Alternative audio tracks for the film.
The correction of historical inaccuracies through the co-opting of original media.
Writes, actors, musicians, and sound designers working together to transform one thing into another.
It’s brilliant. Incredibly difficult and time-consuming but brilliant.
Muskrat Magazine has done this project to set the historical record straight, which is a worthy and much-needed mission, but just think what could be next for an ambitious writer or sound designer who wants to change another film to fit their own vision.
Making something that didn’t previously exist is something we should all admire.
Creating an entirely new category of things that didn’t previously exist is even more impressive.