Disney's Pocahontas Argumentative Essay

Another inaccuracy portrayed in the film is the romance. Realistically there was not a romantic relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas because of her age. She considered him a father figure. Even though she saved his life and earned respect from the settlers there was no teary-eyed goodbye. Also in the movie her body is more covered

Disney, a name that spread around the world; a mass media company; a company with a revenue of more than 50 billion dollars a year; Pocahontas, among other famous story are brought to awareness by Disney to the silver screen. Disney’s1995 Pocahontas movie grossed more than 140 million dollar in total. Disney claims the film is “responsible, accurate and respectful”. But how can Disney make such promises when people’s age and half of the plot never occurred?

Pocahontas would be brought back into the picture after the English kidnapped her. She converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe, bringing peace between the two sides. Pocahontas would then be brought to England as an example of a “Savage” being turn to Christianity. After she dies, the peace between the Natives and the settlers slowly diminishes. In March 22, 1622, the Natives would attack the English, killing around 400 settlers. This attack backfires on the Native since the English would attack back more drastically. To end the book, Price talks about John Smiths life after Jamestown and his opinion on the settlement. The story also addresses the beginning of Slaves entry in America, which would be an important part in the history of America. This book overall informs us of early America history.

There are five sociological concepts I am going to explain. And I will be using scenes from the Disney movie Pocahontas as examples. The five are: norms, role conflict, values, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

It is said that there are many different versions to a story. There is one persons story, then there is an other person’s story, and then, there is the truth. “Our memories change each time they are recalled. What we recall is only a facsimile of things gone by.” Dobrin, Arthur. "Your Memory Isn't What You Think It Is." (online magazine). Psychology Today. July 16, 2013. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201307/your-memory-isnt-what-you-think-it-is. Every time a story is told, it changes. From Disney movies to books, to what we tell our friends and colleagues. Sometimes the different sides to the story challenge the

Many people believe the 1995 film, Pocahontas, to be the true story of a young Powhatan woman. However, the story lacks facts. Pocahontas isn’t even her real name. Matoaka, the real Pocahontas, faced mush more misery than the movie showed. Mataoka’s life in America, life in England, a comparison between the movie and real life, and how fictional portrayals of real people effect society today will show you that Disney’s inaccuracies could change history.

After reading both of John Smith's accounts, I think that Pocahontas never saved John Smith. Both his pieces of writing give many clues to why this is true. From background information, it is known that the Virginia Company censored what writing was being sent back to Europe and England. They were instructed to write

As young children we are often misled to believe that the stories and movies we are exposed to are presumably based on factual history, but are in reality myths, keeping the truthful, important, and fair facts hidden. Amonute is an accurate example of learning the real events that occurred in a person’s life while the typical myth of Pocahontas saved an Englishmen from being killed by her father. In the beginning of the book we are briefly introduced to Pocahontas, the Powhatan people and the English colonists. As the book continues we follow Pocahontas when she is kidnapped, her married life, and her trip to London where she got sick because of foreign illnesses and died. Camilla Townsends “Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma” wants Pocahontas’ true story to unfold because she is worthy of respect for her bravery and sacrifice and because “everyone subverted her life to satisfy their own needs to believe that the Indians loved and admired them” (Townsend, pg. xi). I also believe that the author was trying to argue that even though the Englishmen believed that the Native Americans were uncivilized and lived like savages, that instead they were wise people.

[1] Disney’s Pocahontas has understandably received a lot of flak about the historically inaccurate story that is told about the legendary Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. There is a good reason for that. The movie does little that can be construed as historically accurate, yet Disney claims that was never their intent. Disney, in their previous movies, has been attacked for being racist and unsympathetic to racial minorities. Their answer was a movie whose sole purpose, as stated by Disney, was to promote racial tolerance. The question is, then can a movie promote racial tolerance when the issue is built on false history, history that if told accurately would depict the exact opposite?

John Smith's tales of the Indian princess, Pocahontas, have, over time, encouraged the evolution of a great American myth. According to this myth, which is common knowledge to most Americans, Pocahontas saved Smith from being killed by her father and his warriors and then fell in love with John Smith. Some versions of the myth popular among Americans include the marriage of Smith and Pocahontas. Although no one can be sure of exactly what happened almost four-hundred years ago, most historians agree that the myth is incorrect. Pocahontas did not save John Smith's life from "savages" and never showed any affection for him. The events of her life differ greatly from the myth Americans have created.

A quote from the website called (¨Pocahontas Leadership and Legacy¨), it is said that, ¨She had preferred to live with the English and kept her new found faith breaking barriers on religious freedoms.¨ This is a legacy of Pocahontas because her name meant ¨playful one¨ or ¨naughty child¨ and she always wanted adventure and exploration. As said in the website called (¨Pocahontas Leadership and Legacy¨), it says, ¨She, in her efforts broke down walls of religious freedoms, and interracial inequality all while changing the demographic of stereotypes early settlers had on native Americans. Which led to enriching our country financially, ethically, and socially directly affecting the prosperity of our county as we know it.¨ This is a legacy of Pocahontas because she wanted people to stop the fights and arguments to have peace. (¨Encyclopedia Virginia/Pocahontas¨) says, ¨¨In fact, she did not become a celebrity until the 1820s, when southerners sought a colonial heroine to compete with the story of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts and so establish Virginia (more accurately) as the earlier of the two English colonies.¨ This is a legacy because it shows that at one point, people didn't know about Pocahontas and that it took awhile to find out about her. These are some of the legacies of

In the Walt Disney movie, Pocahontas and John Smith were both young adults when they first met. Pocahontas was very alethic, and wore a one-strapped leather short dress and she had a tattoo on her arm. John Smith was a tall, handsome, clean shaved man that wore

While being the first Disney princess film to be based off historical events, it is quite ironic because it ditches most of the history in favor of a more romanticized version which I know the real John Smith would have appreciated. Just as with Aladdin, John Smith (Though technically British) sports an American accent while his compatriots speak with a British accent, further separates John Smith as a good guy from his fellow men who are seen as the villains. It also further depicts the idea of the white savior, where the native people need to rely on an outsider to save them from themselves. I know it’s a children’s film, but despite that it completely glosses over the violent interactions that the colonizers and the Powhatans had with another and changes the real historical figures into Disney-fied versions of Pocahontas and John Smith. Let’s just say John Smith wasn’t the most handsome of men as he was depicted in the film and Pocahontas was much, much younger than she was in the film when he arrived in Jamestown.

“I was a warrior that dreamed he could bring peace, sooner or later, though, you always have to wake up,” (Cameron, 2009).

Pocahontas. Americans know her as the beautiful, Indian woman who fell in love with the white settler John Smith and then threw her body upon the poor white captive to protect him from being brutally executed by her own savage tribe. The magical world of Walt Disney came out with their own movie version several years ago portraying Pocahontas as a tan, sexy Barbie doll figure and John Smith as a blond-haired, blue-eyed muscular Ken doll. Although Disney attempts to instill racial tolerance, inter-racial friendship, and nonviolent resolutions in Pocahontas, they contribute to the inaccurate Indian woman stereotype that has evolved from such stories. While it can be argued that Disney has