Pocahontas Research Paper

Pocahontas was born in 1595, with the given name of Matoaka and later got the nickname Pocahontas. She has been known as the favorite daughter of the powerful Powhatan Chief but she is also famous in history for contributing greatly toward the survival of the Jamestown colony. When the English colonists settled in Jamestown in 1607, there became tension between the Colonists and the Powhatan Indians. During the 1600s, the leader of the Colonists, Captain John Smith was caught by the Powhatan’s men. It has been said that Pocahontas saved Smith’s life and has had great influence on early relationships between the colonists and Indians. During Pocahontas’s life, she has faced many tragedies but triumphs have also played a role in her time.

The movie "The New World" tells the history of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. The movie goes on to tell the events that took place in the creation and development of Jamestown. The story involves a heavy romance between Pocahontas and John Smith while explaining multiple events that took place. The movie is questioned whether or not it is historically accurate or completely inaccurate. Based on the research of the characters and the events that took place, "The New World" shows more historical accuracy than inaccuracy.

Although the Jamestown Colony stands today as the first permanent English settlement, the colony is also known for their hardships while sailing and after landing in Virginia. While the Disney movie “Pocahontas” is based loosely on the reality of the Jamestown Colony, having some similarities, there are some differences between the movie and its reality.

One of the things Pocahontas is most known for saving John Smith’s life. It all started when one day, the Pamunkey tribe caught a white man. The man was to be presented to Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powhatan, that night. The village prepared large feasts, and Pocahontas was thrilled to finally get the chance to see one of the mysterious outsiders who had come to their homeland. When the man was finally brought out, many villagers screamed in horror when he glanced at them, although Pocahontas didn’t understand why everyone was afraid of this man to be called “John Smith”. Pocahontas’ father declared that the handsome man with the blue eyes was to be killed! The toughest warrior poised his arms above his head with a club in hand and… Pocahontas

A major contrast between the Disney Stories and movie of Pocahontus, was that they had failed to mention her kidnapping. Pocahontas’ kidnapping was unjust and surprising as it was by the community of the man who would be her husband and later the father to her child, although Pocahontas had already been married since the age of twelve or thirteen to a man named Kocoom. Pocahontas’ early marriage was then ended when her warrior Kocoom had then disappeared, for reasons unknown. After this disappearance, Pocahontas later then married to John Rolfe as she had the choice to choose any man she wanted without the fear of being judged and called cold for her remarriage.

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

There are a few historical inaccuracies in the movie that I am already aware of and plan on questioning. Why doesn’t the movie show more death? Why is her age not accurate in the movie? Why is Pocahontas portrayed as an only child instead of a sibling of 19 other children?

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.

The new world was accurate for the most part, but there were few inaccuracies that occurred during the movie. For one, it is not historically proven that the relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith was a romance relationship, as portrayed in the movie. In The New World, Smith leaves Jamestown because of orders from the king, when in reality it has been proven he left Jamestown in 1609 because of a wounded knee when his powder horn exploded. In the movie Pocahontas is shown being given over to the settlers, this is inaccurate because Pocahontas was kidnapped

John Smith was born in 1580, so he might have been a 27 year old blond and ruggedly handsome young man, but it is doubtful. But as for Pocahontas, she was born in 1595 and probably around the age of 11 or 12 when she first met John Smith in 1607. Pocahontas, when meeting John Smith, being such a small, young girl, not a woman, was not likely to have yet come into the womanly figure that the Walt Disney Company animated, if ever at all. Images of Pocahontas portray her as being shorter and plumper than the Barbie doll figure Disney gave her on screen. The clothing that Disney draws the characters wearing, especially Pocahontas, even rings of falsities because it was customary for them to have loose cloths draped over them. Pocahontas’ level of beauty is often questioned and really not known, but it is known that John Rolfe, not John Smith, fell madly in love with her, so there had to have been something beautiful about this Indian woman or “savage” as he called her when writing to ask permission to marry her.

Then, Smith saves Pocahontas's father, Chief Powhatan just after Pocahontas stops her father from killing Smith. When Ratcliffe, the English commander, fires at Powhatan, Smith then comes into action, between the bullet and Powhatan. Then, he takes the injury himself. One threat of this change is the assertion of imbalance of power between various groups. John D'Entremont, in "Pocahontas: Motion Picture Review" writes that the Native peoples are transformed from "a brave and proud people who chose to act with mercy by letting go an invader into lucky people who owe the Englishman their life"(1302-1305).

[5] Gary Edgerton and Kathy Merlock Jackson, in their review of the movie, conveyed these same ideas about Pocahontas. They insist that “The filmmakers at Disney never really intended Pocahontas to be historically accurate, despite all the

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.

With this policy, the survival rate grew to nearly ninety percent that year. He organized successful trading with the Native American Powhattan. Smith was however captured by him and only spared when Powhattan’s daughter Pocahontas pleaded for his life. This is where the story of Pocahontas comes from. Smith wrote a letter about this encounter to Queen Anne when he heard of her coming to England years later. He wanted to ensure that she would not be treated as someone that could not be trusted. He wanted to show her loyalty to him and to England.

In reality it is roughly based on historical truths and not entirely factual. There is a clear difference and it is often lost in the cinematic glamour of a great story. “The New World” is no exception and has clearly created a loosely fact based adaptation of the story of John Smith and Pocahontas. In summary fact based period films by Hollywood can easily mislead people into believing anything when it is based on facts. Moreover, the reason the “The New World” took this approach was simply to make the movie more appealing to the