Jamestown Movie Essay

Jasmine Rogers

Western Civilization

3 April 2017

Carringer

Jamestown is vital to American History because the colonization represents coming to terms with a past that at times demonstrated painful and conflicted ideas but eventually laid the foundation of what we know today as modernized America. The founding of Jamestown, America’s very first permanent English colony created a series of cultural encounters that shaped and molded the nation and the world. The government, languages, customs and beliefs of these early native Virginian colonists are all vital to the rich heritage of the United States’ today (Davidson). Jamestown represented freedom, hope, and above all, independence. In the fresh minds of Jamestown’s firsts, this was the land

Despite his portrayal in many movies, mysteries still surround this American hero. In Malick’s version, Smith is characterized as a fearless, yet cold character with little substance and the need for reassurance due to his loss of respect while on the voyaging ship. In the film, trouble looms and John Smith is brutally captured by the natives. A painting of John Smith evokes the popular image of a romanticized detail of the man who was rescued by the legendary Pocahontas, which is over-portrayed throughout the movie. Important aspects of Smith’s literary achievements in the following decades contributed invaluable knowledge to England's imperial aspirations, yet had little mentioning in the movie (Horn). Many historians once believed that the heroic adventures described in his writings were simply to promote himself, but the majority of Smith’s writings depicted the truthful reality for the new settlers (“Rewriting”). As a Protestant, Smith was dedicated to a Protestant Slovenic battalion under a Count Modrich, to whom he remained loyal through his coming campaigns. Loyalty is a questionable trait for New World Smith because he literally leaves his peoples for many months, and maybe even a year. This part of the movie did not make sense to me because he did not bother to even tell them where he was going, yet he still is seen

Reputedly, the favorite daughter of the Algonquian chief Powhatan, Pocahontas contributed a significant role to the success of Jamestown and played a dramatic role in the life of John Smith. Despite what the movie portrays, there is little evidence that she ever had relationships with John Smith. She is clearly a mature woman in the film, however when discovered by the Puritans, she was merely 10 years old (Vaughan). However, she did contribute to the colony by providing food, teaching settlers to grow their own food, and by cooking food for the settlers (“To make”), which was seen various times in the movie, and she even fed the sick John Smith. Besides being a teaching tool for the new and uninformed foreigners, she also learned and adapted to the language well enough to act as a informer between Indians and settlers (Horn). The communication barrier led to a great deal of hardship between the peoples, however Pocahontas was the glue that kept both sides at ease. John Smith claimed in one of his writings that she saved his life when her father was going to execute him by placing her head upon him, which was accurately depicted in the film. Later the English held Pocahontas captive near Jamestown, where she was forced to be baptized and convert into Christianity( Vaughan). One aspect of the movie