Pocahontas Movie Vs Book

1603 Words4 Pages

The story of Pocahontas is a romanticized American story that portrays the history of the colonization of the United States. The story depicts a feel good version of history and rationalizes the genocide of the Indians through a tale that is familiar to Americans. The story reconstructs the colonization of America and ultimately reflects a widespread misunderstanding of the history of Native Americans. The movie romanticized the image of natives in The New World, which created a vision of the Powhatan Indians of Virginia. The different variations of the story of Pocahontas can be seen through both the animated Disney movie and The New World. The movie The New World is a more accurate depiction than the animated Disney version because although …show more content…

Creating a generalization of people, and although the literature has changed over the years, Wilson states that media involving natives has set the record straight by allowing a Native American’s perspective on the colonization (xxi). This allows people to feel better about the history of the colonization, despite the horrors that the nation endured. The raping of native women by English men was left out to alleviate “the Indian’s story that had been one of stolen lands, and sadness” (Takaki 45). This was because, from the settler’s point of view, it was either civilization or murder. Since Pocahontas and John Smith were portrayed as lovers, she was perceived as the stereotypical native woman. She is depicted as a woman who white men see as sexually desirable. She is also perceived as a sexual being, since once Smith left, she quickly captures the heart of Rolfe. She is also shown helping white men when she defends Smith on multiple occasions, which in the end, caused her to be kicked out of her tribe by her father. Pocahontas “must be a good partner, and a lover” (Green 204). She captivates the image of the romanticized native women by saving Smith and going against her father. She was also the favorite daughter out of his many children and attracts two men in the movie; Smith and Rolfe. The movie does a good job of portraying Pocahontas as a native woman by giving her emotions and feeling felt by the audience to “set the record straight” (Wilson xxi). Although she is perceived as the stereotypical good Indian woman by having her be a beautiful exotic, and conforming woman, she was more willing to conform to society than the vast majority of the indigenous

Open Document