A movie in Review

Pocahontas is a movie set in the 1600 colonial era. It follows an Indian woman named Pocahontas and an Englishman named John Smith. They have to meet in secret until John tells his fellow Europeans. When he leaves again, a character named Thomas follows him with orders to kill any “savages” he might see. Thomas shoots and kills Kocoum, the warrior Pocahontas is suppose to marry. This sets the “they only mean war” mindset for both parties. Later on, when John Smith is about to die at the hands of the Indians, Pocahontas steps in to stop it. Both sides stop for awhile and realize that they don't have to fight. But the governor won't allow that, he needs his gold. He takes the gun and shoots. John Smith pushes the tribal leader out of the way and gets hit with the bullet instead. By the end, both side joined a peaceful friendship of mutual respect.

The movie was pretty accurate on basic terms. John Smith and John Ratcliffe (he was not governor but the second president of a council the settlers made) sailed from England to Virginia. There, they colonized Jamestown. The Powhatan Indians were located there. John Smith befriended these Indians. Pocahontas and him do become very good friends by the end of his stay. After the capture of John Smith, Pocahontas saves him from his death. Kocoum is a real warrior. Although, not much is noted about him in history. Powhatan is the chief. The movie also explains the reasons why people sailed to the new land, “In sixteen hundred seven We sail the open sea. For glory, God, and gold And The Virginia Company” (Song: The Virginia Company). Besides the basics, the story changes a lot. For starters, the first voyage over had three ships not one. Pocahontas is ten to thirteen years old when she meets John Smith. The first time she meets John Smith is when she saved him. John Smith helps develop Jamestown for three years before he is captured. The movie never shows a second season. One inconsistency that really got to me, was the fact that the tribe speaks English. Only when John Smith and Pocahontas first meet is there trouble communicating. Within two minutes of that thought, some magical wind blows through and they understand each other. According to Disney Wiki, Nokoma is “most likely based on Matachanna, who was a half-sister of the real Pocahontas.” The movie never mention her other brothers and sisters.

Pocahontas is a Disney film so the animators are going to use the parts where characters sing to their advantage. They use songs to show the true emotions and motives of the governor. In a couple of songs, they switch point of view. The viewer sees this many times during the song “Savages”. Both the Indians and the Englishman sing the same words but the composer and animator did amazing job letting the viewer know who was talking about whom. One of the biggest cinematic devices that the film uses was near the end. Disney played two shots on top of one another. This shows Pocahontas’ feeling toward the event that was going to take place: John Smith’s death.

This film definitely has an underlying theme. I believe all good movies do. In e-Comm, Ms. Morris taught me about “beat sheets”. In short, it says that all movies follow the same fifthteen element pattern. One of them is called: Theme Started. The theme for Pocahontas is “choose love over war.” This movie is full of little hidden messages. Each one of the animal characters represents something else going on in the movie. The first two animals to interact with one another are the racoon and the hummingbird. The racoon is a symbol of what Pocahontas wants or believes. The hummingbird is the opposite. Flit, the hummingbird, shows the audience how the Indians want or believe is best for Pocahontas. A viewer can really see these representations come out during the scene when Powhatan explains to Pocahontas that Kocoum wants to marry her. During this event, Flit is very prideful, just like society is when the greatest hunter wants to marry the tribal leader’s daughter. On the other hand, the racoon shows a face of disgust, exactly how Pocahontas feels. Another way to see the relationship of Pocahontas and the raccoon is by watching the way they both react to John Smith. When first meeting him, they are both on their toes, always watching what he’ll do. The racoon even steals his compass. But as the relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith develops and becomes more positive, one can see the way the racoon changes his behavior to match that of Pocahontas towards John Smith. The pug also plays an important role in telling the story. The pug represents the white men and the racoon represents the Indians in comparison to the pug. Throughout the entire film, these two creatures are fighting. By the end, when the two group have come to peaceful terms, the pug and raccoon are no longer fighting. There is a scene that shows the pug dressed as an Indian and the raccoon dressed as an European explorer. The last hidden message I was able to pick up on was the necklace. This one was like an Aha Moment. When Kocoum dies, he pulls and breaks the necklace off of Pocahontas. This symbolizes the rocky bond between the natives and explorers. When this necklace is broken, so is this bond. At the end of the movie when the tribe and explorers are now friends, the necklace is presented to Pocahontas fixed.

One of the main characters in this film is John Smith. The creators of this movie did a great jobexplaining his role in history. One of the first lines of this movie is, “Of course he is! You halfwit. You can’t fight Indians without John Smith.” John Smith was, in fact, a very good soldier. He fought in places all over the world: Europe, Asia, Africa, and, eventually, America (History.com). This movie surprised me at how much it was not censured. The explorers were calling the Indians “savages” throughout the whole movie. No one today would dare make a movie like that. Everyone is afraid of offending another person. Of course, there is the African American vs. Caucasians event happening in America everyday. But the Native Americans feel dishonored, also. One event I remember was the riots over the name “Redskins” for the Washington D.C. football team. Native America did not want the negative stereotype in the media. When Disney used the word “savage” in the film, it would have been a big deal, but this is historically correct. White men did not treat people of color very nicely. The creators made Governor Ratcliffe a very unlikeable character. This lead me to side with the Indians. This is very historic because Europeans were the bad characters in the New World. They came over the Americas and took the native’s land. If they restricted, they were killed. Disney, also, did not have a problem with showing Governor Ratcliffe “kill’em if you see’em” attitude towards the Indians that reflected the same attitude as many Europeans at the time.