Difference between revisions of "329--Week 2 Questions/Comments"
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As was discussed earlier, there was a lot that I found surprisingly accurate about the Disney portrayal, an admission that seems almost blasphemous. The amount of honor and trust that Pocahontas showed for Grandmother Willow was closely in line with our discussions of matrilineal and matriarchal societies. However, the idealization of the Englishmen greatly bothered me. It seems as though Governor Ratcliffe would not have been the only power-hungry, greedy man in the lot, yet he is the only member of the Virginia Company with explicitly corrupt motives. Also, did anyone else feel as though the Native Americans were depicted as weak and inferior? This may have been subconscious thought working its way to the forefront, but it seemed to me as though Pocahontas and Powhatan were the only strong Native characters in the movie. --Cash Nelson | As was discussed earlier, there was a lot that I found surprisingly accurate about the Disney portrayal, an admission that seems almost blasphemous. The amount of honor and trust that Pocahontas showed for Grandmother Willow was closely in line with our discussions of matrilineal and matriarchal societies. However, the idealization of the Englishmen greatly bothered me. It seems as though Governor Ratcliffe would not have been the only power-hungry, greedy man in the lot, yet he is the only member of the Virginia Company with explicitly corrupt motives. Also, did anyone else feel as though the Native Americans were depicted as weak and inferior? This may have been subconscious thought working its way to the forefront, but it seemed to me as though Pocahontas and Powhatan were the only strong Native characters in the movie. --Cash Nelson | ||
| − | I think this movie got a lot of things right, over-dramatized many events, and completely butchered the historical narrative of the John Smith era in Virginia. Somethings I feel that were accurately portrayed include the trip over on the high seas (although the rescue of a man overboard was for pure entertainment). I was shocked that the movie showed the gender division of labor, the reverence for ritual, and the legacy of native sports/ games rather accurately. The inclusion of the Grandmother Willow character shows a matriarchal society with a reverence for nature. I think the film correctly portrayed the English motivations and expectations about the new world, along with the attitudes towards the natives. Outside of those strengths the film makers completely abandoned the history of the relations between settlers and natives. Disney literally kept the historical names and then fabricated storylines and events. Historically, Kocoum and Pocahontas were not about to wed when the English arrived, Kocoum was not killed by Thomas, and the list goes on... I think what is most damaging about this movie is that it does not convey the relationship between settlers and natives well. John Smith made it sound like life was good in the colony and that the indians were helpful, peppered with seemingly random and baseless disputes. The relationship in the movie was immediatel cantankerous, with a neat and clean resolution. | + | I think this movie got a lot of things right, over-dramatized many events, and completely butchered the historical narrative of the John Smith era in Virginia. Somethings I feel that were accurately portrayed include the trip over on the high seas (although the rescue of a man overboard was for pure entertainment). I was shocked that the movie showed the gender division of labor, the reverence for ritual, and the legacy of native sports/ games rather accurately. The inclusion of the Grandmother Willow character shows a matriarchal society with a reverence for nature. I think the film correctly portrayed the English motivations and expectations about the new world, along with the attitudes towards the natives. Outside of those strengths the film makers completely abandoned the history of the relations between settlers and natives. Disney literally kept the historical names and then fabricated storylines and events. Historically, Kocoum and Pocahontas were not about to wed when the English arrived, Kocoum was not killed by Thomas, and the list goes on... I think what is most damaging about this movie is that it does not convey the relationship between settlers and natives well. John Smith made it sound like life was good in the colony and that the indians were helpful, peppered with seemingly random and baseless disputes. The relationship in the movie was immediatel cantankerous, with a neat and clean resolution.-- Jason Ward |
