Difference between revisions of "329-2010--Week 2 Questions/Comments"

First, how cool is it that Powhatan's people had a Universal Translator centuries before "Star Trek's" Federation invented one?  Who knew...all we needed to do was listen to the trees!  But about the movie itself, as people have already said, we can't expect anything from Disney but Disneyland: cute animals and at least one dead parent.  So it's interesting to see what accuracies the film actually has.  First, John Smith described the 10-year-old he met as "but for wit and spirit the only Nonpareil of his [Powhatan's] Country."  ("Nonpareil" means "without equal.") The screen Pocahontas certainly was all that. Also, we know that the Native Americans and the Europeans regarded each other as savages, but for different reasons, and the movie gives us a flavor of that, too.  Disney even added thievery, but blamed it on the raccoon and not the Native Americans, as Smith does.  The movie gives one rather bizarre nod to actual history: Smith's account mentions a compass, which is highly symbolic in the movie. -- Deborah S.

First, how cool is it that Powhatan's people had a Universal Translator centuries before "Star Trek's" Federation invented one?  Who knew...all we needed to do was listen to the trees!  But about the movie itself, as people have already said, we can't expect anything from Disney but Disneyland: cute animals and at least one dead parent.  So it's interesting to see what accuracies the film actually has.  First, John Smith described the 10-year-old he met as "but for wit and spirit the only Nonpareil of his [Powhatan's] Country."  ("Nonpareil" means "without equal.") The screen Pocahontas certainly was all that. Also, we know that the Native Americans and the Europeans regarded each other as savages, but for different reasons, and the movie gives us a flavor of that, too.  Disney even added thievery, but blamed it on the raccoon and not the Native Americans, as Smith does.  The movie gives one rather bizarre nod to actual history: Smith's account mentions a compass, which is highly symbolic in the movie. -- Deborah S.