Now I know some of us are fans of Disney movies, but suffice it to say they take many liberties in the stories they present. Let's take for instance the story of Algonquin Indian, Pocahontas. Now, when I was an undergraduate, one of my professors had us read about the real life of the daughter of Powhatan, Pocahontas. Would you believe that no, there wasn't a love interest between the daughter of the chief and John Smith? Or that he was in his late 30s while she would be around 8 or 10 years old? And he didn't have the voice of Mel Gibson? What about the pet humming bird, Flick, or the feisty raccoon, Nicko? Okay so I'm showing my true colors and my movie trivia here, but it helps support my point. One girl in this class actually cried when we discussed the book, because she was so ingrained with the Disney-fication of the story. It's been a long time since I saw the sequel, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the storyline. This can somewhat be related to a previous post of mine in that Hollywood has an impact on the history people understand.
What the book taught me, and what the article below show is that people need to be educated beyond popular film. Pocahontas would marry John Rolfe, convert to Christianity, have a son, travel to England, and die of TB and pneumonia before she could make it back-all before the age of 22. So, not the happy-go-lucky approach to the Disney version, don't you think?
Links:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/object_jan99.html?onsite_source=relatedarticles&onsite_medium=internallink&onsite_campaign=SmithMag&onsite_content=Picturing%20Pocahontas
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-Much-Do-We-Really-Know-About-Pocahontas-228934901.html
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