The ‘New World’ directed by Terrence Malick and Walt Disney Pictures ‘Pocahontas’ directed by Eric Goldberg, Mike Gabriel show two different approaches to the John Smiths 1604 account of his journey to Virginia. They both differ in their approach to the way they represent the ‘New World’ and the ‘Old World’.
Disney’s ‘Pocahontas’ is an animated, musical romantic drama that is directed at its main audience of children. It loosely follows the plot line of John Smith’s accounts and history, to develop a much more lovable, cute and enchanting variation of the ancient tale of Pocahontas. In the film it seems that Disney’s main objective with their adaption was to portray a strong female main (Pocahontas), a love story, and a moral lesson more so …show more content…
Captain John Smith’s character was quite accurate. Captain Smith was the intrepid soldier-adventurer that we saw portrayed in the film, and his leadership skills were impressive regardless of his methods. Although it is highly unlikely he lives up the to the Disney characters claims of Chuck Norris danger and heroism levels. Leaping off water falls while singing musical numbers, might not have been in the self interest of our historical Captain Smith. The Chief of the Powhatan’s “Wahunsenaca” was an important Indian Chief at the time. As an important chief he would have had many wives and children. Pocahontas’ Mother was in fact his favourite and she also had the nickname Pocahontas. She was known as “his wife of choice [and] the wife of love” , they were married before he became the paramount chief. Like in the film she had passed away, but through History we figure find that this happened during child birth. This is perhaps why the Disney films claim that she carries her mother’s spirit with her as historically they were very alike in personality. In the film and in real life Pocahontas was promised to marry a Powhatan warrior. According to Captain Ralph Hamor, one of the original colonists, he had heard rumours that she had married one of the Powhatan Chiefs named, Kocoum. After finding out about the false death of John Smith which had drove Pocahontas away from the settlers and stopped her frequent …show more content…
This way the film was able to portray the Old World much better than how Disney did. An interesting why of displaying the contrast between the Old and New World was how a Powhatan who came with Pocahontas to England was asked “for each Englishman [he] came across, [he is] to place a notch on these sticks.”. It shows the naivety of the Natives, as they believe the English to be like a large tribe not an entire nation. The New World and Disney’s Pocahontas actual show similar variations of the how the New World is viewed. They both show a very natural place, with very spiritual native people. The World is certainly a lot more in depth with how it is perceived but they both come from similar origins and
Disney’s ‘Pocahontas’ is an animated, musical romantic drama that is directed at its main audience of children. It loosely follows the plot line of John Smith’s accounts and history, to develop a much more lovable, cute and enchanting variation of the ancient tale of Pocahontas. In the film it seems that Disney’s main objective with their adaption was to portray a strong female main (Pocahontas), a love story, and a moral lesson more so …show more content…
Captain John Smith’s character was quite accurate. Captain Smith was the intrepid soldier-adventurer that we saw portrayed in the film, and his leadership skills were impressive regardless of his methods. Although it is highly unlikely he lives up the to the Disney characters claims of Chuck Norris danger and heroism levels. Leaping off water falls while singing musical numbers, might not have been in the self interest of our historical Captain Smith. The Chief of the Powhatan’s “Wahunsenaca” was an important Indian Chief at the time. As an important chief he would have had many wives and children. Pocahontas’ Mother was in fact his favourite and she also had the nickname Pocahontas. She was known as “his wife of choice [and] the wife of love” , they were married before he became the paramount chief. Like in the film she had passed away, but through History we figure find that this happened during child birth. This is perhaps why the Disney films claim that she carries her mother’s spirit with her as historically they were very alike in personality. In the film and in real life Pocahontas was promised to marry a Powhatan warrior. According to Captain Ralph Hamor, one of the original colonists, he had heard rumours that she had married one of the Powhatan Chiefs named, Kocoum. After finding out about the false death of John Smith which had drove Pocahontas away from the settlers and stopped her frequent …show more content…
This way the film was able to portray the Old World much better than how Disney did. An interesting why of displaying the contrast between the Old and New World was how a Powhatan who came with Pocahontas to England was asked “for each Englishman [he] came across, [he is] to place a notch on these sticks.”. It shows the naivety of the Natives, as they believe the English to be like a large tribe not an entire nation. The New World and Disney’s Pocahontas actual show similar variations of the how the New World is viewed. They both show a very natural place, with very spiritual native people. The World is certainly a lot more in depth with how it is perceived but they both come from similar origins and