Ehhh.

Rating: 3/10 (9 November 2013)

One of the first inaccuracies of the Disney movie, Pocahontas, is that her name really was not Pocahontas, which many folks may not know. Her actual Powhatan name was Matoaka. Pocahontas was a nickname given to her by the English settlers which meant "spoiled child" or "the naughty one." Many only know her as Pocahontas, which I must say that was what I thought her name was until now. The setting of the film is very fairytale-like and very animated to make the scene look more appealing. If one actually analyzes the setting in the movie, they will see many wrong geographical landscapes. They clearly did not do much research on the geography and environment of Jamestown. In the movie, Pocahontas is seen a top of huge cliffs and mountains which was wrong because the land of Jamestown is mostly and relatively flat. They make the environment a more dramatic scenery than it truly was. One other geographical inaccuracy is the fact that the Disney movie shows moose, bald eagles, sunflowers, and other animals and plants that clearly were not in the town of Virginia. Also, Pocahontas is seen near a waterfall in the film, but Jamestown did not have waterfalls like the one in the movie. Aside from the geographical inaccuracies in Pocahontas, Disney portrays the Powhatan culture as a stereotypical Indian tribe which many Indian tribes were nothing alike. The men of the tribe did not wear feathers and neither did they wear skirts. Most of the Indians wore close to nothing of clothes, but they cannot show nudity in a cartoon movie. Also, Disney made their houses look like regular Indian longhouse which is not what they lived in. This movie disrespects a lot of the Native American culture. It is also believed that the Native Americans had a wonderful relationship with the animals which was most likely wrong. Yes, they may have had a better understanding of the habitat and animals, but it was not like they portrayed in the movie. In Pocahontas, Hollywood makes one believe that the Indians and English settlers were all mean to each other which is inaccurate. It was actually the English men who did not like the Indians and invaded the Indians land, brought war, diseases, and other unwelcome changes. It shows in the movie, the Native Americans preparing to fight the 'paleface demons' which makes them look equally to blame for the troubles between the two. Clearly, the English settlers were to blame for the invasion. Much of the tribe, like ninety percent, died from the diseases brought to the lands because they were not accustomed to those sicknesses. One of the historical accuracy was how the settlers acted in the movie, Pocahontas. They were there for "Gold, God, and Glory" which was very true. Also, the Englishman sang a song when they arrived to the lands about the Indians. One of the lyrics from the song quotes, "Savages, savages, barely even humans," which the English settlers did think of the Native Americans during that time. The Disney movie also does not show Pocahontas helping the English settlement in Jamestown. If it were not for her support, then many more of the settlers would have died. One of the biggest historical inaccuracy in the Disney animated film, Pocahontas, is the romantic relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith. She was portrayed to be this young woman and him to be a young man. More than likely, Pocahontas was ten to thirteen years old and John was in his later twenties, which that is a huge difference than what the movie makes you believe. So, when one thinks that, one must think John Smith was a pedophile, but truly they had no romance between them. The movie makes one think that they meet at a waterfall and instantly fall in love, but more than likely they did not meet that way considering there was not a huge waterfall like that in Jamestown. Close to the ending of the movie, Pocahontas, one sees her throw herself on John Smith to save him from getting killed by the Powhatan tribe because she was in love with him. That was wrong. She did not have to save John Smith nor was she in love with him. At the end of the movie, the Disney movie makes you believe that she was torn between staying with her father and the Powhatan tribe or leaving to go to England with the man she loves. That was not the case. Pocahontas was kidnapped by English settlers and became a Christian, she was baptized and given a new name, Rebecca. She became married to a John, not John Smith, but John Rolfe. Then later in her late twenties, she became sick with some disease like tuberculosis and died. In conclusion, the Walt Disney movie, Pocahontas, was a wonderful movie. But the historical background and how Pocahontas was portrayed was entirely inaccurate. Many say this is one of the most inaccurate historical movies out there in the nation and after finding all the material that was wrong, I must say I agree with others. Even though it was a great animated, fairytale movie, that does not make it factual.