Analysis of Pocahontas

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2017)

Pocahontas is a charming story about two young people who fall in love despite the fact that the groups they belong to want to kill each other; much like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This one is a classic Disney movie that captures the audience's attention with unrealistically beautiful people, great music, and great animation that is characteristic of Disney. However, I don't think the climax lives up to the tensions in the rest of the plot. Also, after that there are no real negotiations between the Englishmen and the Native Americans about how they will coexist in Virginia. Finally, the whole movie is very historically inaccurate and should not be showed to a history class for educational purposes.
The climax is the scene where both sides are ready to fight each other and the chief is about to smash John Smith's head in with a rock. This scene is over within a couple minutes and the movie is over soon after that. The entire movie leads up to the climax, like in any movie, but the scene itself is somewhat disappointing. Pocahontas throws herself on top of John Smith and just like that her father has a change of heart and so do the colonists. There is no internal conflict shown for anyone except Pocahontas about the killing of John Smith, and because of that the climax is lacking.
In addition, there are no real negotiations between the Englishmen and the Native Americans after the war is avoided about how they will coexist in Virginia. After the war is avoided, Ratcliffe, the governor, attempts to assassinate the chief and because John Smith throws himself in front of the bullet, the potential repercussions are ignored and everyone suddenly gets along. This is entirely unrealistic because, as everyone knows, getting two different groups of people to get along can be very, very difficult. Also, for the entire movie each respective group tells their people that the other is terrible and out to get them. The colonists are told that the Native Americans are "savages" and to shoot them on sight. Alternatively, the Native Americans are told that the white people are violent and barbaric and call on other tribes to help them in the seemingly inevitable war. This kind of negative sentiment is not just given up in a matter of five minutes. It should have taken them much longer to work out their differences.
This film should not be showed to a history class as it is very historically inaccurate and therefore cannot really teach students anything about the way life was when the English arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. In the movie, the character who falls in love with Pocahontas is John Smith. However, the person who really married Pocahontas was John Rolfe. John Smith did initiate friendly relations with the Native Americans, but it was John Rolfe that brought Pocahontas to England where she died of dysentery a few years after she gave birth to their son. Also, while it is not actually known when exactly Pocahontas was born, it is said that she was born around 1595. Assuming this is true, in 1607, when the English arrived at Jamestown, she would have been 12 years old. In the movie she was portrayed to be much older than this and falls in love with 26 year old, John Smith who was more than twice her age. Finally, in the movie, Ratcliffe is depicted as this rich, gold-hungry leader who wants to kill all of the "savages" and forbids John Smith from going to talk with the Native Americans to promote peace. Ratcliffe orders his men to shoot any Native American on sight and, as a result, sparks the beginnings of a war with them. He also refuses to accept the fact that the Native Americans have agreed to put down their weapons and live in peace with the Englishmen and in an attempt to shoot the chief of their tribe, accidentally shoots John Smith. Most of this is historically inaccurate. While it is true that many of the colonists didn't like him, Governor Ratcliffe actually asked John Smith to begin friendly relations with the Native Americans when he was in office and encouraged him to establish trading between them. These three are among the many inaccuracies in this movie that make it uninformative.
In conclusion, although I enjoyed the movie very much, it is historically inaccurate and therefore can't really teach anything about history. Pocahontas is a nice story with a great soundtrack, however, the climax doesn't encompass the entire plot efficiently, there are no peace negotiations, and important aspects of the movie are historically inaccurate.