Wednesday, October 8, 2014

7th Grade- Pocahontas: Disney vs. History

After reading Chapter 5 and the article in your packet, why do you think Disney changed the real story of Pocahontas?  Should they have just stayed true to historical facts instead? Use textual evidence to support your opinion!

9 comments:

  1. Disney has changed the story of Pocahontas for a few main reasons. Probably the one that standed out the most to me was that the real story was a little inappropriate In the article it stated that she danced naked in front of the English men. This would not be good for little kids to watch. Therefore, I do agree with Disney to change the story of Pocahontas.
    Jack Costigan Period 3-4 (A)

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    1. I agree with you saying that they wouldn't include those inappropriate acts in a Disney movie, but is it fair to label her someone she is not? I don't think so.
      Sara D. Period 10-11 A

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  2. After reading the article in my packet, I believe don't really understand why they would change her that much. I understand the age, because in the movie they can't have a 28 year old and a 12 year old marry each other, but everything else I don't understand. They should of just stayed true to the facts or not make the film at all. I understand that they won't make a disney movie of her dancing naked in front of English men, but if they won't be true about the individual, then why would they make the character if it is going to give people the wrong idea about Pocahontas. Therefore, I am pretty confused at the wrole thing and don't believe they should have made her someone she is not.

    Sara D. Period 10-11 A

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  3. We think that Disney changed the real story of Pocahontas because they wanted to make there be a love story between John Smith and Pocahontas. They probably changed the age because Pocahontas was 12 and John Smith was 28. That means there was a 16 year difference and that's a bit gross. Pocahontas also looked nothing like she did in the movie, they just wanted her to be pretty like all the princesses were. In reality, she was probably bald and had horrible teeth. She also was probably naked most of the time. We think Disney changed the true story because there are some inappropriate parts that they had to leave out so that children could watch it. John Smith also was portrayed differently than he was in real life.
    Molly K and Jordyn V M P3/4A

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  4. After reading the article in my packet, I think that they should not have changed the story of Pocahontas. I have no idea why they would changed that in the Disney film. They should have kept the story line true. In the Disney film they missed a bunch of things such as Pocahontas marries John Rolfe. In the Disney film he wasn't even a character. They also said that Pocahontas and John Smith were married and they were the same age. In real life they were never married and Pocahontas was 12 years old and Jon Smith was 28 years old.

    Matt Cor 3-4A

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  5. I believe that Disney shouldn't have changed the story. The reason why are very different in their terms. In the film, John Smith and Pocohontas got married when they didn't in real life and they were different ages with Pocohonta s being 12 and JohnSmith being 28. Also they didn't mention JohnRolfe as they were married in real life. So Disney made the film uneducational.

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  6. I think that Disney changed the real story because of a few different reasons. One they wanted to make it a true love story so they left out that she had actually married another Indian named Kocoum. Something that was common back then was that they would be bald and have bad looking teeth, so they changed her look to make it prettier. Lastly Pocahontas would dance naked in front of the Indians and that is inappropriate to be on a channel that younger kids may watch. Disney made the film kid friendly and left out education.

    Maggie Evans
    Pd. 10-11A

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  7. I think that the history of Pocahontas and the real story are definitely different. One way I think that they're different is by the way that Pocahontas looks in the appearance. Although we only have a painting of the real Pocahontas, we can tell that the real Pocahontas and the Disney version looked nothing alike. In the Disney Pixar movie, Pocahontas was a young beautiful lady with long dark hair. She was portrayed as a complete Native Indian with darker skin, and she had more Native Indian clothing which was not much. In real life, she was much older and looked nothing like the Disney version, and she wore many layers of clothing like the colonists. Another difference was the relationship between her and John Smith. In the movie, she was in love with John and they had a "love story." John was also her age in the movie and was attractive. In the history of Pocahontas, she was not in love with John White. He was over 20 years older than her, and it would have been very inappropriate. They had no love for each other, and she was actually married to John Rolfe. Overall, the true story of Pocahontas definitely is not shown in the Disney version of it.

    Gabriella Lewald 3/4 A

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