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 ====== I.	How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history?  ======
+I don't think it makes a good secondary source for information about events of 1607 but it does help put into persepctive a little how people have choosen to remeber now those events back then. we know that pocohontas was a real human and faced trails of many kind. This movie however appeares to be relased 400 years after she was born and died. Some other hardships included her encounter with a man named John smith and his men with modernized artilary. As addressed in the primary reading the native americans were also seemed to be dressed a like in the movie as they were recalled in the source. Along with the conflict of the crew of JOhn smith, they conflict wiht nature and other tribes appeared to. be very real and fit in with the source and what it revealed about the differences between the tribes and the white men. -Jess Conenr
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 Helen Roundtree. Powhatan Indian Women: The People Captain John Smith Barely Saw. Ethnohistory, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. 1-29
  The 1995 Disney's Pocahontas would not serve as a very accurate secondary source for the history of Jamestown and relations between the colonists and the Native American groups in the area, nor do I think it intends to. It takes liberties with important factors such as Pocahontas's age and depicting a fairly unimportant person in John Smith's diaries (Governor Radcliffe) as the villain while the other settlers are depicted as fairly easily swayed between war and peace. While I don't think it would serve as a reliable or accurate secondary source, **it is still valuable to explore as it provides a visual depiction of the different cultures and does make an effort to reflect the major themes such as the motivations of the first explorers and colonists into Jamestown and the ethnocentrism that both sides encountered and presented, using John Smith and Pocahontas's relationship as a smaller-scale representation of these difficulties.** It can be a useful intro to the topic for children in schools to provide some initial exploration into the topic and to help them spot some of the major themes in this period but only if paired with other sources on the subject to combat the inaccuracies of the film. - Ashley Dimino
+I believe that the movie gets a few facts here and there correct, and also the fact that the colonizers are seen as generally evil which could be argued to be a more accurate representation of this story. --Richard Ferris
 ====== II.	Problems with historical accuracy? Errors in fact? ======
+Being a Disney movie, I felt that the judgment of accuracy was never that important of a factor in its creation.  John Smith hardly talked about Pocahontas in his ‘True Relation of Such Occurrences’, and certainly not in a romantic light.  **The film exploited a child and made her into a woman of a man’s desire.  Of course, this was probably done to make viewers see a colonizer and indigenous woman fall in love and have the trope of “look racism and differences don’t exist, they are in love”.**  Pocahontas, as we discussed in class never did save John Smith and the entire four-day ritual of John Smith becoming a werowance was absent from the film.  There are also problems with how the settler’s village was portrayed as the issue of food and illness which was one of the initial reasons contact was formed with the Native Americans (though there is a single ear of corn given to John).  Most of the characters, at least the main ones, were real people as Kocoum was the husband of Pocahontas, though the film only portrays him as an admirer. -Janis Shurtleff
-Being a Disney movie, I felt that the judgment of accuracy was never that important of a factor in its creation.  John Smith hardly talked about Pocahontas in his ‘True Relation of Such Occurrences’, and certainly not in a romantic light.  The film exploited a child and made her into a woman of a man’s desire.  Of course, this was probably done to make viewers see a colonizer and indigenous woman fall in love and have the trope of “look racism and differences don’t exist, they are in love”.  Pocahontas, as we discussed in class never did save John Smith and the entire four-day ritual of John Smith becoming a werowance was absent from the film.  There are also problems with how the settler’s village was portrayed as the issue of food and illness which was one of the initial reasons contact was formed with the Native Americans (though there is a single ear of corn given to John).  Most of the characters, at least the main ones, were real people as Kocoum was the husband of Pocahontas, though the film only portrays him as an admirer. -Janis Shurtleff
+Pocahontas did get some historical aspects correct, but the majority of the movie was not the most reliable.** For example, in the movie, Pocahontas appears to be about twenty years old, but in real life, she was only eleven or twelve when she first interacted with the Europeans. Disney also fabricated the romantic relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas, as this was never a real relationship.** -Kaylee Williams
-Pocahontas did get some historical aspects correct, but the majority of the movie was not the most reliable. For example, in the movie, Pocahontas appears to be about twenty years old, but in real life, she was only eleven or twelve when she first interacted with the Europeans. Disney also fabricated the romantic relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas, as this was never a real relationship. -Kaylee Williams
+The film takes major liberties when it comes to the actual characters within the story. The most obvious of these are Pocahontas' age, as in real life she was an 11 year old child, as well as her relationship with John Smith as the two in reality barely had contact with one another, much less a romantic relationship. **The film also takes artistic liberties due to it being a children-oriented, animated Disney musical, so there of course are no talking trees or magic or anything of the sort in reality.** The story has definitely been twisted around and edited, and the story portrayed in the film may have specific historical background details accurate, but the story itself is simply fiction based on a true story. -- AJ DeGeorge
-The film takes major liberties when it comes to the actual characters within the story. The most obvious of these are Pocahontas' age, as in real life she was an 11 year old child, as well as her relationship with John Smith as the two in reality barely had contact with one another, much less a romantic relationship. The film also takes artistic liberties due to it being a children-oriented, animated Disney musical, so there of course are no talking trees or magic or anything of the sort in reality. The story has definitely been twisted around and edited, and the story portrayed in the film may have specific historical background details accurate, but the story itself is simply fiction based on a true story. -- AJ DeGeorge
+//Pocahontas// does a great job at appealing to a young audience for entertainment purposes, though there are several historical inaccuracies that we can point out. Other than the age difference, **the movie also shows Pocahontas as being the chief's only daughter, though we know that Pocahontas had several siblings. She was well-liked by her father, though she was not his only child**. **After some more research, John Smith also was not displayed as well as he could have been. The movie shows him as a blonde, tall, handsome man, though according to //Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation// by David A. Price, Smith was described as a stocky, burly, brunette man.** Overall, there were more differences in the movie, but these are just a few to point out that caught my eye. --Tara Scroggins
-//Pocahontas// does a great job at appealing to a young audience for entertainment purposes, though there are several historical inaccuracies that we can point out. Other than the age difference, the movie also shows Pocahontas as being the chief's only daughter, though we know that Pocahontas had several siblings. She was well-liked by her father, though she was not his only child. After some more research, John Smith also was not displayed as well as he could have been. The movie shows him as a blonde, tall, handsome man, though according to //Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation// by David A. Price, Smith was described as a stocky, burly, brunette man. Overall, there were more differences in the movie, but these are just a few to point out that caught my eye. --Tara Scroggins
+The main problem I had with historical accuracy has to do with Pocahontas herself. **As we are all aware, “Pocahontas” was actually a nickname for the Native American girl known as Amonute Matoaka.** It is also important to note that Pocahontas was a child when the colonists arrived while John Smith was a grown man in his thirties. Furthermore, **John Smith recorded his journal of the events that happened where Pocahontas is mentioned, but plays a minor role.** **Furthermore, the scene in the movie where Pocahontas and John Smith meet for the first time had me laughing at the absurd notion that Pocahontas could suddenly speak fluid English instead of her native Algonquin. That was most likely born from the love story told in the movie, and was a magic gift from the talking tree “Grandmother Willow”. Still, though!** The love story as a whole is inaccurate, because of the age differences between the two. **Furthermore, Pocahontas did marry the Englishman John Rolfe, but only after being held as a political hostage by the colonists so they could demand supplies from the Powhatans. I also found it ironic that in the movie tensions eased after Smith left Jamestown, when in reality Smith helped establish peaceful relations with the Powhatans that quickly deteriorated after he was injured and returned to England in 1609** (https://historicjamestowne.org/history/pocahontas/john-smith/, https://www.loc.gov/collections/thomas-jefferson-papers/articles-and-essays/virginia-records-timeline-1553-to-1743/1600-to-1609/). -- Lyndsey Clark
-The main problem I had with historical accuracy has to do with Pocahontas herself. As we are all aware, “Pocahontas” was actually a nickname for the Native American girl known as Amonute Matoaka. It is also important to note that Pocahontas was a child when the colonists arrived while John Smith was a grown man in his thirties. Furthermore, John Smith recorded his journal of the events that happened where Pocahontas is mentioned, but plays a minor role. Furthermore, the scene in the movie where Pocahontas and John Smith meet for the first time had me laughing at the absurd notion that Pocahontas could suddenly speak fluid English instead of her native Algonquin. That was most likely born from the love story told in the movie, and was a magic gift from the talking tree “Grandmother Willow”. Still, though! The love story as a whole is inaccurate, because of the age differences between the two. Furthermore, Pocahontas did marry the Englishman John Rolfe, but only after being held as a political hostage by the colonists so they could demand supplies from the Powhatans. I also found it ironic that in the movie tensions eased after Smith left Jamestown, when in reality Smith helped establish peaceful relations with the Powhatans that quickly deteriorated after he was injured and returned to England in 1609 (https://historicjamestowne.org/history/pocahontas/john-smith/, https://www.loc.gov/collections/thomas-jefferson-papers/articles-and-essays/virginia-records-timeline-1553-to-1743/1600-to-1609/). -- Lyndsey Clark
+While it portrays actual people and events, it severely dramatizes its subject matter and sacrifices historical accuracy. Some obvious examples would be Pocahontas' age. She was only ten when she encountered the colonists, but was older in the movie with the intent of having her form a relationship with John Smith, which also did not happen. I**n the film, John Smith was shown to be more sympathetic towards the natives as the film progresses, most likely to further solidify the fictional romance between him and Pocahontas, and John Ratcliffe was the merciless antagonist. In actuality, this was somewhat in reverse.** Ratcliffe was  1) the second governor of Jamestown, not the first, and 2) known to be more sympathetic and generous towards the natives when dealing with them, and Smith did not agree with his generosity (https://lakotachildren.org/2015/09/reservations-about-films-disneys-pocahontas/), (http://www.pocahontas.morenus.org/).  -- Jordan Petty
-While it portrays actual people and events, it severely dramatizes its subject matter and sacrifices historical accuracy. Some obvious examples would be Pocahontas' age. She was only ten when she encountered the colonists, but was older in the movie with the intent of having her form a relationship with John Smith, which also did not happen. In the film, John Smith was shown to be more sympathetic towards the natives as the film progresses, most likely to further solidify the fictional romance between him and Pocahontas, and John Ratcliffe was the merciless antagonist. In actuality, this was somewhat in reverse. Ratcliffe was  1) the second governor of Jamestown, not the first, and 2) known to be more sympathetic and generous towards the natives when dealing with them, and Smith did not agree with his generosity (https://lakotachildren.org/2015/09/reservations-about-films-disneys-pocahontas/), (http://www.pocahontas.morenus.org/).  -- Jordan Petty
+**One of the main issues I had with the historical accuracy in the film was the scenery. In the film, it shows the British colonists landing and settling in a wooded area with almost crystal blue water. The land also looked like it was fertile. However, in reality, the colonists settled in swampland.** -- Audrey Schroeder
-One of the main issues I had with the historical accuracy in the film was the scenery. In the film, it shows the British colonists landing and settling in a wooded area with almost crystal blue water. The land also looked like it was fertile. However, in reality, the colonists settled in swampland. -- Audrey Schroeder
+**The presentation of the size of Pocahontas’s home is very small compared to how it is described in Smith’s journal.** He talks about going from village to village along the rivers, meeting with the various “presidents” as he calls them. However, in the movie, there only seems to be dozens of natives rather than hundreds. There are plenty of other inaccuracies such as the romance between the two main characters, the **talking willow tree,** Pocahontas’s age and position in the community, etc. But the size of that community really stood out to me when I watched the movie after reading Smith’s journal. —Madison Roberts
-The presentation of the size of Pocahontas’s home is very small compared to how it is described in Smith’s journal. He talks about going from village to village along the rivers, meeting with the various “presidents” as he calls them. However, in the movie, there only seems to be dozens of natives rather than hundreds. There are plenty of other inaccuracies such as the romance between the two main characters, the talking willow tree, Pocahontas’s age and position in the community, etc. But the size of that community really stood out to me when I watched the movie after reading Smith’s journal. —Madison Roberts
+T**he movie was really just a work of fiction that used a historical setting and the names of historical figures.** In John Smith's accounts, Pocahontas is described as a ten-year-old child. **As well, the movie leaves out much of the important parts of the colonist's relationship with the Native Americans, such as the fact that when sickness and famine swept over Jamestown**, Native Americans helped feed them in exchange for small goods. **The relationship between the colonists and the Native Americans was overly simplified and left out much of the historical context while creating a story that did not even occur in real life.** -Helen Dhue
-The movie was really just a work of fiction that used a historical setting and the names of historical figures. In John Smith's accounts, Pocahontas is described as a ten-year-old child. As well, the movie leaves out much of the important parts of the colonist's relationship with the Native Americans, such as the fact that when sickness and famine swept over Jamestown, Native Americans helped feed them in exchange for small goods. The relationship between the colonists and the Native Americans was overly simplified and left out much of the historical context while creating a story that did not even occur in real life. -Helen Dhue
+A**ccording to John Smith's journal, it seems as though Smith had a better relationship with the Native Americans than the movie portrayed. The natives seemed to take good care of him, and he seemed appreciative.They also seemed to be more interested in the things that the colonists had to offer than what is shown in the movie. The movie portrays their relationship as one that is negative, or almost nonexistent, until the very end.** -- Mariah Morton
-According to John Smith's journal, it seems as though Smith had a better relationship with the Native Americans than the movie portrayed. The natives seemed to take good care of him, and he seemed appreciative.They also seemed to be more interested in the things that the colonists had to offer than what is shown in the movie. The movie portrays their relationship as one that is negative, or almost nonexistent, until the very end. -- Mariah Morton
+**The depiction of John Smith as a young, charismatic, blond gentleman was a rather extreme reinterpretation of him. His whole existence and character seemed counter to the actual man in his journaled experiences.** Rather than rigid and intense exploration the journal mainly focused on the dozens of tribes in the area that he traded with for food to maintain the starving colony. The meeting of Pocahontas was presented in the visual medium as this destined beautiful event while Smith’s report merely mentioned her as an emissary of her father, sent to negotiate the release of some held natives. The distance held between the two groups in the film stands in firm opposition to the trade negotiations mentioned in Smith’s report. The movie presented them as distant strangers while Smith wrote of his many days spent trading for food with the various tribes. Overall, the film has little in which it derives from history. -- Robert Keitz
-The depiction of John Smith as a young, charismatic, blond gentleman was a rather extreme reinterpretation of him. His whole existence and character seemed counter to the actual man in his journaled experiences. Rather than rigid and intense exploration the journal mainly focused on the dozens of tribes in the area that he traded with for food to maintain the starving colony. The meeting of Pocahontas was presented in the visual medium as this destined beautiful event while Smith’s report merely mentioned her as an emissary of her father, sent to negotiate the release of some held natives. The distance held between the two groups in the film stands in firm opposition to the trade negotiations mentioned in Smith’s report. The movie presented them as distant strangers while Smith wrote of his many days spent trading for food with the various tribes. Overall, the film has little in which it derives from history. -- Robert Keitz
 One of the biggest errors in historical accuracy is the romance between John Smith, who was in his 30s at the time, and Pocahantas, who would have been 11 or 12. There was no mention of the relationship between Smith and Pocahontas in his “A True Relation of Occurrences..” at Jamestown. Pocahontas’ real name was actually Amonute and she wasn’t a Princess despite what Disney loosely suggests. The idea that Pocahantas saves John Smith is likely an error in his own self-centered interpretation of events. --Morgan Gilbert
-The responses to this category  are too many to mention. To start, I feel like John Smith would have liked how he was portrayed in much of the film: as respected by his crew, as a hero solely responsible for the survival of the British Atlantic, and as the always-level-headed-yet-charming adventurer with the face of Tome Cruise and the muscles of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In other words, Smith is - needless to say- romanticized. The film also incorrectly portrayed the English as completely accepting Virginia Indian society and acknowledging their own bias end the end. I'm sure some English folks did this on a personal level, but later writings, including Smith's own 1624 book, "A Generall Historie of Virginia," show that cultural tensions heightened in the decades following the initial English arrival in Virginia.
+**The responses to this category  are too many to mentio**n. **To start, I feel like John Smith would have liked how he was portrayed in much of the film: as respected by his crew, as a hero solely responsible for the survival of the British Atlantic, and as the always-level-headed-yet-charming adventurer with the face of Tome Cruise and the muscles of Arnold Schwarzenegger**. In other words, Smith is - needless to say- romanticized. The film also incorrectly portrayed the English as completely accepting Virginia Indian society and acknowledging their own bias end the end. I'm sure some English folks did this on a personal level, but later writings, including Smith's own 1624 book, "A Generall Historie of Virginia," show that cultural tensions heightened in the decades following the initial English arrival in Virginia.
 On the other hand, Disney also downplays the commercial opportunity that Powhatan Werowances saw with the arrival of the English as well as attempts on the part of the colonist to establish a peaceful trade with locals. Of course, this mutual desire for co-beneficial commerce soon fell apart. -- Ethan Knick
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 Smith, 1624
-There are many obvious inaccuracies that we could point out first like the romantic relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith or the portrayal that the natives had never seen colonizers before. However; there was something I noticed towards the beginning of the movie that I am not sure if it is historically accurate or was just some filler content. In the scene Pocahontas is given her mothers necklace and is told by her father, "your mother wore this at our wedding, her dream was to see you wear it at your own". It seems like the sentiment is echoed today with people wearing their mothers wedding dresses and rings etc. I was wondering is this something commonly found in western culture and therefore it was put in the movie so the audience could relate or if it was common in Native American culture as well. Also I know they had to do this because it was a movie for an English audience but it was humorous to see how fast that language barrier broke down.  - Dan Dilks
+There are many obvious inaccuracies that we could point out first like the romantic relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith or the portrayal that the natives had never seen colonizers before. However; there was something I noticed towards the beginning of the movie that I am not sure if it is historically accurate or was just some filler content. **In the scene Pocahontas is given her mothers necklace and is told by her father, "your mother wore this at our wedding, her dream was to see you wear it at your own". It seems like the sentiment is echoed today with people wearing their mothers wedding dresses and rings etc. I was wondering is this something commonly found in western culture and therefore it was put in the movie so the audience could relate or if it was common in Native American culture as well.** Also I know they had to do this because it was a movie for an English audience but it was humorous to see how fast that language barrier broke down.  - Dan Dilks
+I think the most glaring inaccuracies in the film is the age of Pocahontas being much older than she really was at the time, and her relationship with John Smith being more romanticized in the film. --Richard Ferris
+The historical inaccuracies of this film is very prevalent in many cases. For one, Pocahontas was a very young girl and John Smith was at least a 30-year-old man in real life. While children did get married young during this time period, it does not justify the films portray of attraction and overall display of affection between the two. Pochantas helps John Smith out of kindness, curiosity, and negligence. The film did portray her saving John Smiths life well, but it was not for the same reasons. The film also made John smith seem nicer than he actually was. John Smith was a captain on a ship headed for all they knew a dangerous new land. John Smith had to keep the people aboard in line and make sure things ran smoothly unless he wanted chaos to erupt. In his famous line "He who will not work, will not eat," John Smith was probably not liked. He had to enforce this line, or his people were not going to survive. This line is not spoken about at all in the film. When Pocahnas and the Indians do help him in real life, it is not as abundantly as it is in the film. -- Autumn. M
 ====== III.	How does the film’s overall interpretation(s) deviate from scholarly historical sources? ======
+Well to start off there was a huge age gap between pocohontas and john smith. She her self was aged up so maybe the writers wouldn't get in trouble. She was only about 10-12 years old when she first met John Smith. The romance part of their relationship was made up. There was nothing romantically going on between to two in history. I also think the the powahtan people were dumbed down in ways that made it seem that they were merely a nuiance to existence. We don't actualy get to see the details surrounding their culture, government or family aspects at all. -Jess Conner
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 ====== IV.	How does this movie work as a primary source about the 1990s, cartoons or Disney? ======
+It says a lot about diversity and how the public responded to it. I mean disney did not have a reputation for colored people films or native americans until Peter Pan and Princess in the Frog and few others came to light after the 1990s. When they were portrayed they were inaccurately represented as menices to society or as if they lived in a drunken state the entire times. I do think disney wanted to change but it comes down to the heart and motives behind it. It was interesting to see how disney also transformed cultural issues and heavy topics like racsim and volience and adapted them on screen to musicals and shows to help families teach their children about it in a way that did not hurt more feelings than some.-jess conner
 The film can say a lot about Disney and their portrayal of certain groups in their films up until this point. The last time Native Americans were featured in a Disney animated musical, it was in Peter Pan, where the Natives were portrayed as backward savages and given horribly offensive character design and voices to make them look and act as ridiculous as possible. This film takes a much more realistic and respectful approach to its portrayal of Natives, and I think it said a lot about how Disney wanted to change their image in the 90s.-- AJ DeGeorge
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 The question as to why Disney made the movie in the first place is interesting since they had to change so much of the story to make a more child-friendly version of colonization. If the goal was to introduce more diversity to the Disney franchise then they probably should've chosen a different story rather than creating an idealistic image of John Smith and others. The choice to tell the story of Pocahontas is cool, but it wasn't done in a great way and has impacted how Americans have viewed European colonization. If this is the only exposure people get to this story than it really does more harm than good in my opinion, and makes the job of historians who want to tell the real story of Pocahontas much harder. - Wilson LeCount
+So what if the makers of the Pocahontas movie are historically incorrect? At least they made their movie and their money at the end of the day. This question is controversial because Disney makes children film and many would say that the realities of Pocahantas as well as John Smiths story would be too much for young eyes. So what should we do about the problem of inaccuracy? I think they should make a live action movie of Pocahontas and make it historically accurate. So, what if audiences don't like it? It would finally be something that historians would be proud of and happy to watch. I think it would put a lot of disagreements to rest if historians could put their input into historical movies even if the film has a small budget due to declining watchers. -- Autumn. M