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--- 329:question:329--week_2_questions_comments-2022 [2022/09/01 13:04] – jmcclurken
+++ 329:question:329--week_2_questions_comments-2022 [2024/09/05 01:30] (current) – [How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history?] 104.28.77.147
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 ====== How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history? ======
-Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas,** works well as an introduction for children to the history of conflict between European settlers and Native Americans. Its themes, while simple, are compelling and serve to teach the film’s younger audiences about the values of understanding, compassion, and mutual respect.** The film does a good job of underlining the similarities between the two people groups in songs like Steady as The Beating Drum and Savages; while also underlining the differences in their cultural values in songs like Mine,Mine,Mine vs Colors of The Wind. **As one might expect from a children’s film, the story does significantly simplify the nature of the historical events, packaging them in a characteristically Disney-esc romance, obscuring much of the real history in the process**. I would have perhaps liked to have seen more of a focus on the Colonists’ reliance on trade for food, as it would have further helped to underscore the themes of working together and how much the colonists had to learn from the Native Americans. Overall, while essentially nothing more than historically inspired fiction**, Disney’s 1995 film Pocahontas does work to convey the themes of America’s earliest colonial history.**  -Lucca Crowe
+Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas, works well as an introduction for children to the history of conflict between European settlers and Native Americans. **Its themes, while simple, are compelling and serve to teach the film’s younger audiences about the values of understanding, compassion, and mutual respect. The film does a good job of underlining the similarities between the two people groups in songs like Steady as The Beating Drum and Savages; while also underlining the differences in their cultural values in songs like Mine,Mine,Mine vs Colors of The Wind. As one might expect from a children’s film, the story does significantly simplify the nature of the historical events, packaging them in a characteristically Disney-esc romance, obscuring much of the real history in the process.** I would have perhaps liked to have seen more of a focus on the Colonists’ reliance on trade for food, as it would have further helped to underscore the themes of working together and how much the colonists had to learn from the Native Americans. Overall, while essentially nothing more than historically inspired fiction, Disney’s 1995 film Pocahontas does work to convey the themes of America’s earliest colonial history.  -Lucca Crowe
-The movie works as a secondary source in depicting history from the colonies and Native Americans. It does not work well as a secondary source because it is not very accurate. **One thing it did seem to get right about history was the English’s desire for gold, wealth, and political power in Virginia**.
+The movie **works as a secondary source in depicting history from the colonies and Native Americans. It does not work well as a secondary source because it is not very accurate. One thing it did seem to get right about history was the English**’s desire for gold, wealth, and political power in Virginia.
-This movie, although inaccurate in many ways, does work as a secondary source in many ways; for starters, **it explains the one of the reasonings for the English coming to America, shown in the song "The Virginia Company." In this song, the English sing, 'For the New World is like Heaven // and we'll all be rich and free // or so we have been told // by the Virginia Company.'  These lyrics describe the blessings and wealth promised by the entrepreneurs of the Virginia Company which was the main reason for attacking the Native Americans**. Later on in the show, we see how the English truly viewed the Native Americans in the song "Savages." Their bigotry and disgust towards the natives is shown in the lyrics, 'Savages! Savages! // Drive them from the shore // They're not like you and me // Which means they must be evil." - Zack Steinbaum
+This movie, although inaccurate in many ways, does work as a secondary source in many ways; for starters, it explains the one of the reasonings for the English coming to America, shown in the song "The Virginia Company." In this song, the English sing, 'For the New World is like Heaven // and we'll all be rich and free // or so we have been told // by the Virginia Company.'  These lyrics describe the blessings and wealth promised by the entrepreneurs of the Virginia Company which was the main reason for attacking the Native Americans. Later on in the show, we see how the English truly viewed the Native Americans in the song "Savages." Their bigotry and disgust towards the natives is shown in the lyrics, 'Savages! Savages! // Drive them from the shore // They're not like you and me // Which means they must be evil." - Zack Steinbaum
-In the beginning, the British emphasized that they are coming over to become rich and for freedom. I want to assume that freedom is religious freedom. **It also shows the women of the native tribe farming which is an accurate portrayal of their jobs**. (Sophie Weber)
+In the beginning, the British emphasized that they are coming over to become rich and for freedom. I want to assume that freedom is religious freedom. It also shows the women of the native tribe farming which is an accurate portrayal of their jobs. (Sophie Weber)
-**As a secondary source this movie works well in the sense that it shows the violent relationship between the colonists and the Native Americans. It shows that the colonists were sent there by the Virginia Company of London to make money and to claim the land.** The movie also shows **women farming and the men coming back from warring** with a different tribe, as well as showing the men preparing to fight the English. These gender roles are historically correct; however, there is also a significant amount of the movie that is incorrect, and this is where the movie fails as a secondary source. -Teresa Felipe
+As a secondary source this movie works well in the sense that it shows the violent relationship between the colonists and the Native Americans. It shows that the colonists were sent there by the Virginia Company of London to make money and to claim the land. The movie also shows women farming and the men coming back from warring with a different tribe, as well as showing the men preparing to fight the English. These gender roles are historically correct; however, there is also a significant amount of the movie that is incorrect, and this is where the movie fails as a secondary source. -Teresa Felipe
-I believe that the movie could work as a secondary source, operating word being could. **The movie gets many of the smaller details correct, but the larger ones usually go awash. While the movie itself is not a credible source, it has many credible facts like women harvesting, the English searching for gold**… -Annika Sypher
+I believe that the movie could work as a secondary source, operating word being could. The movie gets many of the smaller details correct, but the larger ones usually go awash. While the movie itself is not a credible source, it has many credible facts like women harvesting, the English searching for gold… -Annika Sypher
 Disney’s Pocahontas while as a whole is not super accurate to the historical period that is addressing, it does get a few aspects of history correct. In the first scene, the settlers are in England singing about their quest for “Glory, God, and Gold”. This portrayal of what the colonists were seeking is incredibly accurate, because the main goals of colonization were to get glory, spread the word of God, and to find gold. So, this initial piece of history Disney nailed right on the head. -Margaret Jones
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 Pocahontas works as a secondary source, not as an in depth one, but works well as an introduction. Being a children’s movie, it gives a watered-down version of the events. It gets a lot of things wrong, but it does manage to get some things right. The movie depicts the motivations of the English for wealth, which is correct. It also depicts that their expectations of the expedition were set forth by the Spanish. The gendered roles of the Native American community are depicted fairly well too, with women doing agriculture and men primarily being hunters and warriors. Most importantly though, it shows that the relationship between the English and Native Americans was not a good one. It was a relationship stained by conflict and animosity. The movie does a good job of portraying both sides in the conflict as well. - Taylor Coleman
+Disney’s Pocahontas works as a secondary source mainly for children. This movie works as a glorified version of the history of Native Americans and the English settlers. The main concept that is accurate from the movie is the Virginia Company and their theories of the land being filled with gold. As well as the perspective the English had on Native Americans. In the movie, the english called them “savages” and assumed the worst from them. The governor believed they were hiding all the gold, when in reality they weren’t worried about the gold. This was represented by John Smith asking Pocahontas in the movie if they had any gold and she pulled out a husk of corn. There are many inaccuracies in the movie, but this is an easily digestible version for children because it leaves out the gruesomeness of the wars between the Natives and the English, but allows them to grasp the general ideas.
+-Leah Bicknell
 ====== Problems with historical accuracy? Errors in fact? ======