Pochahontas-Beauty and the belief

Page 9

I must and will confess. I recently saw the new Disney film Pocahontas. I was curious to see how the Land of Mickey would treat this all-American Native legend. Briefly, the music was naturally marketable; the animation was, of course, fabulous; animals of the forest cute (though subconsciously you couldn't help knowing Pocahontas's people made a regular habit of eating Bambi and Thumper); and it sort of confirmed the old adage: "Never let facts get in the way of a good story".

When John Smith first gets a look at her, standing in the mist of a waterfall, her long black hair blowing and flowing sensuously in the wind (I wanna know what kind of hair conditioner she uses), her little off-the shoulder buckskin dress hugging her body tightly (which is noticeably more curvaceous that Snow White's, which only goes to show what a steady diet of Bambi and Thumper will do for you), you can't help but be a little uncomfortable knowing that the real Pocahontas wasn't much more than 11 or 12 years old when the whole thing came down with the colonists.

Evidently, according to reports, she also "amused" the Englishmen by doing nude cartwheels through the colony. And, from what I understand, there may even be some doubt as to whether John Smith and Pocahontas every really met, let alone developed any serious romantic relationship. But, other than that, it was a good movie.

The whole Pocahontas legend can be looked at on several different levels. First of all, it became the stuff great romances were made of. Check out any book store that has any sizable stock of historical romances. Count how many of them involve a forbidden romance between a Native person and a white person, and the fiery savage passion that smolders and threaten to break free beneath the taut leatherYou get the picture.

When you look at the story objectively, it's about a romance between, at best, a 12-year-old Indian girl and a 30-year-old sailor who was captured by Pocahontas's father. According to Smith, and we have only Smith's word for this, Pocahontas laid her head on his, openly defying her father, the chief, as Smith's head was about to be clubbed and crushed.

To quote the Native actress and playwright Monique Mojica's play Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots, "where was this girl's mother?" To the best of my knowledge, this is not an activity most mothers, would condone for a 12 year old. In the movie, she's dead. But, as we've already seen, this movie is not exactly big on historical accuracy.

If Pocahontas's mother had been around, no doubt she would also have warned her against falling for someone who says his name is John Smith. How many women have heard that before? And how many hotel rooms have this name scrawled on the register? Could it be this man is 400 years old and still our there?

Both legend and Disney portray Smith as a handsome, strapping blond-haired, blue-eyed man. This would explain why Pocahontas fell for him, according to the theory of a Mohawk friend of mine. Over the years he has come to believe that, for some reason, most Natives are attracted to shiny objects and, as a result, like to collect them. This includes turquoise, silver and blondes. That's something for a sociologist or anthropologist to ponder.

When all's said and done, Pocahontas (her real name, by the way, was actually Matoaka; Pocahontas was a nickname her father called her meaning "playful one") will make Disney a lot of wampum (which again in reality is not actually a form of Aboriginal currency) and this Christmas (it's basically an accepted fact that Christ as not actually born on December 25), kids all over North America can expect a little American Indian princess doll (no doubt made somewhere in Asia). Sometimes you just don't know what to believe.

NOTE: Pocahontas later converted to Christianity, married a colonist named John Rolfe, went to England, saw the original production of The Tempest just a few weeks after its author died, and was consumd by Smallpox at the age of 22.