The literature also has a plethora of quotes from the native people included in it. These quotes show two things, both truthful; the first is that the Indians thought that what the Europeans were doing to them was horrific. The second is that Europeans thought that it was acceptable to do what they were doing. The quotes “we gave them [the Europeans] forest clad mountains and valleys full of game, and in return what did they give our warriors and our women? Rum, trinkets and a grave” shows that the Indians resented the Europeans because of what they doing. The quote “we have a full right, by our own best knowledge to dictate conditions to the Indians; to use force; to say what we intend to do, and what they must do…This rightful power of ours will relieve us from consulting the views of the Indians…they must be made to feel in the grasp of a superior” shows that the Europeans felt that they had a right to do what they liked to the Indians and their land, it shows that they were very ignorant of the Native Americans’ rights and feelings.
This literature is full of carefully chosen facts; these facts are used to persuade the reader to send in money to the organisation in order the help to Indians and to inform the reader of what happened to the Indians in the 1600’s. Facts such as “thousands [of Indians] committed suicide and many more were brutally murdered” are good examples of this, the words “brutally murdered” are very emotive and make you feel sorry for the Indians.
The layout of both pieces of text tells you a lot about it. It shows you instantly that it is going to be very informative, this is communicated by the text being set out in uniform columns and the font that is used, it looks very professional.
The pictures in the “invaded” article tell us a lot about how the Indians felt about what the Europeans were doing to them. In the pictures, none of the people are smiling and they all look quite unhappy. Another important thing about the pictures is that all of the Indians are wearing European style clothes, the survival organisation have chosen the images as they portray perfectly what the Europeans were trying to do, they wanted to turn the Indians into “slightly darker Europeans,” the pictures show that although they did this successfully by making then wear “European” clothes and remove their piercing and body paint, the Indians were not happy with it.
In my opinion, the most important word that tells you the most about the interaction between the two civilisations is the title, “Invaded”. This word has very negative connotations, it makes you instantly think that the Europeans were not wanted and went with the intent to cause harm to the Indians, and this was of course, why they went.
The methods used in the film are very different to those used in the literature, they include: images, songs and dialogue
The images in the film are obviously crucial to show the interaction between the two civilisations. In the film, the area surrounding Jamestown is shown as a beautiful place with an abundance of different eco-systems including vast woodland, large open spaces, magnificent waterfalls and great, flowing rivers. All of this adds to the feeling that when the Europeans invade, they will be stealing so much from the Indians. The images of the characters are also very important. John Smith is made out to be very good looking; this is associated with being brave and heroic, which John Smith is. Pocahontas is also depicted as beautiful and look quite innocent, this is to make you think that to harm her, or anybody like her would be the wrong thing to do. Perhaps the most important character, in the aspect of looks, is Governor Ratcliffe, he is shown to be very wealthy, lazy and generally evil. This is shown by him being heavily overweight, which suggests greed and laziness, him wearing purple clothes, which is a symbol of wealth, and having a long, pointy nose, “cold” eyes and an ugly face.
The songs in the film show a lot about how the civilisations’ attitude to other, they show that the Europeans are very ignorant and don’t really care what they do with the land. The lyric, “the earth is just a dead thing you can claim” show this brilliantly. The song “Savages” also shows that the two races don’t know a lot about each other and are both very prejudiced towards each other. The lyric “destroy their evil race,” sung by both the Europeans and Indians shows this. One of the lyrics sung by Pocahontas, in my opinion, applies to all of the Indians, this is the lyric, “I don’t know what I can do, but still I know I’ve got to try.” This lyric shows that Pocahontas, and indeed the whole of Jamestown are desperate to stop anything bad from happening.
The dialogue in the film is also very important to show how the two civilisations interacted with each other. First, I am going to focus on Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe’s dialogue in the film is very important, it tells you a lot about his character. Some of the things he says imply that he is a very greedy, selfish person. I get this from the words “gold, just for me!” and “this is my land! His dialogue also shows you that he is a racist, “murderous thieves” tell us this.
John Smith is shown as a very bossy person. The fact that he is bossy is shown a number of times throughout the film, some examples of this are “no! I’m not letting you leave!” and “this is their land!”
Pocahontas is shown as both curious and stubborn; this is shown by the fact that she asks lot of questions regarding the Europeans and the “savages” conversation.
Although the film is mainly factual, there are a small number of things that have been changed or left out. The things that have been changed are probably the most important. In reality, the Indians did not speak English, they spoke an Algonquian language. Some other facts that have been changed include the names of Pocahontas and Powahton; their real names were Matoaka and Wahusonacock. Another major fact that was changed is the age of the 2 main characters, Pocahontas and John Smith. Pocahontas was 12 and John Smith was possibly as old as 50!
The things that were left out include diseases that were brought over from Europe, high deaths rates and the fact that the Europeans often stole food from the Indians. These were left out as including them may have made the film unsuitable for the audience it was aimed at.
These differences are here so that the film is more understandable for the audience it is aimed at, if the film showed what actually happened, it would be a lot more gruesome, and would have probably have been rated 15 by the BBFC.
To conclude, both media portray the same story, but they are aimed at different audiences, if you are looking for all of the information about Pocahontas, the literature is what you need, if you want an entertaining movie, watch the film.
