how historically accurate is the new world 1. ) How historically accurate was the movie you watched? How do you know? Did any inaccuracies affect your perception of history? The new world was accurate for the most part, but there were few inaccuracies that occurred during the movie. For one, it is not historically proven that the relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith was a romance relationship, as portrayed in the movie.

In The New World, Smith leaves Jamestown because of orders from the king, when in reality it has been proven he left Jamestown in 1609 because of a wounded knee when his powder horn exploded. In the movie Pocahontas is shown being given over to the settlers, this is inaccurate because Pocahontas was kidnapped from her people and brought to Jamestown by captain Argyll. Yet another inaccuracy was when the English landed they are shown being watched by the Indians and left alone to explore the land, but really, the English were attacked by the Algonquin’s, who had lived there, and were not welcoming to new settlers.

In the first few minutes of the movie John Smith is shown exploring the region, but according to history he was chained thought the voyage and spend another month after his arrival in Jamestown in handcuffs, and explored the regions after his handcuffs had been taken off. Windfield, one of the settlers in Jamestown is shown being shot by the settlers, when the truth is that he lived until 1630, and is credited with writing several books on the Jamestown settlement.

John Smith is shown with tattoos on his shoulder and chest, this is inaccurate, because the practice died out in Europe before they came to Jamestown, and only way this could have been accurate if he got one from the Indians, but no such thing was shown. One the biggest blunders in the movie was the fact the Pocahontas and her people were not as clothed as shown in the movie, during that time most Indians wore very little to no clothing. There is not historical evidence that Pocahontas and John Smith met in the garden like it is shown in The New World.

And last but not least she is shown dying peacefully on her bed, but it is said that she really got ill on a boat and was take ashore to die peacefully there, she was not home. These inaccuracies did affect my perception of history, because the reality is that they had it much harder than it was shown, not everything was handed to them, and they faced many obstacles along the way, to succeed as a colony in unknown regions. 2. ) 2. ) What was the point or thesis of you film? What themes was it trying to communicate to its audience?

The point of The New World was to reenact the story of Jamestown, how it came to be, and all the struggles the settlers had to go through, in order to become a town in a new, vast, and unknown territory. The movie wanted to show it in a historical way, with real scenarios, and situations, rather then the love story Pocahontas by Disney. The struggle for survival was one of the main points of the movie, showing struggles both sides faced in order to survive, as well as things crucial for their own survival on both side.

Learning another person’s ways in order to understand their act, and what drives them to do what they do, or not judging a book by its cover, like when John smith lived with the Indians after captivity, or Pocahontas, after being kidnapped give up a space of land. And patriotism, how either side would do anything for its people, cheat, maneuvers, and even kill. 3. ) How did the “whites” in your film deal with living in a vast, untapped wilderness?

The “whites” dealt with living in the wilderness, because when they arrived they had come with supplies which made settling into the region easier, and they already had prior knowledge on making a living from England. The English used their resources, and what they had around them, which they soon realized were rivers full of clams and fish. They explored further down the land to explore their territory, and learn of any vulnerable passages. Yet another thing that helped them is that the settlers kept receiving new supplies from England, and new men, and soon women, to help them farm and make up for the loss of men during the winter.

The settlers planted a food source, corn, which was a stable food income for them which reduced their risks of starvation. they had learned from the Indians as well as received help from them, as on how to farm, and received gifts from them, that helped them through the settlement. The English had built a town more civilized and modern, then what the Indians had, making it easier for them to protect themselves from the enemy, as well as keeping the enemy out, and them out of harm’s way.

Lastly, they build houses that acted as windbreakers which helped many survive the cold winter. 4. ) What aspects of their past did characters in your film carry with them into the mysterious future? Aspects of the past that the characters of The New World carried with themselves into the future is their actions, and behavior toward each other, the way they treated one another, with love, care, and respect. Pocahontas carried her spirituality, and her Christian faith as well as her Indian cultural prayers, as it showed her praying in the castle, after arrival in England.

Pocahontas also carried her carefreeness, and love for the wilderness as she is shown in the movie climbing a tree and spending so much time running around outside with her son, and playing games, like a child. In the movie Pocahontas, her husband john, and son Thomas, all carried their love for each other as well as their peaceful way of life as a family, and royalty toward one another, to their future. Finally, they carried their higher status into their future, they were thought of as a higher class family in Jamestown, and in England they were treated as nearly royalty. . ) How did your film depict Native Americans? Was it a fair depiction? The New World showed Native Americans as very spiritual, savage, and wild. They were shown praying all the time, preforming rituals, they were shown camouflaging themselves with mud for hunting purposes as well as the fact they played primitive games. The Indians were shown to be non-materialistic, they owned very little, and everyone shared along the tribe. In the movie, John Smith says: “they have no jealousy, or sense of possession. During the time John Smith spend with they are shown being very gentle towards each other and very caring of the tribe. This is believed to be a pretty fair depiction because even though the Natives were different then the white settlers, their surrounding caused them to adapt to their environment, and almost come to think like the animals in order to survive, which looked savage to the whites who had not been exposed to this before. They had no means to become more civilized because all around them that’s all they saw.

They also felt no need for possession because no one in the tribe was exposed to greed, and possessions, making them look like non- materialistic to people who only care about possession, therefore the depiction was fair. 6. ) What criticism do you have of the film? What were its strong points? Where was it weak? The only criticism as to this movie is the fact that there were misleading as to what happened in Jamestown, and that the movie had a few inaccuracies that misrepresented the truth. The way Jamestown was recreated in the movie, the beautiful scenery presented in the movie, how he recreating the period of history was so realistic, and the fair portrayal of the people back from 1607 were the strong points in The New World. The weak points of this film is how they tried to make it more of a love story to keep it interesting, when it should have been more historically accurate. The ending was hard to understand, misleading, and confusing, it doesn’t really potray how it all ended for Pocahontas. And lastly the asck of script in the movie, makes it hard to get to see what their thinking and what was going on in their heads at the time.