ROMANCE BLOSSOMS IN DISNEY'S POCAHONTAS

If animated films that combine HISTORY with ROMANCE are your passion, then POCAHONTAS may be the movie for you--except that the elements may not appear in that exact order. As a matter of fact, there may be a little more ROMANCE than there is HISTORY.

Disney's Pocahontas is a delightful interpretation of the legend surrounding the Indian Princess' meeting with Captain John Smith. It does however, indulge in a feast of fictional events and fantasy, with a talking willow tree, a pet raccoon and a hummingbird mascot.

While Pocahontas is believed to have been around the age of eleven when she actually meets Smith, Disney's Pocahontas is a youth on the verge of adulthood. Her physical stature is decidely more mature than that of an eleven year old girl. Yet, this creation is beautiful and appealing to all cultures, and gets the job done.

John Smith, whose voice is charmingly portrayed by Mel Gibson, and is quite good-looking, lacks the rough and not-so-attractive looks of the real John Smith. He too, is drawn as an appropriate vehicle with which to get the message across.

The most historically accurate part of the film, I believe, was the portrayal of the relations between the colonists and the Indians. These emotions and fears were portrayed fairly, albeit brilliantly. In this film, one can easily see how one side might have felt animosity toward the other, and yet the situation was presented with enough information to see that it was wrong to believe the worst of each other. As to the relationship, it is commonly believed that it never existed. Yet, in Disney's magical hands, a romance blossoms between the two, and a quite affecting one. Although I am a lover of history and admirer of romance, and should be put out by the overstepping of the boundaries, I am not. This film is a bridge between two cultures where each believes the other to be savages. It has a moral which comes across loud and clear.

Pocahontas' life is a lesson to us all. She is a Native American woman who moved into the white man's circles and earned much respect from them, as well as from her people. She followed her dream and made a name for herself. Accordingly, by whatever means possible, the fact that she lived should be made known to others. Disney has helped to preserve that name for generations to come.

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