-
18. Pocahontas: An Exercise in Mythmaking and Marketing
- University of Nebraska Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
KimE — University of Nebraska Press / Page 433 / SEPTEMBER . 22 . 2005 / New Perspectives on Native North America / Kan and Strong 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 [First Page] [433], (1) Lines: 0 to 54 ——— 7.272pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [433], (1) 18. Pocahontas: An Exercise in Mythmaking and Marketing frederic w. gleach She’s fearless, she’s a fox . . . she’s Pocahontas! Stronger than Schwarzenegger and curvier than Jessica Rabbit, Disney’s new animated heroine springs to action in this gorgeous and stirring musical loosely inspired by the life of the Indian princess who brokered peace between her tribe and Jamestown settlers. (“ ‘Pocahontas’ Bounds into Stores,” Syracuse Herald-American, 1996) So ran one announcement of the 1996 release on video of Disney’s Pocahontas . Never mind that this Pocahontas more closely resembles AsianAmerican actress and sex symbol Tia Carrera than an early-adolescent eastern Algonquian girl or that the story line bears little relation to the documented events of the early seventeenth century beyond the names of the principal characters. Distortion has long characterized the myth that Pocahontas has become, a myth that has been constructed and marketed in a variety of ways over the past couple of centuries.1 Even the marketing of tie-ins and promotional products—so overwhelming in the case of the Disney production—is not entirely unprecedented in the history of this American legend. Even though I had been working with Virginia Native history for a number of years, until recently I never considered these issues of mythologizing and marketing very interesting. I was more concerned with the actual history of the Powhatans (e.g., Gleach 1995, 1996, 1997a). This history may be as much a cultural construction as the myths, and the “facts” it is based on may be equally constructed and in need of interpretation. Still, one cannot evaluate the later appropriations and recontextualizations without first dealing with the recorded evidence in its own original context. I also believe that however difficult and problematic it may be to define KimE — University of Nebraska Press / Page 434 / SEPTEMBER . 22 . 2005 / New Perspectives on Native North America / Kan and Strong 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 [434], (2) Lines: 54 to 66 ——— 0.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [434], (2) a boundary between history and myth, there is a significant difference between attempts to understand what happened in the past—subjective as they may be—and texts constructed for other purposes. My interests fell first to the former. The story of the original Pocahontas—the favorite daughter of the paramount chief Powhatan—is known principally through the accounts of Capt. John Smith, an English commoner who rose from the ranks as a soldier.2 Before going to Virginia, he had fought in Brittany and Transylvania ; been captured, sold into slavery, and escaped; traveled extensively through eastern Europe; and sailed with pirates along the African coast.3 In good Elizabethan fashion, he wrote accounts of his adventures. Although his first book was crudely produced by an unknown editor from a lengthy letter he wrote back to England from Virginia, he later published more carefully produced volumes over which he had more control. The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles (Smith 1986[1624]) is his most extensive work on the New World. Although much of it is drawn from his earlier works, the first account of his rescue by Pocahontas is given there. The outline of this story is well known. Smith was captured while exploring , taken on a veritable tour of the Powhatan territory, and subjected to a series of apparent threats and several rituals during the weeks he was held captive. After finally meeting Powhatan he was suddenly seized and forced to his knees with his head on a large stone. Clubs were raised to smash his skull, when suddenly “Pocahontas, the king’s dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death. Whereat the emperor was contented he should live...