Mythes et héros - bac d'anglais

        The raffle draw gave me myths and heroes. First of all, I'd like to give a definition of our notion. A myth can be a story about gods or heroes, it can be a popular belief or a tradition or a false notion. A hero can be a mythological figure, a person who is admired for his or her achievements, a superhero or maybe a role model or an icon. To illustrate it, I have chosen the theme of Pocahontas. Indeed, we may wonder how did the myth of Pocahontas build up and how was it misreprensentated. For this purpose, my presentation will fall into 2 parts : in the first instance, I will concentrate on the historical Pocahontas and the gap with her myth then, I will analyze the misrepresentations of it.

        The historical Pocahontas is totally different from the one around which the myth was built. Indeed, we have seen in class a visual representation of what she really was. Little, with round shapes, frizzy hair and a dark skin, we are far from the ideal of the tall and slim Amerindian girl, with an amazing figure, wearing a leather minidress with one shoulder strap that we immediatly figure out when we think about her. Pocahontas' story begins when english settlers arrive in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Once again, facts are diverted and embellished. The main figure of the settlers is obviously the captain John Smith. We have also seen representations of him. He was short, had a full beard, and wore puffy pants. He is not the attractive tall and clean shaven man that we imagine. A month after the arrival, he started exploring and traiding the area in order to map it. He was captured one day in December, during an exploration, and led to Powhatan's house, the chief and Pocahontas' father. The gap between mythical and historical facts expands from there.

First of all, Pocahontas effectively rescued him from a certain death. The myth states that shortly after that, they met in wilderness, deeply fell in love with eachother and finally got married.  However, reality appears much differently. We studied in class an extract of John Smith encounter with Powhatan in 1608. Relationships between the two communities were tensed. Amerindians were accused of theft by John Smith but Powhatan justifies his people behavior and settles the fact that colons need them because they know the area better that the settlers. Notwithsanding, they both wanted peace. Thus, John Smith and Pocahontas became only good friends when Powhatan adopted him as his son and named him ''Nantaqoud''. Finally, Pocahontas married to John Rolfe, a tobacco grower, and converted to christianism. She became, despite her, an ambassador of the region in England and died really young, at the age of 22.

        As we have seen, Pocahontas was portrayed differently in myth and history. However, she was a symbol that  to a lot of representations. I chose to focus on a particular one, the disney movie based on her life. The film definitely distorts reality ''beyond recognition''. We studied in class Crazy Horse statement. He claims that there are a lot of inaccuracies, especially historical ones. Once again, the movie concentrates on the romance. Pocahontas and John Smith are believed to have had the same age. John Smith is also elevated to status of myth while ''Smith's fellow colonists described him as an abrasive, ambitious, self-promoting mercenary soldier''. This is the illustration to what kind of misreprensentations a very well-known myth can lead. It is regrettable to give children a falsified image of history. Subsequently, they will keep in mind a vision of Native Americans based on stereotypes that is difficult to destroy. For instance, the song Colors of the Wind presents them as humble protectors of the land, and above all, nature lovers. This simplistic image is incorrect. We can't reduce a whole community to such rustic activities. Moreover, the song Savages is also particularly disturbing. Amerindians are qualified as ''barely even human'' and ''they must be evil''. This promotes racism and that shocks me a lot. We live in a world where people are different from one another. We have to accept and respect thos differencies. We all watch Disney movies. They have an impact on our lives so they have to promote those very important values.

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