Even though the animated version of Pocahontas is offensive in its own right (I don't think the colonialism and the attempted massacre of indigenous people has ever looked so colorful and fancy-free), the real story of Pocahontas and her relationship to John Smith probably isn't one for the kids. To be clear, Pocahontas was a real Native American, though her real name was Matoaka. Pocahontas is actually a derogatory term used to describe spoiled children. John Smith existed, too, though he was generally a terrible human being who lied about his interactions with the Native Americans he encountered. And his relationship with Pocahontas is far less romantic than he made it out to be. When the two met, Pocahontas was a child, likely not much older than 10 or 11 years old. He, on the other hand, was in his 30s. Can anyone do the quick match on this one? I'm not certain, but I believe 30 minus 10 is...yep, that's incredibly goddamn creepy. Maybe there was no romance between them, but that's pretty unlikely considering Smith's track record of being an awful creep. She definitely didn't get to ride off into the sunset with her beau, either. She was actually captured by colonists and taken back to England and paraded around as an example of a "civilized savage," being held hostage for no less than a year and having her name changed to Rebecca. And she was very likely raped, repeatedly, before being married off to Englishman John Rolfe, a man she absolutely didn't love. They had a child and "Rebecca" died in her early 20s, probably from a combination of a broken heart and an unwillingness to live in a world where the aforementioned things are not only allowed to happen, but actually encouraged.
