Ah, Thanksgiving, a time when people stuff
endless amounts of poultry and fixings into their faces while imagining
picturesque scenes of pilgrims with buckle hats passing the gravy to a Native
American as depicted in elementary history books. In reality, Thanksgiving is a celebration in
thanks of the native Americans helping the useless colonials through the harsh
winter. The story of Pocahontas takes
place 14 years prior to what is thought to be the first Thanksgiving feast and
presents some of the hostile views of both sides upon the intrusion on American
soil. Today, I’d like to talk about the
greedy jerk known as Governor John Ratcliffe, both in real life and in fiction.
 |
| Source |
Name(s):
John Ratcliffe, John Sicklemore, Governor
Ratcliffe
Occupation:
Governor, Commander of the Discovery, councilor
of Jamestown colony
Species:
Human
In Pocahontas:
In Pocahontas, the Governor is portrayed
as a rich, pompous, and vicious. He is
not willing to negotiate with the natives and prefers to be aggressive and
orders the men to kill on site. His main
motive is gold and fame and to eventually surpass the king in wealth. He orders John Smith to kill the natives, but
as we all know, he falls in love with Pocahontas instead. This results in a war between Powhatan and the
Governor. He aims to kill Powhatan but John Smith jumps into the way, takes the bullet, and the Governor is
wrapped up and shipped back to England.
In the sequel, he has turned the king on
John Smith and sets up Pocahontas and John Rolfe during a royal ball by setting
up a bear-baiting. Ratcliffe declares
war on the native Americans and begins to send a fleet to fight them. Of course, Pocahontas and Rolfe, alongside
the somehow still alive John Smith bring down Ratcliffe after an attempt on
Pocahontas’ life. He is arrested and sentenced
to….well life in prison we can assume.
Fun fact, “He is the second villain from the
Disney Renaissance who has not die at the end of his debut film, the first
being Jafar (though
Ratcliffe did not die in the sequel either), and the third being Hades (though
only because he is a god and is immortal).
He is also the second Disney Princess villain not to be killed, the
first being Lady Tremaine and the third and, to date, last, being Hans. Jafar
did not die in the first Aladdin, but did in the sequel.”
In History:
Ratcliffe
was actually the commander of the Discovery expedition and an elected official who
used John Smith’s help to dispose of the previous corrupted Governor, Edward
Wingfield, in September of 1607. It’s
even said that he was a “wise and insightful
president, but he fell out of favour with many colonists after enlisting men to
build a governor's house.”
Ratcliffe actually encouraged trade with the Native Americans, so much
that he actually began to over trade and caused upset in the colonists. He had John Smith in charge of the
communications with them rather than the attacking them. He also ordered that the surviving 40
colonists, mostly ill, construct a capitol in the woods, which you can see in
the sequel. This caused much more upset
as he was also accused of stealing and hoarding rations. Of course, he did invade land and most likely
brought over one of many deadly diseases that killed millions. So, let’s take a look at what the movie and
real life guy did combined!
Deaths Caused:
Since John Smith was revealed to be alive in the sequel,
no one directly dies due to Ratcliffe in the movies. In fact, the only death shown is caused by
Thomas, who may very well be an allusion to Thomas Gate, a Governor who came two years later. In reality, there are no records of deaths
caused by Ratcliffe, but colonization as a whole caused death of up to 95% of
the indigenous population as well as numerous colonists due to sickness,
starvation, etc. If Ratcliffe did hoard
food, he might have assisted in starvation, but there is nothing specific so we
have to say 0 for now.
Imprisonments:
In the movie, he had John
Smith set as an enemy of the state. That’s
about it so 1.
Harm to Protagonists and
Co:
Nearly fatally wounding
John Smith, the near murder of Pocahontas, and a near full out war against
Powhatan and his people. In the movie, a
lot of harm. In real life, he did not
even see Pocahontas and John Rolfe marry and most likely never saw them in
England, so I doubt he caused much harm.
Verdict:
It may actually be true that the movie representation is
a much more malicious and greedy incarnation of an already corrupt official as
seen through the skewed lenses of history.
My verdict will be based upon each version. So, for the crimes of horrible racism, greed,
near murder and genocide, I give Governor Ratcliffe from the movie a
6/10
However, the real life
Ratcliffe would receive a lower score around 4/10. You can judge for yourself based on the numbers here.
Death:
This
is where it gets gruesome. In the movie,
Ratcliffe is simply arrested and imprisoned.
However in real life….well… “In
December 1609, Ratcliffe and 14 fellow colonists were invited to a gathering
with the a tribe of Powhatan Indians. The Powhatans promised the starving
colonists would be given corn, but it was a trap. The colonists were ambushed.
Ratcliffe suffered a particular gruesome fate: Ratcliffe was tied to a stake in
front of a fire. Women removed the skin from his face with mussel shells and
tossed the pieces into the flame as he watched. Finally, he was burned at the
stake.” So…here’s the clip from
the movie instead!!!!!
In Conclusion:
I
still love the Pocahontas movies. I love
the music and although many people think it is racist, I think the point was to
show how racism on both sides caused damage and warns against it rather than
promotes it. I personally will always
love the movie, but if you would like to know more about what was wrong in the
movie, check out this link here to have your childhood ruined.
Sources:
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I'd love to know your thoughts on the subject so please leave a comment.
Also, I'd like to say I'm Thankful for you all. You all have been great, coming and reading this little blog of mine. You all have given me something to think about, spend time on, and focus on. You've helped me to feel needed in a world that seems pointless sometimes. I feel like if I don't write, I'm letting people down. Perhaps it is just me having an ego and thinking I'm more important than I am, but I hope I make a few people happy at the very least. I wish that I could know how many of you are really reading all this by following my blog or Google+. I hope you guys all have a fantastic day and happy holidays!
No comments:
Post a Comment
O! You have a comment? YAY!!!