THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Before the new Disney movie ``Pocahontas'' started showing, my son and I were talking about how she got her name. I told him Pocahontas was a nickname given to her by the English and that it wasn't her real name. The little girl sitting in front of us turned around and said to me, ``Yeah, right.''
This little girl's truth came from Disney; the silver screen is her Bible. She believed Disney over the truth.
This is a perfect example of the stereotypes Shirley ``Little Dove'' Custalow McGowan was afraid would happen (``Disney vs. history . . . again,'' Daily Break, June 20).
If that little girl's parents, and many other parents, do not read true stories about Matoaka, Pocahontas' real name, and take her to places like Jamestown, the myths will be perpetuated, creating another generation of cultural illiterates.
Disney movies are, for the most part, good. When they take such liberties with history, they are not so good. It's one thing to elaborate on a fairy tale but a completely different matter to mess with history.
CINDY LAWRENCE EVANS
Virginia Beach, June 23, 1995 by CNB