In the 1995 movie Pocahontas, Disney repeated the inaccurate myth of Pocahontas and John Smith falling in love in 1608. Smith had wandered too far up the Chickahominy River and been captured by a group that was out hunting deer. According to the myth, Smith was brought to Powhatan, and Pocahontas bravely challenged her father in order to save John Smith from execution. In the process, she tossed aside her love for Kocoum in exchange for a new relationship with the English captive.
The Disney movie does illuminate how both the Native Americans and the English viewed the other side as "savages," but the portrayal of Pocahontas ignores some key facts in order to enhance the story line. Most obviously, John Smith was not clean shaven and his hair was not blonde. In 1608, he was 25-26 years old and Pocahontas was just 10-11 years old. She was a child rather than a mature young woman, so any relationship could not have been a love between consenting adults.
Smith never claimed Pocahontas saved his life in dramatic fashion until 1624, when everyone who might challenge the story was dead. He finally wrote, 16 years after the supposed rescue, how Pocahontas had stopped an execution in front of her father
