As many know in my private and social life, I am writing eight different screenplays; all at once.  I am writing two dramas, two horrors, two love stories, a comedy and a romantic comedy.  A lot of my friends are excited to read my horrors because they know just how gory and evil I can get.  My best friend is the inspiration for an epic, platonic love story between two young women.

But the script that is getting the most attention is my adaptation of Pocahontas’ life.  I’ve studied her extensively and am so proud of this incredible young woman.  Why is she my fondest inspiration?  Where should I start? 

When I was younger, my interest in history and folklore gave me thousands of dreams.  I wanted to be an Arthurian warrior, a Viking, an adventurer and a princess.  Like many other Native American girls, I just could not see myself as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or Elizabeth I.  I wanted to be beautiful and graceful; but still be me. I wanted a knight in shining armor.  I wanted a castle and a royal stature.  But my hair was dark instead of blonde; my skin brown instead of fair. 

History had offered me no fantasies to satisfy my imagination.  In second grade my class was given an assignment, which was to draw and tell a story about a prince or princess that I’d admired or wanted to be.  The class handed in their papers but I could not.  My teacher came to my desk and asked why my paper was blank.  I began to cry and she brought me into the hallway to talk.  I told her that there was no princess that I could look up to.   “Why is that, Misty?” she asked.  I told her that I didn’t know. 

The next week she gave me a children’s book about Pocahontas: Indian Princess.  I saw the pictures of a brown, dark haired girl dressed in a gown, bowing before Queen Anne.  I read the book three times and then finished my assignment.  This was wonderful!  At last I had a real Indian princess that I could relate to in some ways.  A new love opened up to me.   

I began to study Pocahontas like an obsessive fan.  I learned her story, her background and some of her language.  At last, I had a love story to day-dream about.  Later, as I began my acting career, I looked forward to making a movie about her.  What other way could a young Native American woman find a way into English history and romance? 

I love the U.K. and its many different peoples.  I would give anything to live in medieval times as a nun or a princess or even a servant.  It doesn’t matter to me.  I just want a chance to be a part of that world, like some of my Netherlands fans love the Native Americans. But before I get thousands of emails saying that I should be proud to be a Native American let me say that… I am.  I can be proud of my people while interested in another.  I see no wrong in this. 

I remember reading about the relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith.  My family let me dream that he was a good man, a brave man whom held the delicate Indian maiden close to his heart.  My dad never tried to crush this fantasy.  Like any Christian father, he wanted his little girl to look forward romance and hope for a future husband, which I thank him for to this day.  So fast-forward to sixth grade when I was told by a family friend that John Smith was a selfish and degenerate man who was as cocky as they come.  My belief in romance before then didn’t allow me to see that there was a dark side to this story; that there could have been a tragedy instead.   

I was grateful for such a different view because that same year I began to recognize the differences in emotions between males and females.  I had my first crush and was asked out by a boy I knew, but had to turn him down because I wasn’t allowed to date until I was sixteen.  I felt such heartbreak.  He seemed to move on quite quickly to one of my friends. (She was already allowed to date)  This new point of view made me realize that my bubble-gum fairytale was not so perfect; but I couldn’t let myself NOT believe in romance and love.   

Nowadays, I know very well what kind of man John Smith probably was. Many people who knew him regarded him as a self-centered adventurer who exaggerated every story and account he gave.  He was also ladies’ man.  I also realize Pocahontas’ innocence in this matter.  I can relate to her in that way.   

John Smith did indeed seek his own interests above all else, but a part of me will never let go of the hope that maybe there was a genuine connection between the two. It may not be a perfect one, but one anyhow.  Maybe they could not be together because they were both products of their time.  Maybe, Pocahontas, like many young girls, gave her heart to the wrong man.  Did he break it with little care?  Or was it a, “She will be better off without me” type of situation?

 I have always seen Pocahontas as a lively, spirited and free girl with the kind of charisma you find in movie stars today.  I, truly in my heart believe that she was genuinely enraptured by him; call it a little girl’s crush or puppy-love.  She probably dreamed of kissing him, being held in his arms and smiled while thinking about tender moments stolen throughout the day. In reality, no one knows, and no one will ever know what really happened between them.  I like to think that it was on the level of Romeo and Juliet, Bonny and Clyde, and Elizabeth I and Sir Robert Dudley.  

If you ask any young lover, they will agree that most of the fun of romance is the chase, the little games, the promise of heartbreak and the private moments alone with the one you love and lust for.  I believe that he was at first flattered by her attention.  I believe she caught his interest and made him feel young and strong again, for no doubt he must have been in the midst of a mid-life crisis.  But I also believe that John Smith, from the beginning, had no intentions of taking it any further than some coy flirtations and games. Who can say how many women he had in his pocket?  And how many men would not take advantage of such a pure and beautiful thing?   

My experience around such power-hungry, greedy and selfish men can tell me everything I need to know about his possible point of view.  But don’t get me wrong! I don’t believe that Pocahontas did things that went against her beliefs and people.  I believe that she had found herself stuck between both worlds with no clear way to go.  But being a very young and sheltered girl myself, I believe that she thought their age difference, cultures and futures could work out in some happy universe where everything is joyous.  

Some Natives may say, “How could you think that she could even imagine herself with a White man?”  How? I don’t know, but what I do know is that she later married a White tobacco farmer named John Rolfe after converting to Christianity and taking the Christian name Rebecca. I am a Christian also, so I am very sympathetic of her choices.  

Shortly before her marriage, she had received a false report of John Smith’s death and had mourned for many months.   It was only after she was married that she found he was still alive.  I believe she could have married any Native man she chose, but she didn’t. I don’t believe she was forced to do anything.  Later, she learned English and began a family with her new husband.  Eventually, she made her way to England as royalty, for she was in fact, an Indian princess. 

John Smith continued to explore and stake claim to the “New World” and the eastern lands.  He traveled back to England where he publicly avoided Pocahontas until two weeks before she was to sail back to America. Was he the man she would’ve waited forever for?  Did his coldness devastate her?  Why did she burst into tears when she saw him for the first time since she had arrived? Why did it take some time for her to compose herself so that she could give him a proper greeting?  

Pocahontas died due to what was officially called a bronchial sickness aboard the ship before it ever left the port.  I believe that she died not only from a bronchial sickness, but also of a broken heart.  I too am in love with someone that I would wait my whole life for.  I would waste my years away if in exchange I could have just one with him.  This kind of love is cruel and can tear the soul apart; and yes he is non-Native. I’ve never had a problem with dating guys who are non-Native and never will.  I believe in love above blood, but that’s another article. 

Many Native women hate John Smith for what they believe is a false glory in taking advantage of Pocahontas.  I’ve heard his name compared to negative slang regarding the absence of good male endowments; a bit funny, but so negative.  There are so many different opinions of their great story, and I have the right to mine.  

So what is my script like?  You can probably guess.  I am writing a romance wherein the Native American woman is the subject; not the man, nor an “adopted-Native” White woman. Dances With Wolves  will have nothing on my script. (…And believe me, there will be no talking animals or trees!) It’s about time young Native women have a positive heroine to look up to.  A movie that we can relate to is long over due. I want to buy my movie ticket, get some popcorn and licorice and prepare to be moved to tears.   

Do I think what was done to the Native Americans during that time is right or excusable? No.  Do I have hate for white-men of today? No.  Do I believe that Pocahontas was without feelings for John Smith? No. I don’t.   

So I am writing this story and eating lots of chocolates during the process in hopes that I will be able to one day rent a romantic movie and imagine myself in “her”  shoes. I like to believe in love and epic romance.  I want to enjoy a sweet story instead of the usual drama about our differences.  Yes, there are issues that will always be important to our people.   

But in with the alcoholic heartbreaks and mystical story-telling, I’d like to have a little romance, but that’s just me.