The+New+World

1. What is the plot? In the movie The New World, a man by the name of Captain John Smith and several other English men travel across the waters to the New World. Upon arriving there they are greeted by the natives and must survive on the land as months and years go by. It is quite tough, and once food supplies runs low John Smith is asked to lead the men on the settlement. What is interesting is that you believe you are following the story of John Smith, but really you are following Pocahontas's story as she falls in love with the white man. That is what the story is about, the unlikely love story between John Smith and Pocahontas. Of coarse, John must lead and take care of his men and it is quite difficult to do so while in love with a Native who is also seen as sort of the enemy. John ends up leaving and telling his men to tell Pocahontas he died. She is heart torn, but eventually moves on and falls in love with a new man. There are many symbolic elements and underlining themes to the movie, but this is the basic plot of the story. However, the viewer must dig deeper and pay attention to so much more.

What is the theme? The theme of this movie is of love, and duty. In a sense one could say that the theme is Pocahontas needs to discover her true self and what she believes in rather then what others tell her.

The following scene in The New World is a great example of actually both the plot, and the theme and tone of the movie. In this scene John and Pocahontas are talking in secret as she tried to figure out why he does not see her more. It is a tense situation as John does not want his men knowing that he has fallen in love with a Native. At the same time however, he doesn't want to lose her.

1) Positioning. In the scene you can see both John and Pocahontas talking with both natives with the food and the settlers talking and eating. Pocahontas disguised her visit to simply be the natives sharing food for the Winter but her really intentions are to see John.

2) Props. I feel the clothing the characters wear show the distance between both John and Pocahontas. They want to be together, but the fact that they are so different nearly forbids them because of their duty, and that is a big element in this move, Love VS Duty.

3) Sound. The sound in this scene is quite key are you can hear the two of them speak in a hush whisper. They don't say much, but you can tell how much it is killing them not being able to discuss what is going on or how they feel for one another.

4) Dialogue. The dialogue in this scene seems simple being quite straight forward and direct. She simple is asking him why he does not see her, describing how she doesn't care what her people think or what his think. She wants to be with him. However, he still holds back on his duty, talking about how he must lead the settlers.

5) Cinematography. The shots in this scene are quite closed in on the two character, wanting to direct the attention of the viewer on the two lovers. However, it shows the background characters as to remind the viewer about the theme of duty.  6) Clothing. I would tie this into props, but again, the clothing shows the distance between both the characters.

7) Editing. The editor combined the shots in the scene quite quickly between Pocahontas and John but really dragged out the shots with the settlers and Natives. It shows that John and Pocahontas don't have much time together despite how much they want to because of the situation.

8) Lighting. The lighting is a more cold color, as it sort of represents the Winter season and the darker times between the two lovers. You can almost see the sadness with the gloomy and plain color scheme.