Comparative Essay: The Sapphires &

Pocahontas
Topic: Discovering our identity is a challenging journey.
This essay will discuss the topic of how discovering our identity is a challenging journey.
It will compare the film The Sapphires with the film Pocahontas and will analyse them and
find out what aspects of the topic they contain. This essay will see why young people have
difficulties when it comes to knowing who they are. It will also look at the two films and see
why family and friends can help one decide who they are and see why sometimes even older
people have to ask themselves who they are.
The first point this essay will discuss is how the two films, The Sapphires and
Pocahontas, display why young people have difficulties when it comes to knowing who they
are. In the movie The Sapphires, Julie, Gail, Cynthia and Kay all struggle with knowing who
they are when they are young, and as they mature and become themselves, they slowly find
their true identities. Throughout the whole film, Kay and Gail have many fights, usually Kay
being the one victimised. These little disagreements were always about Kay finding her true
identity; white or black? Being so young, she struggles with really knowing who she is as she
hasnt matured enough to make advanced decisions yet. Julie was also very confused about
her identity, always wondering if shell become a famous singer or not. When told that she
cant go to Vietnam because she has a child and she is no less than a child herself, she says I
know Ive got a child, thats why I want to make something of myself! All of this proves why
young people have difficulties when searching for their true identity.
Now changing onto the topic of Pocahontas, the titular character, Pocahontas, struggles
with knowing who she is, where her life is leading her and what path she is going down since
she is still a young woman. By the end of the movie, shes matured and she realises who she
is. Pocahontas always wondered and asked the spirits, ghosts and dream-givers who she
really was to find herself. She finds identity and love throughout the story, the two main
themes in the film, showing that it contains similarities with The Sapphires as they are the two
main themes in that as well. In one of the songs in the film, Pocahontas sings about whats
going to happen to her in the future and what her identity is, asking herself Whats around
the riverbend, waiting just around the riverbend for me? This is a metaphor as Pocahontas is
wondering whats just around the corner for her, just waiting for her to reach it and discover
and grab her true identity. Pocahontas truly discovers her identity when her father speaks
fondly of her by saying My daughter speaks with the wisdom beyond her years. We have all
come here with anger in our hearts, but she comes with courage and understanding. This
enables Pocahontas to believe in herself and understand her true identity, showing that it is
very difficult as a young person when it comes to knowing who they are.
This essay will also look at how the two films, The Sapphires and Pocahontas, explore
why family and friends can help you decide who you are. In The Sapphires, Julie, Gail, Cynthia
and Kay all try to help each other with finding what their identities are (sometime in harsh and
harmful ways as displayed by Gail and Kay). Dave also tries to help the four girls find their
identities as he is older and more mature than them, although he still wonders about his own
identity (as this essay will talk about later on). Throughout the film, the four girls shape each
others identities, helping each other with their relationships, their singing and dancing
talents, their image and their personalities. Also, the four girls parents help them assume
their identities and discover themselves. This is shown when they are provided with the news
of the girls going to Vietnam, as Julies mum says I suppose Gail and Cynthia can go, but Julie
stays here. Shes too young. This is something Julie is not very pleased about as she storms
off while Gail is quite happy, knowing that Julie will definitely be safe. These points show that
family and friends can help you discover your identity, whether it be through harmful or easy
methods.

Now on to the other chosen film in this comparative essay, Pocahontas, where the
titular characters identity is shaped by her family and friends who decide who she will
become and who she wants to be. Throughout the film, Pocahontas family such as her dad
(Chief Powhatan), her grandmother (Grandmother Willow) and her best friend (Nakoma) all try
to help Pocahontas discover and choose her identity. Her dad wants her to be a stereotypical
Native-American Indian woman, marrying a warrior and becoming a future chiefs wife.
Nakoma wants her to be safe and responsible and not mingle with the pale Englishmen. The
most fitting and appropriate assumption for the right identity is that of Grandmother Willows,
telling Pocahontas to lead in her mothers footsteps and follow her dreams and go down the
path she wants to go down, not the path Nakoma and her dad, Chief Powhatan, want her to go
down. Grandmother Willow says something very meaningful relating to Pocahontas identity
and the path she should go down when she touches on the ripples in the pond, saying how
theyre so small at first but then look how they grow and how someone has to start
them, telling Pocahontas to strive for what she believes in. This shows that friends and family
can help you decide who you are.
Lastly, this essay will discuss and investigate how the two films, The Sapphires and
Pocahontas, display why sometimes even older people have to ask themselves who they are.
In The Sapphires, Dave Lovelace, the four girls friend and manager, struggles with his own
identity as he is not sure about his marriage, about his love life or about his career. As he is
well into his 30s or 40s, Dave is still trying to find out who he really is and what he wants to
do with his life. This is quite a common theme in many older and more mature adults if they
havent really branched out into one particular career path or fallen in love. Gail really helps
with making Dave aware of who he is, because at the end of the movie, he says I was never
good enough at music and certainly not at life and thats a hard thing to take because I didnt
have a place and then I met these crazy Aboriginal girls and one amazing woman and I had a
place and I liked it, showing that even if you are an older or more mature adult, you still may
have to ask yourself who you are sometimes.
In Pocahontas, Governor Ratcliffe, the main antagonist in the film, struggles with finding
his identity. When travelling to Virginia, he is not sure of what he will find there. He is hoping
that it is gold but he is not sure. After his workers have been digging for hours on end, he
loses his mind since he thinks he should be wallowing in riches by then and they haven't
found as much as a speck. In one of the songs in the film, Ratcliffe says how after he finds
lots of gold, the king will reward me. He'll knight me No, lord me! But as he doesnt find
any gold, he becomes confused and not sure of who he is. Hes now not sure on what to do
since he has wasted all of this time and money into coming to Virginia to find gold, only to find
none. This shows that even older people really do have to ask themselves who they are
sometimes.
After reading this essay, the topic of discovering our identity is a challenging journey
should be much simpler, clearer and comprehensible than it was before since the two chosen
film texts (The Sapphires and Pocahontas) made it very easy and understandable to display
what the topic means. The three points used in this essay to define what the topic means are
that; 1. young people find it difficult when it comes to knowing who they are, 2. your friends
and family can help you decide who you are and 3. sometimes even older people have to ask
themselves who they are. In conclusion, discovering our identity is a challenging journey, and
identity is quite a force to be reckoned with.