Pocahontas (1995) Ratcliff overreaction to the corn might have been a subtle reference to his RL counterpart fate (explanation in the comments)

In the 1995 Pocahontas movie, we see Governor Ratcliffe angrily taking the corn out of John’s hand while declaring that the Powhatans do not want to feed them, they want to kill them.

At first this looks simply a reaction based on his greed and desire to eliminate them in order to obtain gold. However the corn being the thing that triggered him might actually have been a subtle reference to what happened to his real life counterpart.

In real life, during the Starving Time, John Ratcliffe and several other colonist were invited to a meeting by the Powhatans, who promised to help them feed their people by trading corn. However, it was all a trap, and they killed the colonists that came with Ratcliffe, and he was captured, where he later suffered a very gruesome death by being tied to a stake, flayed alive, and watching as they tossed his flesh into the flames.

Back in the movie, while in the context of the escene it simply implies that he wants to eliminate the Powhatans, the fact that Disney chosed the mention of the corn to be what triggered him, and lashing their intentions to not feed them, but kill them, like if he knew what happened to his real life self, might have been a subtle nod by Disney regarding his fate.

Man that’s dark.