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¶ … Conceptualization/Film Analysis: Dances with Wolves
The movie, 'Dances with Wolves' is among the most noteworthy of Hollywood motion pictures. Though it comes with its flaws, the movie has still proven to be successful in bringing an image of the culture of Native Americans into mainstream America's collective consciousness. The movie's screenplay manages to introduce a better understanding, acknowledgement, and sensitivity towards Lakota people. Several scenes in the movie back the above idea. These scenes also give the movie's audience an access to familial relationships in tribal communities and the humanity the people of this culture possess. By the above statement, I am, in particular, thinking of the numerous scenes within the movie wherein we witness "gift giving." The first gift-exchange transpires when Lieutenant Dunbar (played by Kevin Costner) brews coffee for the little contingent of Lakota people that happens upon his military fort. This scene closes with the Lakota warriors leaving the site with new coffee tins strapped onto their backs; a voice-over reveals to viewers that Dunbar has also gifted them some sugar and coffee for taking back to their people (Eagan, 1990). Braves the frontiers of America
1. Lieutenant Dunbar
1. Concise Background
1. A White Civil-War veteran and hero
1. He sees a man's quality, and doesn't judge anyone influenced by notions of the society or other people
1. Forms a bond with Lakota-speaking Sioux Indian tribe
1. Apprehended by fellow members of the White American community
1. Rescued by the red- Indian Sioux tribes
1. Relationship with Sioux tribe
1. Because of the racial prejudice of White American supremacists against red Indians (Native Americans), they consider Dunbar as their enemy.
1. Prior to his first live encounter with the Natives, Dunbar also views them as the enemy and as pests that threaten the Western U.S. frontiers; however, after meeting them, Dunbar gets a better understanding of the community, learning and understanding their lifestyle and culture.
1. He fights alongside the Lakota tribe, against white supremacists.
1. When Dunbar decides to visit the Native tribe and comes across a wounded Native American woman, while on the way, he saves her and brings her back home to her tribe. Following this incident, the Sioux community begins their dealings with Dunbar; ever since, they treat each other as kinsmen.
2. How their life experiences affect their mental health: Psychologists that analyze conflicts among individuals do not seem to have much to offer on the movie 'Dances with Wolves', which revolves around the conflicts among different groups of people- that is, between American cavalry soldiers and Indians (Hersh, 1991).
1. Love of Friendship
1. Dunbar's friendship with Kicking Bird and Wind in His Hair was forged through a…
References
Costner, K. (Director). (1990). Dances with Wolves [Motion Picture].
Eagan, K.P. (1990). Dances with Wolves (1990). Retrieved from Cabrillo.edu: http://cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/dances_wolves.html
Hersh, T.R. (1991, March 18). Dances with Wolves: A Psychological Review. Retrieved from Clinical Psychology: http://www.psychological-observations.com/published-articles/48-dances-with-wolves
Dunbar is presented as a man that loves life and all the good things about it. He expresses a sentiment of extreme pride when he prefers to die rather than have his leg amputated. Most people have returned to their homes after the war with the desire to have a normal life and a well-paid job. Dunbar, in contrast, chooses to remain in the military to protect an abandoned
Often, these films portrayed the Indians as bloodthirsty villains who preyed on whites for no reason. They were often violent, and whites almost always died at their hands. In addition, most of the "Indian" actors were actually white actors in makeup. These stereotypical ideals where what most Americans thought of when they thought of the Old West, and as this film shows, they were often very far from the
In contrast, Dances with Wolves seems more like a western in that it takes place in the wild frontier and it centers on the white man's relationship with the Native Americans. The initial conflict and anxiety that the Natives experience is something that we can link to a western. There are other scenes, too, that make the film feel more like a western. These include a buffalo hunt and a
Dances with Wolves is a movie that clearly shows the moral and political dilemmas that existed in those times and it also represents that fairly savage policy that the United States had against Indians and those that sided with the same. It also proved that skin color alone is not enough to keep people separated, as proven by Costner's character and the white woman he eventually took as his wife.
When the pigs take refuge in the second house, their case is similar to the one when the Natives have been constantly trying to defend their territory. In spite of their attempts, they have been pushed back and sent into reservations by the new-comers. The wolf had been blinded by his greed and did not pay any attention to the suffering that he caused along his migration toward the west. At
American Civil War/Sioux Indians Cowboys and Indians in Hollywood: The Treatment of Quotidian Life of the Sioux People in Dances With Wolves The old Hollywood Westerns that depicted the heroic cowboy and the evil Indian have past; they no longer sell out the movie theaters and are inundated with critique instead of cinematic favor. In the last thirty years, new Hollywood has attempted to correct this revisionist history, as embodied by Kevin Costner's "Dances