Dances with Wolves and City Slickers: comparative film analysis

City Slickers and Dances With Wolves

Seen as Western Films

City Slickers does follow the western genre in that it portrays the main characters in the West and presents them with opportunities to overcome the wilderness. As with typical elements we find in Westerns, the frontier is significant. Mitch finds himself in the wilderness as an attempt to deal with a mid-life crisis. His friends decide to give him a very unique birthday gift to get him out of his slump. The gift is two weeks at a dude ranch where the three will, among other things, rustle cattle. The vacation becomes an adventure of self-discovery at the expense of being a comedy. That being said, the movie will only go so deep when exploring the depths of the human psyche and the human experience. In contrast, Dances with Wolves does not follow the typical western genre because it is so involved and encompasses so much more than a western. Dances with Wolves is an adventure and a historical drama before it is a western. Dunbar's experiences include more than an encounter with Native Americans and, as a result, the movie is far more than what westerns generally offer up. As opposed to City Slickers, Dances with Wolves delves into the human experience headfirst. Both films can be considered variations of westerns but they should not be categorized as westerns first and foremost.

City Slickers should not be considered a western because it so light-hearted. It means to touch upon the wilderness to emphasize what the men go through while they examine their lives. The outdoors seems more manly (therefore, more applicable) but it is also very different from the world the men are accustomed to and that is why they are there. They need to be removed from their usual element to make what they go through more powerful. While Mitch and the boys face extraordinary challenges, the movie is more comedic than dramatic. While it faces dramatic issues, it deals with them in a very light-hearted way. Mitch's mid-life crisis is not as dramatic as most men might experience in real life. The film glosses over this as well as death in order for these men to learn something about themselves. This is not to slight the film in any way. It is a success as a feel-good comedy. It makes viewers forget about real life for a while and it definitely makes viewers laugh. The creators of this film did not want the viewers to take things too seriously - that would miss the point. It can be considered an adaptation of a modern-day western but only after it is seen as a comedy first.

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 fight with the angry tribe of Native Americans just to name a couple. It is important to note that we also have other battle scenes that make the movie feel more like a drama than a western. The move has been praised for its accuracy and historical detail and this makes it more than a western as well. This is not a light-hearted film like City Slickers. Instead, this movie encourages viewers to think about history and those that had to endure certain circumstances. The Native Americans, the soldiers, and the fugitive are part of a complicated tale that takes place in the frontier.

Dances with Wolves is also a drama and an adventure. It is far too long and complicated to be termed simply a western, and, in my opinion, should be considered these things before it is considered a western. The historical data alone makes the film almost like a documentary in its scope. However, it is fiction, so we would be better of to classify this filed as an epic or historical drama. This movie is filled with adventure and battles; it is filmed against an enormous panoramic backdrop. The movie also involves a romance with Dances with Wolves and Stands with a Fist. It would not come close to being classified as a romance, however, because the romance is secondary to everything else that is happening in the film.