Jeremiah Johnson & Culture the

Jeremiah Johnson & Culture The American movie Jeremiah Johnson is a story of a 19th century American frontiersman and ex-soldier who wishes to escape the drama of the United States. He escapes all that he knows from the Mexican-American war in order to face the world alone, but soon finds that this is not as easy as he had realized.

When encountering the Native Americans, specifically the Crow Tribe, culture clash and the inevitable exchanges of people new and old in a desolate land create the cultural tension of Jeremiah Johnson. The crow Indians chief, named Paints-His-Shirt-Red, along with a white mountain-man named Bear Claw Chris Lapp teach Jeremiah how to survive the mountains. The laws of state and the rule of law do not exist in this part of the world at this time; every interaction was unguided and could end violently.

Johnson through the movie deals with the concepts of having possessions to care for and protect, and having no possessions so as to not be tied to any place on Earth. One example of this is his weak rifle, a 0.38 caliber rifle that cannot protect him well enough against the wilderness.

He finds a dead man who has died to a bear attack, but who has a fine example of a 0.50 caliber rifle, that shows the first and most important possession to these men; their rifles that they needed for protection. The woman who needs to give up her son because she is unable to take care of him shows a softer type of materialism and possession. This is shown when Johnson finds the cabin with Caleb, his adopted son.

Caleb represents property that Johnson must protect, changing his situation from having nothing to now having something to live for. Del Gue, who has been sentenced to death by the Blackfoot tribe by being buried in sand up to his neck, represents the negative cultural aspects of the Americans. Gue was buried in the sand and left to die, showing what the Indians wanted to do to the white man.

Gue takes Jeremiah to a Blackfoot camp late at night, and ends up killing the Blackfeet Indians who had his possessions. The material possessions of Gue drove him to murder, which is a representation of how materialism is so important to the American frontiersman. Jeremiah then stumbles upon a peaceful Indian tribe, the Flathead Indians, who have adopted Christianity. Unknowingly, Jeremiah changes the relationship between himself and the Flathead Indians chief by offering them the possessions of the Blackfoot tribe and their scalps.

According to tribal tradition, the Flathead Chief must now give Jeremiah Johnson an even greater gift, which means his daughter, Swan. Jeremiah has a wedding that symbolizes the union of American and American Indian customs; a mix of the two very different peoples. After settling down and creating an ideal life, Jeremiah is forced into the U.S. Army, and leaves his cottage in order to do what the 'authority' wants. Against his wishes, the Calvary goes through sacred Blackfoot land, and as a result, Jeremiah's family is killed.

This scene is very shocking, but should not have been surprising to Jeremiah. He chose to forget his lessons of mountainhood that he had learned, and he did not respect the local people. As a result of this, and his attachment to the possessions that he had brought to the land, he was unable to conquer the rugged territory that he had first faced at the beginning of the movie, bringing about the lessons of life and hardship in the American West.

Jeremiah Johnson has a reputation that grows as he chops down every Crow tribe enemy that stands in his way. Eventually, he learns that his heroic deeds are most respected by his enemies themselves, bringing into focus a moment of culture clash. As Johnson believes he is getting vengeance in an American-style Indian kill, the Crow tribe in turn provides the culture clash of the warrior-people vs. The economic-people.

The Crow do not respect the ways of life of the average American, but they definitely respect the prowess of a great American hunter. As this happens, Jeremiah realizes that he himself has become more and more.