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 U.S. garrison on the western frontier. Total isolation does not seem strange to Dunbar and he immediately adapts to life in solitude, interacting only with Cisco, his horse, and Two Socks, his wolf. The Indians name him Dances with olves because he frequently plays with Two Socks.
In spite of wanting to make a typical estern, Costner has added some special touches to the script which changed some patterns that normal esterns had followed. Most early Hollywood esterns pictured Indians as…...
mla
Works cited:
Dances with Wolves. Dir. Kevin Costner. Orion Pictures, 1990.
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 truth. In truth, all Native tribes were not (and are not) violent, and many were driven to violence only after they had been attacked or pushed off their lands by the white man. The two groups in this film, the Pawnee and the Sioux, indicate this difference. Initially, the Sioux were open to negotiation, while the Pawnee were not. Engaging in these stereotypes made Hollywood movies that were popular, but they were not real. Dances With Wolves may not be…...
mla
References
Aleiss, Angela. Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005.
Baird, Robert. "13 Going Indian: Discovery, Adoption, and Renaming Toward a "True American," from Deerslayer to Dances with Wolves," in Dressing in Feathers: The Construction of the Indian in American Popular Culture. Edited by Bird, S. Elizabeth, 195-206. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996.
Reagan's Foreign Policy: an Overview," in President Reagan and the World. Edited by Schmertz, Eric J., Natalie Datlof, and Alexej Ugrinsky, 5-10. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.
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…...
mla
References
Costner, K. (Director). (1990). Dances with Wolves [Motion Picture].
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…...
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. However, it also became clear to Costner's character that he was in a no-win situation and that he could not stay with the Sioux even though he wanted to and the Sioux felt the same way. While a lot has changed since the days of the Civil War, some things remain stubbornly the same.
Since the settlers from other countries including Britain, France and Spain came to the shores of what is now the United States starting in the late 1400's,…...
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 the time when the pigs ran into the brick house, the wolf saw that there was no way to go any further, and, he died along with his concepts.
Consequent to the wolf's death, the pigs got together and managed to receive rights just as those that the wolves had. In Garner's story, the pigs go even further and get revenge by killing wolves and chasing them away from pig territory. In the final of the story the pigs live happily…...
Man ho Shot Liberty Valance and the Brilliance of John Ford
John Ford's The Man ho Shot Liberty Valance (1962), a classic western with a few film noir elements included, is elegiac in the sense that its narrative strategy is that of eulogistic remembrance by now-Senator Ransom Stoddard, of horse rancher Tom Doniphan, who once saved Stoddard's life and changed it much for the better, and who was the real man who shot Liberty Valance. According to Robert Horton, "This may be the saddest estern ever made, closer to an elegy than an action movie, and as cleanly beautiful as its central symbol, the cactus rose" ("Editorial Reviews"). Upon Tom Doniphan's death in the small fictional town of Shinbone (state unknown) Ransom and Hallie Stoddard arrive back in town to pay their final respects to Doniphan who sacrificed so much of himself, and so much of his own future happiness,…...
mla
Works Cited.
Berardinelli, James. "Dances with Wolves: A Film Review." Top 10 of the 90's.
Retrieved May 28, 2005, from: .
Ford, John. (Dir.). The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. With John Wayne and Vera Miles.
ity Slickers (1991) depicts a group of middle-aged pals going on a two-week western cattle drive run by the cowpoke urly .Besides such obvious Western themes, such as the horses, Western scenery and uplifting music, are the male characters. Although in their modern city life the do not reveal their inner strengths, in the West, the men find the important values in life and within themselves. urly represents the sole cowboy that once was and mostly likely will never be again.
Lastly, the 1976 Outlaw Josey Wales is closest to what we today consider the Western. Once again, this movie has the rugged and individualist protagonist and the comic friend. The difference here is that Josey Wales starts out as an unassuming farmer and transforms into a violent shooter. Although he has reason to seek revenge, one questions whether two wrongs make a right and has Wales lost sight of the…...
mla
City Slickers (1991) depicts a group of middle-aged pals going on a two-week western cattle drive run by the cowpoke Curly .Besides such obvious Western themes, such as the horses, Western scenery and uplifting music, are the male characters. Although in their modern city life the do not reveal their inner strengths, in the West, the men find the important values in life and within themselves. Curly represents the sole cowboy that once was and mostly likely will never be again.
Lastly, the 1976 Outlaw Josey Wales is closest to what we today consider the Western. Once again, this movie has the rugged and individualist protagonist and the comic friend. The difference here is that Josey Wales starts out as an unassuming farmer and transforms into a violent shooter. Although he has reason to seek revenge, one questions whether two wrongs make a right and has Wales lost sight of the values that he once had? Yet, the movie swings back to the true Western genre at the end as Josey and Laura fall in love and decide to live at her son's ranch. Even the men with the blacker hat, the Union Soldier, decide that the violence must come to an end and let Josey go back to his farming days.
Although Dances with Wolves and Outlaw Josey Wales, especially, and to some respect City Slickers, pushes the envelop of the Western genre of the 1950s, beyond a simple tale about a lonely hero, his side kick and horse in the badlands of the West, to a more complex psychological analysis of characters as they face varying life challenges, the overall theme is the same -- how the ruggedness of the West brought out the best or worst of humans as they may their way into a new territory.
This was the break that got Barry in movie music, and clearly this was a perfect genre for the talented musician and songwriter.
Barry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998 and another honor he received was to be named "Officer of the Order of the British Empire" in 1999 (Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, 2011).
If anyone wants proof of the genius of John Barry, all one needs to do is "…close your eyes and think of the film 'Born Free'. The first thing that comes back to you is the music," according to Don Black, who was Barry's lyricist "…for many of the past 50 years" (Mail Online). "He was passionate about his work" and he "had a way of connecting emotionally with a story," Black explained.
In 2000, Barry told the New York Times, "I like to score the inner feelings of a character -- get…...
mla
Works Cited / Bibliography
Billboard "Brit Film Composer John Barry Collecting Honors." Retrieved April 22, 2013, from http://www.billboard.com .
Biography in Context. "Barry's sexy theme gave 007 swing: composer's dangerous, dark vibe still guides the latest Bond scores." Retrieved April 22, 2013, from www.galegroup.com.
2012.
Black, Don. "Bond viveur: 007 composer John Barry's huge appetite for love, lunches and glorious music." Mail Online. Retrieved April 22, 2013, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk .
Smoke Signals directed by Chris Eyre. Specifically it will discuss what the film is attempting to say to us.
"Smoke Signals" made history because it was the first film made by Native Americans, and acted by Native Americans. The story is really about two young men coming of age and learning to accept each other, and their past, to move ahead in life.
The textbook calls Native American history "among the most intriguing in history, that has captivated scholars for centuries" (Gibson 2). This film is a natural evolution of that history. It is natural that Native Americans would want to tell their own story on film, and this film is the culmination of Native Americans working together to tell their own story. Victor and Thomas have to come to terms with their past in order to move on with their lives in this film. That past revolves around Arnold, who…...
mla
References
Gibson, Arrell Morgan, The American Indian: Prehistory to the Present. Lexington, MA: DC Heath and Co., Publishers, 1985.
Smoke Signals. Dir. Chris Eyre. Perf. Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard. Miramax Films, 1998.
narrators in Tracks shows that there is no unified Indian experience. Indian wise men like Nanapush can love their tribes and Indian identities give spiritual significance to their hardship and endure much and learn much from whatever life offers them. Other Indians, like Pauline, are torn asunder by the low value placed on Indian culture by Americans and feel jealous even of their own people, like Fleur, whom Nanapush valorizes as much as Pauline's voice despises this alternative female figure. hile Nanapush tells Pauline "the earth is" as "limitless as luck," she resists his message. Pauline is divided between her mixed blood and her inability to fit into white or Indian society. (14) The two narrators of Pauline and Nanapush symbolize not simply the young woman's divided consciousness, white and Indian, but a divided America and a divided way of viewing hard times and the complex figure of Fleur.
The…...
mla
Works Cited
Erdrich, Louise. Tracks. New York: HarperCollins Perennial: 1989.
Puritans and Native Americans
What scholars call the "captivity narrative" has had a remarkable life of its own in American culture: stories about this kind of "captivity" continued to be told as entertainment, in Hollywood films like "The Searchers" or "Dances With Wolves," long after anyone had been abducted by a Native American tribe and held captive. It is worth inquiring why this particular type of story maintains its fascination for an American audience, by returning to where these narratives first came from, and how they were told in the centuries before Hollywood movies existed. In Colonial America, the life of Mary owlandson presents an excellent way to examine the clash of cultures. owlandson was born in England but came to New England as a Puritan colonist: she was then abducted during the "First Indian War" and held for several months before a ransom was paid and she was released to…...
mla
References
Downing, D. (1981). 'Streams of Scripture Comfort': Mary Rowlandson's Typological Use of the Bible. Early American Literature 15(3), 252-9.
estern films, "Shane," made in 1953 and directed by George Stevens, and "Unforgiven," made in 1992 and directed by Clint Eastwood. Specifically, it will analyze the two films, and discuss their importance in the genre of estern films. Today, the classic estern is a film gone out of style, but these two films live on as classics, generally because they deviate from the classic estern model, by showing the characters three dimensionally, and the violence as real and devastating.
TO ESTERN FILMS
"Shane" does not rely on elaborate sets and costuming to get its message across to viewers. One reviewer called the sets "spartan" and the language of the film "laconic." The characters of this estern make the film the classic that it has become. Shane is a man of few words, but much action, and he firmly stands behind his beliefs. From the opening scene, when he rides down into…...
mla
Works Cited
Dirks, Tim. "Unforgiven." Filmsite.org. 2002. 27 July 2002.
Price Beauty?
'For though beauty is seen and confessed by all, yet, from the many fruitless attempts to account for the cause of its being so, enquiries on this head have almost been given up"
illiam Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, (1753)
Not very encouraging words, but if the great artist illiam Hogarth felt himself up to the task, we can attempt at least to follow his lead. That beauty is enigmatic goes almost without saying. Different ages, different cultures, and even different individuals, will have their own definitions of "beauty." The problem is more than skin deep. Any term that can be so widely and irregularly employed is bound to trap the casual researcher ... Or reader ... Or viewer ... Or for that matter, any other human being who attempts to define what is and what is not "beauty." People, places, things -- even ideas dreams -- can all be…...
mla
Works Cited
Al-Braizat, Fares. "Muslims and Democracy: An Empirical Critique of Fukuyama's Culturalist Approach." International Journal of Comparative Sociology (2002): 269+.
Browne, Stephen H. "EDMUND BURKE (1729-1797)." Eighteenth-Century British and American Rhetorics and Rhetoricians: Critical Studies and Sources. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. 42-50.
Callaghan, Karen A., ed. Ideals of Feminine Beauty: Philosophical, Social, and Cultural Dimensions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.
"The Eighteenth-Century Beauty Contest." Eighteenth-Century Literary History: An MLQ Reader. Ed. Brown, Marshall. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999. 204-234.
Too bad I didn't listen to my parents when they said, "Enjoy it now, for you'll never be young again." Or questioned, "Why are you always in such a big hurry to grow up?" Too bad I didn't realize that my older siblings were just as jealous of me having no responsibilities, as I was of them being older. Too bad that I did not have adult eyes in my child's body, so I could have seen all the wonderful things I was missing by dreaming about being older. I would like to see with adult eyes how great those New Year's parties were with my family, as we cuddled close together and watched the movies or television shows, ate popcorn, and drank bubbly non-alcoholic champagne. I would like to see with adult eyes how wonderful it was to go to story hour each week and just sing songs,…...
Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library
of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
