Analysis of the Epic Western Film Called "Dances with Wolves"

Dances With Wolves

Every week, new movies come out for our entertainment. In almost every movie, it appears that the white man's ways and traditions are the right ways. The movie Dances With Wolves takes a different perspective. This movie shows the other side; it shows what is wrong with our ways, and shows a different look at the Indian race. Other movies have always made the Indians look like the bad guys. People usually got the idea that Indians are beggars and thieves. For once, this movie makes the Indians look good, and shows how the whiteman ran the Indians off of their land. The movie demonstrates on how the Indians want to be left alone to just live their life, which isn't very easy for them. The film shows many problems, both political and social. The spirit of the picture is excellent and shows very well. Dances With Wolves keeps your attention all the way through.

Dances With Wolves premiered in January 1991. Kevin Costner was a open hearted union officer on the frontier. Kevin Costner also directed the film. This was Costner's first film he ever directed. Costner was amazed with the reviews of his film. Gene Siskel gave it 3.5 stars and states, "there's a good feeling the whole way through." Diane Carney comments that it is beautiful, memorable and full of humor and it is one of the most winning films of the year." Orion pictures made a real good pick with this movie. Costner's character changes your whole

outlook on Indians. He's placed in a desert fort and told that Indians are beggars and thieves. After having run-in's with the Indians, his character grows to appreciate the Indian culture as fun, loving, mystical and kind. Throughout the movie, they show how the white race's ways aren't right. The movie demonstrates this by having the other soldiers being a bunch of crazies who are afraid to fight and have a mental imbalance. You realize throughout the movie, that indians aren't bad people, like everybody's been told. The Sioux Indians are used, and you realize that indian beliefs and their ways are almost better than ours. They live from the land and take only what's needed and never waste. They respected nature, unlike the white race. Costner eventually gives up being an officer, and becomes an indian. He learns the language, and eventually, starts living there. A white lady joined their tribe long before, and eventually, gets together with Costner. The whole tribe adapts to him, and eventually, he marries this lady. The movie is based on Costner and his wife. Costner's name is even changed. They change it to “Dances With Wolves”. He receives this name because he made friends with a wolf. The Indians saw him wrestling with this wolf, so the indians thought this would fit him. They also started giving him clothes, so Costner quit wearing his uniform. Costner also started living on the Sioux Campground, and no longer lived at the fort. Later when he returns to the fort, and the other unions are there he is then captured, considered a traitor, and treated like a prisoner. The other Sioux Indians eventually come in and they and Costner end up having to kill some of the union members. The ending of the movie is sad but good. You have to see it to find out how it ends.

This motion picture reflected on many different problems, some being social and political, comparing the Indian race to the white race. The militaries of the two races are especially different. The movie shows the U.S. Military as being clumsy and very disorganized. The men in the military had no idea what they were doing when they fought. They didn't know why they were fighting. The indians, on the other hand, never really had a military. They were just the men of the tribe who fought to protect their families and the things they owned. It was all out of pride which brings us up to another difference, the family. The movie didn't show family relationships with the white characters. They all seemed to be on their own. The indians, on the other hand, were one big family. Everybody in the whole tribe, knew and trusted all of the members of the tribe. They never had to worry about anyone turning on the other person. No matter what happened they were always behind them. They would risk their lives to help another indian. Unlike the white race, when Costner was caught prisoner, all the troops turned on him because he became friends with the indians. They never tried to let him explain himself, but just beat him. All they knew is that Indians were bad. The white race has also been known throughout time to be very materialistic. They always want more and whoever has the most is looked up to. This was shown much different in the Sioux Tribe. They didn't have such a thing as money. It didn't matter if they were poor or not because there was no such thing as poor or rich. Nobody had any more than the next person. Everybody went out together when they went hunting, and everybody got some of everything. The indians were all dressed the same, and respected each other. They all had to work together to survive. Even in today's society, you can't trust everybody, you have to always watch out for someone trying to pull a fast one on you. The Sioux Indians never really seemed to have conflicts within the tribe, unlike the troops who seemed to fight over everything. The troops were always disrespectful to others. The Sioux Indians seemed to have a much better way. In written history, and in the movie, the white race never had respect for nature. An excellent scene that shows this is when a herd of buffalo came through. The indians went out to hunt some for their meat and their fur. When they find where the buffalo roamed, all that was left was dozens of dead buffalo. The white man just took the skin and the tongue and left the rest to lay there. This is exactly how the buffalo became extinct. When the indians would kill something, they would use everything, even the bones. They never took any more than they absolutely needed. There is also a great deal of racism between the indians and the white man. In the movie, they showed that whenever someone saw an Indian that he should be shot because they're bad. The white men hated the indians, and the indians feared the white man. The Indians feared the white man for this reason, that they would always attack them. When this happened, the Indian didn't stand a chance because all they had were bows and arrows, while the soldiers had guns. The indians didn't stand a chance. The indians weren't able to get close enough to use their weapons before the soldiers could shoot them. Religion was a real big factor for the indians. The indians thought that everything they had was given to them by the gods. The movie never really went into an explanation about what kind of gods they had. Although, it did depict a scene where they were dancing and having a ritual for buffalo. Sioux Indians believed that if they were supposed to have it, the gods would give it to them. There were all types of dances that they would do for different things that they wanted. The movie didn't go into anything about the white man's religious backgrounds from that time, but just from experience. I'm sure it's the same as it is today.

The spirit of the motion picture Dances With Wolves, was done with great perfection: This movie presents a realistic view of a functioning society. For once, a movie shows the way in which the indians actually lived. Their society seemed to run smoothly. If I would have lived back then, I would probably prefer to live with the indians because they seemed to be the better society. They were cleaner and more down to earth. The society for the white man didn't seem to run as smoothly back then. From what I've learned and from the movie, it seemed that they had a lot more problems. This movie was supposed to be taking place during the Civil War era. Right there, we see a problem with the white man's society. They're fighting over the government, and being able to own people. I'm sure the indians would look down on this in a big way. The attitude this movie gave you about the indians, you wouldn't ever think the Sioux Indians would fight each other like that. The movie showed the indians to help each other not fight each other. At one point of the movie, the chief told Costner's character that he was a real true human. He helped the tribe and they could trust him. The main models and roles of the film are the white man and the indian. The film advocates the indians and their ways. It does an excellent job of showing the indians' life. The movie makes you feel like you're for the indians and against the white man. When the indians and the soldiers fight, you want the indians to win. This movie is somewhat the same, but yet different, than other movies. It's different because it takes the side of the indians, and shows how the white man's ways aren't always right. Also, it's not a thriller or a comedy like most movies. It just has a category of it's own. It's just plain interesting with a lot of suspense, and keeps you on the edge of your chair quite often. Of course, it does follow trends of other movies. There is the usual of two people falling in love. It's not like the usual type though because they both come from two very different societies. There are conflicts between the white man and the indian. At first, it was with Costner, but later the soldiers. It follows the usual movie trend,but has a different type of plot and different action. Only a society like today can make a movie like this possible. Everybody these days is looking to see a good movie. Only a society like today would allow the theater to put the white man down as they have done in this movie. They make the white man look foolish with the way the characters play them. The way they present the white man is dirty, and not really having it all together. Also, with a society with everyone knowing that we pushed the indians off the land that they had first. This allows people to want to know how the indians lived before we pushed them off, which this movie does an excellent job. Today's society is open-minded and won't criticize a movie like this because they put the white man down. Years ago, a movie like this would never have been able to be made. People in today's society recognize that the things that we did many years ago were wrong. That's why the spirit of this movie made it so good.

Many movies have been made throughout generations. Some extremely good ones, and some not so good. Dances With Wolves was one of the good ones. At many times during the film, it kept us in suspense. The writer of this movie wrote in many small conflicts and clues to make this movie even more enjoyable that you really have to look close to see. Dances With Wolves is one of those movies that you could see three or four times and still not catch if all. The movie is three hours long, but it flows along so nicely you don't even realize it's that long. The film keeps you interested the whole way through. The scenery that they have is excellent. In every scene they show the background scenery as beautiful. Some of the shots they show, such as the buffalo running across the lands is just breathtaking. Dances

With Wolves was one of the most interesting and scenic movies I have ever seen and I would highly recommend it.

Throughout the world, there has always been prejudice people against many different races. The race that lost out the most was the indian race. Over many, the white man was prejudice against the indians. This was the main theme in the movie, Dances With Wolves. This movie shows how the white man runs the indians off their land and left them with nothing.

Kevin Costner plays a soldier on the frontier line who wants to learn more about indians. Costner has learned through the years, like many people, not to give indians a chance. The movie demonstrates why the rest of the white man race feels this way. The main scene where prejudice is obvious, is when other soldiers find Costner after he's accepted the indian race as his own. When the soldiers find him, they consider him as a traitor and treat him like a prisoner, even he was well respected before. When the other soldiers first saw Costner, they immediately started shooting. assuming that they didn't like him, and that he was trouble. He really was a soldier dressed like an Indian. In all prejudice cases, no matter who it is or what they're like, they won't like them. This is how the indians lost their land. Every time the white man came around, the indians would pick up everything and move. They had to do this because the white man would attack them, and the indians wouldn't stand a chance. Eventually, the problem came in when they ran out of land to run to. The unusual part of the white man being prejudice is that the indians never did anything to them. The indian actually took care of the land and nature, better than the white man. This was shown in a scene with buffalo. What the white man did to the indian, they also did with the buffalo. The white man would kill as many buffalo as they could at one time, and not use the whole buffalo. Sometimes they would kill the buffalo just for the tongue. When the indian would kill the buffalo, they killed just the amount they could use and then used the whole buffalo. They were proving that the indians wanted to preserve the land and take care of it. The whiteman still didn't like them and kept pushing them off.

To show how prejudice the white man was, is demonstrated just excellent at the very end of the movie. Costner has to leave the tribe with his wife because the army would keep hunting after him because he deserted them. The reason Costner left was to protect the rest of the tribe. If they found him with the tribe, they would have killed all of them. The white man found this demoralizing that a white man would find another race better, especially the indian race that was supposed to be bad to begin with. When the soldiers caught Costner earlier in the movie, they treated him as an indian prisoner. Instead of asking him about his findings and what he has learned about the indians, then they treated him as a traitor. Just the way Costner was dressed, he didn't stand a chance, just like the indians. One of the hidden meanings behind this movie is just because someone dresses different and acts different doesn't mean it's wrong. Showing just the opposite that the white man's ways were worse than the indians. All the indians wanted was to live like they wanted to and be left alone, but the white man didn't make that possible for them. This just goes back to the old saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover."