To dance with someone is to become one with him. When you dance, you lay selves aside and you try to move as one person. Every step flows cautiously into the next. You never want to step on the toes of the other person and with your hands you guide each other in various directions, but always
together. The dance is a journey; one that brings two often very different people together. For that brief time that the two are dancing they act as one person, laying all differences aside.
The film, Dances with wolves, accomplishes this feat. For one hundred and eighty-one minutes it allows us to get caught up in the dance of the white man and the Indians. Dances with wolves, disregards cultural barriers and only focuses on people for who they are as individuals.
At the beginning of any dance, people are cautious. They must first "feel-out" the other person. They must get a sense of who the other person is, and what is meaningful to them. In the film, Dances with Wolves," John Dunbar approaches the Indians with this same apprehension. He is a white America who is alone on the frontier. He may be scared of the supposed "savages," but he never lets on.
The stereotypical Indian is a brutal savage-like beast who kills for the sake of killing and ravages the countryside. In the first scene of the movie, this is the image that I received. It seemed hard to imagine any sense of brotherhood that could be found in the hearts of the Indians as we watched them scalp an innocent American named Timmons.
My initial reactions, however, were disregarded as I continued to watch. I observed the first confrontation between Dunbar and the Indians. It was an encounter much like the moments preceding a dance between couples. Dunbar cautiously approached the Indians, and was at first disregarded. He, however, was extremely determined and tried to befriend them again. This determination is also reflected in the dance of today. With the determination of Dunbar, many will try multiple times to engage their partner in "the dance" before they are successful.
Finally, Dunbar was able to engage in conversation with the Indians, and with a fair amount of caution from both sides they became friends. This stage of friendship slowly chipped away at the stereotype of the Indians. We saw them as generous people. In one instance they gave Dunbar an animal rug as a gift. We saw them as a kind people who had taken an American child in after her parents had been murdered. Finally, we saw them as a people who respected nature. They exemplified the old principle "never take more than you give."
The Indians respected people and animals. They only took enough buffalo to feed their families. We saw a huge contrast between the American hunters, who killed buffalo just for their hides and tongues, and the Indians who would only kill when necessary.
For Dunbar, the stage of friendship was not enough, and he longed to truly "dance with the Indians." As the film unfolded, he more than accomplished this task; and through his accomplishment he proved how wrong our stereotypes of the Indians were.
We saw Dunbar trudging through the grass and dirt looking for buffalo with the Indians. We saw him trying to learn the Indian language, and we even saw him marrying into the "Indian family." Through each of these incidents he was becoming involved in the "dance of the Indian." He began to eat, sleep, and think like the Indians.
One of the most climactic moments of the film was when we saw Dunbar helping the Indians fight a rival tribe. The Indians were fighting to save their women and children; Dunbar sees these same people regardless of their race and culture as his own women and children.
Dunbar gave many parts of himself to the Indians as. He gave them material things like his hat and weapons, but he also taught them how to make coffee and how to speak his language. He brought his heart and soul and was willing to sacrifice for his Indian brothers.
The "dance" between Dunbar and the Indians was tested in many ways. The American soldiers tried to "cut-in" on the dance. They wanted to sever the bond that Dunbar had with the Indians, but they were too late. Dunbar had already become one with the Indians. He had already allowed the Indian way of life to infiltrate in to every part of him, including his soul. It was in this powerful moment that the viewers too got swept up in the "dance of the Indian." When the American soldiers took Dunbar and were going to kill him for treason, we cheered for the Indians as they came to his rescue. We hated the Americans for cutting in on this harmonious dance and we no longer saw the Indians as the savage ones.
In a review of the film Dances with Wolves, Robert Ebert said, "A civilized man is a person whose curiosity outweighs his prejudices, and these are curious men." We see Dunbar and the Indians as both equally curious and by the conclusion of the film both equally void of savage qualities.
Sadly enough, this desire to "dance with the Indians" was not a widespread one. The stereotypical ideas of the Indians as savage beasts that must be slaughtered permeated American society and led to the brutal deaths of thousands of Indians.
Even today, many Native Americans are still calling out to be included in the "dances" of the world. In a 1998 meeting with President Clinton, Native Americans protested the president's race commission. Glenn Morris, a native American delegate, said, " How can you have a national dialogue on race without one American Indian on your board?" Edward James Olmos, another speaker and an acclaimed actor, said, " the indigenous people have not been given a voice ever."
One of the most powerful testimonies came from Valerie Dana:
Works Cited
Dances with Wolves. Dir.Kevin Costner. Perf. Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, and Rodney A. Grant. 1990. videocassette.
American Indian Studies. www.jupiter.lang.osaka~v.ac.jp/~krkvls/FinalMovie
PBS News Forum. March 1998. www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/jan- june98/denver
together. The dance is a journey; one that brings two often very different people together. For that brief time that the two are dancing they act as one person, laying all differences aside.
The film, Dances with wolves, accomplishes this feat. For one hundred and eighty-one minutes it allows us to get caught up in the dance of the white man and the Indians. Dances with wolves, disregards cultural barriers and only focuses on people for who they are as individuals.
At the beginning of any dance, people are cautious. They must first "feel-out" the other person. They must get a sense of who the other person is, and what is meaningful to them. In the film, Dances with Wolves," John Dunbar approaches the Indians with this same apprehension. He is a white America who is alone on the frontier. He may be scared of the supposed "savages," but he never lets on.
The stereotypical Indian is a brutal savage-like beast who kills for the sake of killing and ravages the countryside. In the first scene of the movie, this is the image that I received. It seemed hard to imagine any sense of brotherhood that could be found in the hearts of the Indians as we watched them scalp an innocent American named Timmons.
My initial reactions, however, were disregarded as I continued to watch. I observed the first confrontation between Dunbar and the Indians. It was an encounter much like the moments preceding a dance between couples. Dunbar cautiously approached the Indians, and was at first disregarded. He, however, was extremely determined and tried to befriend them again. This determination is also reflected in the dance of today. With the determination of Dunbar, many will try multiple times to engage their partner in "the dance" before they are successful.
Finally, Dunbar was able to engage in conversation with the Indians, and with a fair amount of caution from both sides they became friends. This stage of friendship slowly chipped away at the stereotype of the Indians. We saw them as generous people. In one instance they gave Dunbar an animal rug as a gift. We saw them as a kind people who had taken an American child in after her parents had been murdered. Finally, we saw them as a people who respected nature. They exemplified the old principle "never take more than you give."
The Indians respected people and animals. They only took enough buffalo to feed their families. We saw a huge contrast between the American hunters, who killed buffalo just for their hides and tongues, and the Indians who would only kill when necessary.
For Dunbar, the stage of friendship was not enough, and he longed to truly "dance with the Indians." As the film unfolded, he more than accomplished this task; and through his accomplishment he proved how wrong our stereotypes of the Indians were.
We saw Dunbar trudging through the grass and dirt looking for buffalo with the Indians. We saw him trying to learn the Indian language, and we even saw him marrying into the "Indian family." Through each of these incidents he was becoming involved in the "dance of the Indian." He began to eat, sleep, and think like the Indians.
One of the most climactic moments of the film was when we saw Dunbar helping the Indians fight a rival tribe. The Indians were fighting to save their women and children; Dunbar sees these same people regardless of their race and culture as his own women and children.
Dunbar gave many parts of himself to the Indians as. He gave them material things like his hat and weapons, but he also taught them how to make coffee and how to speak his language. He brought his heart and soul and was willing to sacrifice for his Indian brothers.
The "dance" between Dunbar and the Indians was tested in many ways. The American soldiers tried to "cut-in" on the dance. They wanted to sever the bond that Dunbar had with the Indians, but they were too late. Dunbar had already become one with the Indians. He had already allowed the Indian way of life to infiltrate in to every part of him, including his soul. It was in this powerful moment that the viewers too got swept up in the "dance of the Indian." When the American soldiers took Dunbar and were going to kill him for treason, we cheered for the Indians as they came to his rescue. We hated the Americans for cutting in on this harmonious dance and we no longer saw the Indians as the savage ones.
In a review of the film Dances with Wolves, Robert Ebert said, "A civilized man is a person whose curiosity outweighs his prejudices, and these are curious men." We see Dunbar and the Indians as both equally curious and by the conclusion of the film both equally void of savage qualities.
Sadly enough, this desire to "dance with the Indians" was not a widespread one. The stereotypical ideas of the Indians as savage beasts that must be slaughtered permeated American society and led to the brutal deaths of thousands of Indians.
Even today, many Native Americans are still calling out to be included in the "dances" of the world. In a 1998 meeting with President Clinton, Native Americans protested the president's race commission. Glenn Morris, a native American delegate, said, " How can you have a national dialogue on race without one American Indian on your board?" Edward James Olmos, another speaker and an acclaimed actor, said, " the indigenous people have not been given a voice ever."
One of the most powerful testimonies came from Valerie Dana:
Throughout the film and through the powerful testimonies mentioned above we realize the need for us to put stereotypes aside and truly desire to understand the Native American culture. It is only after we have "danced with them" that we can truly know them."I'm the child of an indigenous woman from the Rapahannock Nation in Virginia and an African-American father. I'm married to an Iranian, and I have a Chinese daughter. Now under all of the stereotypes that makes me a double savage married to a terrorist with a scientifically gifted sneaky child. What I want to say, and I ask you to take this back: We must look at racism as a disease. It is a cancer. It is very good and noble that the President has started this initiative. But you cannot put a band-aid on to treat cancer."
American Indian Studies. www.jupiter.lang.osaka~v.ac.jp/~krkvls/FinalMovie
PBS News Forum. March 1998. www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/jan- june98/denver
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