In his movie Dances With Wolves actor Kevin Costner tries to do away with any preconceived notions that the viewer might have had about the Native American Indians being a savage and inhuman race. He does this by first unraveling the mysteriousness of the Indians then he brings the
viewer to a point of connectedness with the Indians and their culture. We then come to a sincere appreciation for them as human beings and individuals and find ourselves siding with them in matters of allegiance. This movie accomplishes this goal with several tactics and strategies. As the story unfolds we follow the life of John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) and take on his emotions and therefore come to the same realizations that he does.
From the very beginning of the film we have a sense of compassion and empathy for John because he is injured and tries to die heroically. This form of justifiable suicide gives us a sense of his aimlessness and loneliness. Since most of the viewers have experienced some form of these feelings before we naturally want to hop on board with John's emotions and hold on for the ride. The first introduction we have to actual Indians themselves is when we find the Pawnee Indians discussing the idiocy of white men and how they should be destroyed. This band of Indians kill Timmons, a wagon driver who takes John to his new fort, and therefore we feel that our initial stereotypes are justified, however we do not see this through the eyes of John and therefore we are still susceptible to a reforming of our opinions. It is only through John's experiences and feelings that we feel truly attached to what is going on in the film.
Throughout his encounters with the Indians, specifically the Sioux, John begins to see that these people are not just savages but actual individuals that have families and friends, they work and play, they live and breath just like everyone else only in their own specific cultural ways. We see that they are easily frightened at times like when Kicking Bird runs from the naked John who is also just as shocked by the Indians presence however does not want his horse, Sisco, to be messed with. We see through John's eyes how frustrating it is to not be able to communicate with other people and we understand how much trouble this has probably been for the Indians before. We see them as being generous people when John is presented with a Buffalo skin from them as well as their kindness in accepting his gifts. We also see how in John's eyes the Indians are developing personalities of their own as individuals and not just a group of people.
The second thing that must be done in order for the movie to completely change our opinion of these "savages" and bring our allegiances to them instead of the white settlers and army is that we must not only overcome our fears and prejudices we must also now connect with them in such a way that we feel bonded by friendship and love. The best way to accomplish this is through a feeling of belonging. As John becomes more and more involved with the Indians we see more and more of the personalities of the Indians themselves and we begin to see how human they really are. Now John begins to form friendships with these Indians and therefore so do we.
One example of this is John's friendship with Kicking Bird. John and Kicking Bird begin to break down the barriers of their languages and begin to talk regularly and find that they have very kindred spirits. There is a scene in the movie where the tribe goes on a Buffalo hunt and John saves Wind in His Hair's son by killing a buffalo just before in tramples him. This also brings Wind in His Hair and John closer as well as during the post hunt party John and Wind in His Hair exchange gifts with each other which is a symbol of friendship and trust and makes John feel very much at home with the Indians from this point on. We begin to feel that the Indians way of life is in actuality peaceful and quaint. We therefore have in essence completely disassociated these Sioux Indians with all other Indians that we have seen in the past.
Now, we view the Indians as the exception because they are not like the other savages and don't dress up in war paint, therefore we are comfortable with liking them and feeling connected with them because they aren't like other "Indians". This becomes another problem because the intent is to change our entire perception of Native Americans, not just a pocket of one tribe on the great plains that were the outstanding group of the bunch. This is done by showing us through John's eyes that this group of individuals could be just as savage and brutal in their warfare as all the other Indians. This is done in the war with the Pawnee as well as one other example which I will save till last. We see this however as justifiable violence mainly due to it being as a means of defense (however we also are not as horrified by it because it is violence against other Indians not white American settlers). This causes a mix of emotions and inner turmoil for the viewer however because then we begin to wonder if the other typical violence that we see from the Indians in general is not also justified in some way or another, but we don't let this thought tarry to long because we still have a hard time letting go of our biases. Still we feel connected to them so we continue to view it as these Sioux are special and unlike other Indians, after all they don't go around attacking innocent people or raiding wagon trains. So now John had decided to live with them indefinitely but he had to return to the fort for his journal.
This event is the key in our change of allegiance because as he is returning to the fort he finds it inhabited by the army and they see him dressed like an Indian and believe him to be a "savage". They end up shooting Sisco and capturing him as a traitor. This is the pivot point for the viewers because they see the incompetence, ignorance, and violence that the calvary is cable of and it is much worse than that of the Sioux (who remember in the viewers mind are still not typical Indians). Because John is no longer one of the enlisted neither are we. We have gone awol with John and there is no turning back.
Now we the viewers have completely eradicated their stereotypes of the Indian, or have they. There is one last task that must be completed in order for the viewer to complete the enlightenment that was intended. When John is rescued by the Sioux we see that they are capable just like any other tribe of being both brutal, savage, and primeval in their attacks when they are passionate enough about what they are doing it for. In this action we see that the Sioux are therefore not the exception but merely our exception. They show us that the Native Americans were a people unlike any other with a very rich culture, a strong sense of family, and a passion for life that meant you worked hard and played even harder. They were not savages or barbarians in the typical sense they were individuals living together in harmony and strife the only way they knew how, which coincidently worked very well for them until the white man came along.
viewer to a point of connectedness with the Indians and their culture. We then come to a sincere appreciation for them as human beings and individuals and find ourselves siding with them in matters of allegiance. This movie accomplishes this goal with several tactics and strategies. As the story unfolds we follow the life of John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) and take on his emotions and therefore come to the same realizations that he does.
From the very beginning of the film we have a sense of compassion and empathy for John because he is injured and tries to die heroically. This form of justifiable suicide gives us a sense of his aimlessness and loneliness. Since most of the viewers have experienced some form of these feelings before we naturally want to hop on board with John's emotions and hold on for the ride. The first introduction we have to actual Indians themselves is when we find the Pawnee Indians discussing the idiocy of white men and how they should be destroyed. This band of Indians kill Timmons, a wagon driver who takes John to his new fort, and therefore we feel that our initial stereotypes are justified, however we do not see this through the eyes of John and therefore we are still susceptible to a reforming of our opinions. It is only through John's experiences and feelings that we feel truly attached to what is going on in the film.
Throughout his encounters with the Indians, specifically the Sioux, John begins to see that these people are not just savages but actual individuals that have families and friends, they work and play, they live and breath just like everyone else only in their own specific cultural ways. We see that they are easily frightened at times like when Kicking Bird runs from the naked John who is also just as shocked by the Indians presence however does not want his horse, Sisco, to be messed with. We see through John's eyes how frustrating it is to not be able to communicate with other people and we understand how much trouble this has probably been for the Indians before. We see them as being generous people when John is presented with a Buffalo skin from them as well as their kindness in accepting his gifts. We also see how in John's eyes the Indians are developing personalities of their own as individuals and not just a group of people.
The second thing that must be done in order for the movie to completely change our opinion of these "savages" and bring our allegiances to them instead of the white settlers and army is that we must not only overcome our fears and prejudices we must also now connect with them in such a way that we feel bonded by friendship and love. The best way to accomplish this is through a feeling of belonging. As John becomes more and more involved with the Indians we see more and more of the personalities of the Indians themselves and we begin to see how human they really are. Now John begins to form friendships with these Indians and therefore so do we.
One example of this is John's friendship with Kicking Bird. John and Kicking Bird begin to break down the barriers of their languages and begin to talk regularly and find that they have very kindred spirits. There is a scene in the movie where the tribe goes on a Buffalo hunt and John saves Wind in His Hair's son by killing a buffalo just before in tramples him. This also brings Wind in His Hair and John closer as well as during the post hunt party John and Wind in His Hair exchange gifts with each other which is a symbol of friendship and trust and makes John feel very much at home with the Indians from this point on. We begin to feel that the Indians way of life is in actuality peaceful and quaint. We therefore have in essence completely disassociated these Sioux Indians with all other Indians that we have seen in the past.
Now, we view the Indians as the exception because they are not like the other savages and don't dress up in war paint, therefore we are comfortable with liking them and feeling connected with them because they aren't like other "Indians". This becomes another problem because the intent is to change our entire perception of Native Americans, not just a pocket of one tribe on the great plains that were the outstanding group of the bunch. This is done by showing us through John's eyes that this group of individuals could be just as savage and brutal in their warfare as all the other Indians. This is done in the war with the Pawnee as well as one other example which I will save till last. We see this however as justifiable violence mainly due to it being as a means of defense (however we also are not as horrified by it because it is violence against other Indians not white American settlers). This causes a mix of emotions and inner turmoil for the viewer however because then we begin to wonder if the other typical violence that we see from the Indians in general is not also justified in some way or another, but we don't let this thought tarry to long because we still have a hard time letting go of our biases. Still we feel connected to them so we continue to view it as these Sioux are special and unlike other Indians, after all they don't go around attacking innocent people or raiding wagon trains. So now John had decided to live with them indefinitely but he had to return to the fort for his journal.
This event is the key in our change of allegiance because as he is returning to the fort he finds it inhabited by the army and they see him dressed like an Indian and believe him to be a "savage". They end up shooting Sisco and capturing him as a traitor. This is the pivot point for the viewers because they see the incompetence, ignorance, and violence that the calvary is cable of and it is much worse than that of the Sioux (who remember in the viewers mind are still not typical Indians). Because John is no longer one of the enlisted neither are we. We have gone awol with John and there is no turning back.
Now we the viewers have completely eradicated their stereotypes of the Indian, or have they. There is one last task that must be completed in order for the viewer to complete the enlightenment that was intended. When John is rescued by the Sioux we see that they are capable just like any other tribe of being both brutal, savage, and primeval in their attacks when they are passionate enough about what they are doing it for. In this action we see that the Sioux are therefore not the exception but merely our exception. They show us that the Native Americans were a people unlike any other with a very rich culture, a strong sense of family, and a passion for life that meant you worked hard and played even harder. They were not savages or barbarians in the typical sense they were individuals living together in harmony and strife the only way they knew how, which coincidently worked very well for them until the white man came along.
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