Works Cited
Dances with Wolves. Directed by Kevin Costner, Perf. Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant. 2016. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, 1990.
English soldier moves into a Native village. The English soldier gets accepted and is treated like one of them. Soon he forgets about being a soldier and fights with the Natives.
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror For Young People. 1st ed., Seven Stories Press, 2012.
The history of the United States from the perspective of all ethnic groups. The injustice and unfair treatment of the ethnic groups. There is also promise it offers, recalling the dream of equality that grew with the population itself.
Dances with Wolves is a compelling story a white man who befriends the Sioux Indians and meets a wolf named Two- socks in the process. Before watching this movie I had many misconceptions about Native Americans. Some include that they murdered innocent settlers, The first misconception I had was that the Native Americans murdered innocent settlers. I thought that the native americans just came to the settlements and slaughtered innocent people.
Everyday the future in America looks brighter for the issues dealing with race and identity. Brave souls are not letting racism, class discrimination, or sexism hold them back anymore. Furthermore, the fight for a balanced society that pushes for equality is on the horizon. As we close on an era, based on purely the skin of the person, we need to analyze the impacts of the Ethnicity paradigm and Class paradigm on politics of the 20th century. Race and Ethnicity are used interchangeable in everyday conversation, however; they are not the same.
Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States offers great educational value, not only on history itself but on how history is typically taught, how it should be instead portrayed, and the arguments that arise as a result. Such a controversial book can bring up many different opinions and analyses. Zinn’s purpose in writing A People’s History of the United States was to share history from a perspective different from that which we typically read. “Too much history, he contends, is written ‘from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders.’ His People’s History, by way of contrast, sides with the losers, the downtrodden, the underdog” (Zinn XVI).
The policies on land and economy limit the Indian’s abilities to experience sustainable economic growth. Lies and broken promises characterize the American policies on the Native Americans. They say that the American history did not observe the “freedom and equality for all” rule. With the expansion of the American population during the ancient times, the federal government began experiencing
These events also highlight the intersection of race, ethnicity, and national identity in American history and the ongoing struggle for social justice and civil
When the movie begins, it’s the Civil War and a soldier seems injured. John Dunbar, also known as Dances with Wolves by the Indians, prepares to set out on a journey. He finds a hut and makes it his. Along with that, he has a journal he writes in everyday. The film is directed, produced and the main actor is played by Kevin Costner.
Film Analysis: Dances with Wolves Director and actor Kevin Costner’s “Dances with Wolves” (1990) depicts the plight of the Native Americans through the eyes of a soldier. Costner playing Lieutenant John Dunbar keeps a journal and tells much of his story throughout the movie as if he is writing. The film won 7 academy awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Musical Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Cinematography. The movie tells the story of John Dunbar as he faces the unknown, in a remote Civil War outpost in the west.
The movie, Dances with the Wolves, reveals Lieutenant John Dunbar’s wild life. He experiences an injury in the beginning and embarks on a quest when he gets healthy. He discovers Fort Sedgwick and meets Native Americans. Kevin Costner directed and produced this long lasting movie that almost continues for four hours. Throughout the film, John learns many skills from the Indians,including; a different language, different types of war strategies, life skills, and friendship/relationships.
The article, highlighted aspects of politics, ethnic and racial inequalities in the United States and as such I believe that the conflict theory best describes the problems. Crossman (2017) articulates “The Conflict theory states that tensions and conflicts arise when resources, status, and power are unevenly distributed between groups in society and that these conflicts become the engine for social change.” In simple terms, the conflict theory indicates that human behavior, in a social aspect, is a consequence of conflicts between competing groups. One of Mills (1956) most famous theories, the power elite, describes this
Dances With Wolves is a historical drama/ Western war film directed and produced by Kevin Costner. The leading actors include Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, and Graham Greene. The film is also said to be an adaptation of a novel of the same title written by Michael Blake. Costner stars as the main character of Lieutenant John J. Dunbar. The plot follows the growing relationship between Lieutenant Dunbar and a group of Lakota Native Americans during the Civil War after Dunbar takes a liking to their lifestyle.
We are ‘settlers’. We take up land that belongs to us, American citizens, by paying the government price for it.” (Burton 238). This comment on a deeper context was the view and beliefs of American in 1848. Additionally, the social hierarchy is apparent and supports Alamar’s comment that there is inequality and prejudices within the U.S. government.
Given he is a white man, his words will be hard to grasp for the Indians. Therefore, Dunbar’s loyalty is another aspect that gets portrayed in the challenges of Dunbar’s growth. Although Dunbar is a tranquil person, he feels the resistance to tell “Kicking Bird” the truth behind his arrival at the fort and the future of the frontier, his loyalty to the U.S army is greater compared to same loyalty to the tribe. It is after he has fallen in love with “Standing with a fist” Dunbar leaves his past and expresses his identity as “Dances With Wolves” and a member of the tribe. The guilt of his is unclear answers enlightens him, leading him to tell “Kicking Bird” about the white people.
We see how the leaders of this country, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, had prejudice thoughts about these two different ethnic groups, how prejudice was built into society and the
‘Dances with the wolves’ is a 1990 American epic western movie that defied norms in Hollywood, revitalized the western genre in filmmaking, challenged and changed the perception of viewers toward native Americans. The movie significantly impacted social, cultural, historical aspects of society. Native American are rarely screened in Hollywood and when they do, they are demonized as the blood thirsty savages and bad guys. According to Beverly R. Singer, "Despite the fact that a diversity of indigenous peoples had a legal and historical significance in the formation of every new country founded in the western hemisphere, in the United States and Canada the term 'Indians' became a hegemonic designation implying that they were all the same in regard to culture, behavior, language, and social organization. The view of 'Indians' as savage and uncivilized was repeated in early films and crystallized the image of 'Indians' as dangerous and unacceptable to the normative lives of European
The film Dances With Wolves is a moving, culturally significant American western film produced in 1990 and directed by Kevin Costner, who also plays the lead role of John J. Dunbar. It portrays a fictional account of the relationship between a soldier and a tribe of Sioux indians. In the beginning, Dunbar is an injured soldier who accidentally makes himself a hero while trying to commit suicide by riding his horse in front of the enemy. When given a choice for where he wants to be stationed he requests the frontier, because he wants to see it “before it’s gone. ”While stationed alone at Fort Sedgwick in Dakota territory, he befriends the people of a nearby Lakota tribe.