Essay On Moral Personhood In Dances With Wolves

Many American children grow up playing games such as “Cowboys and Indians” where the indians are usually the bad guys and the cowboys are the good guys, or the heroes. Where do these children get the idea for these games? They don’t learn them in school or from their parents; they learn them by watching television and movies. Western films are so prevalent in American society, often watched by adults and children alike. Many Western films and Hollywood films in general perpetuate the stereotype that all Native Americans are vicious thieves and murderers and withhold moral personhood, the ability to understand and deal with complex moral problems, from the characters but attribute moral personhood and a sense of heroism on to the white characters.

While Native Americans are shown in a slightly better light in this film than the other films, the moral personhood seen in the Lakota is still lacking compared to the moral personhood of Dunbar. What is different about this film is that some Lakota have moral personhood, to a degree, but many others still do not. In the beginning of the film, Timmons the mule team driver is shot many times with arrows by a Native American and then scalped. This withholds moral agency from the Native Americans in that they are shooting for no apparent reason whatsoever. Dunbar, on the other hand, is portrayed as a war hero in the first scene of the film; therefore, our first impressions of Dunbar are that of a moral hero and out first impressions of Native Americans are that of savage murderers. What makes Dances with Wolves different than other Hollywood films about Native Americans is that some of the Lakota characters are attributed with moral