Rather than accept this simplistic dichotomy and create yet another caricature of Native American people, Costner attempt to walk a fine line in which he created Native characters with depth, complexity, and diversity. Dunbar eventually encounters members of a local Lakota tribe and slowly gains acceptance into their group and is christened Ugmánitu Taka Ob’wahi or Dances with Wolves. In short, reflecting the increasingly complex attitudes toward and depictions of Native Americans in the late twentieth century, Costner’s Native Americans are individuals and humans with both hearts and flaws. It contained inaccurate details as well as biased perspectives. The film was originally supposed to be set in the Southern Plains, but because of financial incentives offered by the state of South Dakota, the names of the tribes and some of their practices were changed to reflect the Lakota Sioux people of that region.
Rather than accept this simplistic dichotomy and create yet another caricature of Native American people, Costner attempt to walk a fine line in which he created Native characters with depth, complexity, and diversity. When you ask a person to picture being on the Titanic the night it sunk, they will likely have no problem doing so. Dances with Wolves was as much a film of its time as any other film. As spoken in the film, the language it is a simplified version of the Lakota that the people would have actually spoken (Baird, 158).While there are no actual historical figures in the film, the Lakota chief, Ten Bears (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) was based on a real Comanche chief of the same name.
The Lakota had not dwelt upon the Plains until they moved in from the north east in the late eighteenth century. They had always been happy to ride around a group of soldiers in large numbers, yelling and whooping against a backdrop of ever accelerating music; being skilfully shot from their ponies, rolling over in the dirt and lying stock still. The film was originally supposed to be set in the Southern Plains, but because of financial incentives offered by the state of South Dakota, the names of the tribes and some of their practices were changed to reflect the Lakota Sioux people of that region. It follows the exploits of Lt. John Dunbar (Kevin Costner), an accidental army hero who requests a new posting at Fort Sedgwick on the western frontier, and upon arriving at the deserted post befriends a wolf and names it Two Socks. Overall Dances with Wolves does stand the test of time, it is a romanticised and sentimental myth that is portrayed. The film ends with he and his wife, Stands With A Fist (Mary McDonnell), leaving the camp and his one time enemy, Wind In His Hair (Rodney A. Whether or not these instances, which are clearly vital vehicle for the plot, are serious violations of the historical record, is debatable however, since the film is first of all a work of fiction. Stands with a Fist (Mary McDonnell), is a character seemingly created so that the audience's expectations are met by a boy meets girl section of the plot which does not involve any mixing of the races. Two scenes which have been reinserted into the Director's Cut, Dunbar's journey with Kicking Bird and the killing of the white hunters serve to reduce the film's tendency to be rather simplistic and sentimental.
Dances with Wolves is a work of historical fiction set primarily in South Dakota during the Civil War. Dances with Wolves was accurate where the old John Wayne films like Stagecoach and Fort Apache made the native Americans out to be mindless savages. In short, reflecting the increasingly complex attitudes toward and depictions of Native Americans in the late twentieth century, Costner’s Native Americans are individuals and humans with both hearts and flaws.The difficulty of this balancing act is made clear though in the attitudes of the Lakota people toward guns. New York: Main Street Books, 1999. When you ask a person to picture being on the Titanic the night it sunk, they will likely have no problem doing so. These workers were busy fulfilling the post Civil war commitment to unifying the country for the new Americans while splitting it into two for the native Americans and their staple diet, the buffalo. This paper will examine Kevin Costner’s 1990 directorial debut, the much acclaimed film, Dances with Wolves, to evaluate its faithfulness to the historical record.
By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy. This is the case in Dances with Wolves, in the case of language.
In Dances with Wolves it is the Pawnee who are demonised and it falls to Wes Studi to reprise his role of Magua in The Last of the Mohicans as their heartless, savage leader. While he is happy to return to life with the tribe, Dunbar realizes that is presence will put the tribe in danger and decides to leave and go “speak to those who would listen” on behalf of himself and the Native American people. Dir.
The film is optimistic in that even the initially hostile 'Wind in his Hair' comes to glow with fondness and respect for the Wasichu who is ultimately assimilated into the Lakota way of life. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy. It was an accurate piece of History in showing our values at the time, we, or at least some of us, wanted to recognise the value of other cultures, and accept the value of a multicultural world in which we found ourselves. This paper will examine Kevin Costner’s 1990 directorial debut, the much acclaimed film, Dances with Wolves, to evaluate its faithfulness to the historical record. However savage the Pawnee may have been, it is ironic that they are seen as the aggressors against the Lakota since historically the opposite was the case. We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. It is through films that many people develop their understanding of the past. Thus, we must carefully evaluate the accuracy of historical representations in movie to separate truth from fiction. Less forgivable historically is the way the Lakota not only occupy centre stage but become the good guys where they might have expected, in former films to have been the bad. Image Entertainment/Orion Home Video, 1998. The Native Americans were obviously not thieves or ruthless killers, but were simply misunderstood by their different ways of … Answer Save. They had always been happy to ride around a group of soldiers in large numbers, yelling and whooping against a backdrop of ever accelerating music; being skilfully shot from their ponies, rolling over in the dirt and lying stock still. As he is being taken to a neighboring Fort for execution, a group of Lakota warriors attack and help him escape to the winter camp. As historian Joseph Roquemore has noted, in the film, “the Sioux refuse to use guns in the movie.” Whereas, in reality, “the Sioux would do anything to get guns. My imagination had been well and truly highjacked for a three hour stretch and my emotions had been stretched and tightened and stretched yet again.
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