Dances With Wolves

Dances With Wolves:

Dances with wolves has are many generic signifiers which determine that it is a western. Such as the characters, there are different tribes, a cowboy, the cavalry soldiers and a lone cavalry soldier. These are all characters typical to this genre. The film is set in  the southern states of america during the 1860s, in a dusty landscape without much infrastructure. The Native Americans live in wig-wams/ Teepees in large tribes and speak tribal languages. The main themes portrayed in this film are discovery and betrayal. John Dunbar wants to find out more about the sioux tribe who visit him occasionally and likewise the native americans feel the same towards john. The sioux want to know when the soldiers will be coming furthermore why. Also both John Dunbar and Stands With An Iron Fist discover love for one another. Betrayal is hugely centred around John Dunbar as he betrays his own soldiers for the native American tribe the sioux.

The Native Americans are stereotypically represented physically through their appearance; their costume and features.  They have long hair and wear animal skin clothing, furthermore they ride horses and live in teepees/ wigwams. However the sioux refute the stereotypical mannerisms and behaviour that a western would usually portray them to be like. Usually they would be portrayed as violent, non-merciful, animal-like savages with little/no respect for anyone. However 'Dances With Wolves' the film portrays them as loyal and respectful for not only their kind but for John Dunbar also. On the other hand the Pawnee (the opposing tribe) are represented stereotypically as savages.

The representations of different cultures and conflict hold messages for us today in modern life. The fear of the unknown between the native americans and John Dunbar represents that of society today. People are prejudice and unsure of other cultures due to their differences. In modern society today religion causes mass conflict amongst people as they don't understand properly and are feared of the differences in their religions. The two tribes fighting is also another very important example of this. People of the same culture clashing due to their uncertainty of one another, although they share the same culture. However respect and loyalty is gained between John and the tribe eventually, they go on to learn each others languages and ways of life. This still happens in society today as people are constantly learning new languages and cultures and sharing ways of life which may not be natural to them. A difference between the native americans and modern life today is the respect they hold for the land and nature. They don't damage the land and only use the resources when needs be, whereas today we abuse these privileges and use them profusely for example, land is constantly getting built on furthermore trees are being chopped down, whereas the sioux only kill buffalos when they need to for the sake of their survival.

The first constitutive contradiction of Rick Altman's is individual freedom and community action. John Dunbar represents individual freedom as he is alone surviving on his own, furthermore, 'community action' is portrayed through the tribes. John then becomes part of the community in which the native americans form. His second contradiction is respect for the environment and industrial growth. The Native Americans have major respect for their land, and the nature around them, whereas the soldiers have come to fight for the land as they want to build upon it and develop the country. His third contradiction is reverence for the past and desire to build a new future. The tribes live very traditionally and will have lived like this for a long time, john brings his new ways of living into the tribe for example, the rifles and clothing. Theres a massive difference between the natives and soldiers as the soldiers were much more modern in comparison to the Native Americans.