Shifting Perceptions in Dances With Wolves Essay -- Dances With Wolves

Shifting Perceptions in Dances With WolvesIn Kevin Costners apparent motion picture Dances With Wolves, a white veteran of the Civil War, John Dunbar, ventures to the American frontier, where he encounters a tribe of Sioux Indians. At first, both parties are preferably wary and almost hostile to each opposite, but after thoroughly-nigh time, Dunbar realizes that they have both grown to love and value each other as friends. As the movie critic Robert Ebert comments, Dunbar featurees the one quality he needs to cut through the entrenched racism of his time He is able to look another man in the eye, and see the man, sooner than his attitudes about the man. As Dunbar discovers the culture of the Sioux, so do we. As the stand of the hero gradually shifts throughout the film, it is too paralleled by the similarly fracture perception of the audience- from one of initial, stereotypical fear to a much more(prenominal) positive one, of respect and sympathy. This overall effect on th e viewer is set up through the skillful use of several techniques in the film, as well as through the use of some memorable scenes, as visualized through Dunbars eyes. In the first several scenes of the movie, the audience is introduced to the hero, John Dunbar, and is at a time able to sympathize with him. Firstly, he is a war hero, and thus, brave and respected. Then, when he chooses to move to the frontier, he reveals his adventurous spirit, and when he toils tirelessly each daytime to build the post, he also shows his hardworking and disciplined personality. Furthermore, Dunbar is a well-read man, for he eloquently records his experiences in his journal each day, and his thoughts and insights reveal a man of noble and upright character. Thus, these qualities constitute the... ...rriding theme- that all humans possess common emotions, desires, and traits, and that these human elements alone are what should be the distinguishing factors in ones identity, sooner than race, ge nder, or any other external sub-category. Overall, the film causes the audience to convert a traditional, stereotypical view of the Sioux Indians, but on a broader scale, it also challenges the audience to view all people from a more humanistic point of view. Works CitedCostner, Kevin, dir. Dances with Wolves. Perf. Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, and Rodney A. Grant. 1990. Videocassette. Orion, 1991. Ebert, Robert. Dances With Wolves. Rev. of Dances With Wolves, dir. Kevin Costner. The Chicago Sun-Times 9 Nov. 1990. stand Rock Sioux Nation. Home Page. 31 Mar. 2000. Standing Rock Sioux Nation. 12 Oct. 2001. http//www.standingrock.org.