PSY317 Weekly Movie Review

Dances with wolves

Dances with wolves depict the story of the Union Army Liutenant, John J. Dunbar in the American Frontier and his life and experiences with the Lakota Indians there.  The movie showed how Dunbar was progressing to understand and get to know the Lakota Indians which eventually established a solid trust relationship between him and the Lakota Indians. Also, the movie also showed how the prejudice and discrimination can happens due to the lack of understanding of practices and cultures among races.

Prejudice and understanding

In the movie, whites American often viewed all Indians as barbarian which often steal and rob their things. It was all prejudiced and stereotyped by the white Americans that were never clarified. This prejudice was initially held by Dunbar in the movie due to his first unpleasant experiences first contact with the Lakota Indian, Kicking Bird and three Indian children that tried to steal his horse. However, slowly as the movie progress, Dunbar started to have change in mindset initially when a group of Indians came approach him were trying to communicate with him and understands the reasons he is here. As the movie continues to progress, Dunbar and the Lakota Indians began to understand each other more. Dunbar started to understand that not all Indians are thieves and murderers instead they were nonetheless similar to whites where they valued the same thing, friends and family and their acts were merely to protect their home, friends and family without political intentions. It was the lack of understanding among both races which leads to prejudice resulted from fear of someone being different from them. When understanding among both races is not achieved, the prejudice formed from misconceptions on each other further provoke hatred which leads to discrimination and war between races.

Metaphor of the wolf

In the movie, the director used the wolf as the metaphor to describe Dunbar relationship with the Lakota Indians. In the beginning, Dunbar and the wolf were both very aware of each other, having the fear of being harmed by each other which leads them to stay a distance from each other. Slowly, as Dunbar has the opportunity to interact with the Lakota Indians, he was also establishing relationship with the wolf by feeding them. Then, as the relationship of Dunbar and Indians get better, wolf also lowered his awareness and started to become closer to Dunbar. Another notable scene of metaphor of wolf is used in the movie is the scene of when Dunbar is caught by White soldiers and being send to the prison. The wolf, Two Socks appeared in front of the white soldiers despite being threatens with gun shots he remains there being loyal and Dunbar attempt to save him by resisting the white soldiers. This scene implies that despite of dangers might prevail for saving Dunbar, Lakota Indians who viewed Dunbar as part of their families and friends are willing to take the risk to save him. The metaphor was interesting to used in the movie as wolves were originally viewed as enemy of human same as the prejudice hold by whites viewing Lakota Indians as thieves and murderers. The director had conveyed the message where views and stereotyped schemas formed without clarification can be wrong and we should revise our perceptions and clarify them before making judgments on the others.