The Indian's Point of View

The issues raised in Dances With Wolves are a eye opener to the image America makes of itself. We tend to think of only the good parts of our countries past, and we look at ourselves with honor. Dances With Wolves shows the other side to the expansion of America; not the prosperous land but the Indians lives we changed. The filming of the movie adds to this vision we have on the Indians as well. In the beginning of the movie, the Indians are shown with low angles, and it gives them a sence of power, and danger, which is how many preceived the Indians at the time. The scenes in the beggining of the film show their desctructive side as they kill a man for no apperant reason. The culture is depicted with confusion as they talk in a different language, dress differently, and overall have a very different lifestyle. Slowly, the movie starts to show the audience the misconceptions we have about them. They are truely good people, only trying to keep themselves and their tribe alive. The camera shows more close ups of the indians as the movie goes on, showing their emotions and helping the audience understand them. Their reasons for their lifestyles are slowly understood as well, as the characters start to understand each others language. It brings up many conflicts with Americas expansion. In the movie, the Americans are made out to be the bad guys, and shows how they took away parts of their culture. They killed Buffalo for fun, they take away their land, and they and inconciderate of the land necessary for the Indians to live. Calling Bird is a main character that shows the soft side to the Indians. He want to understand and be civil with the Americans, and believes that they can live in unison, rather than fighting against each other. Maybe if we Americans had the same courage as Calling Bird we wouldnt have destroyed their culture, but instead let them be themselves and not intervene. Our country could look a lot different if we had.