Overcoming Stereotypes in the Movie, Dances With Wolves
Everyone has a preconceived opinion of how a certain ethnic group is in terms of the way they live, the morals they hold, the way they deal with people different from them, and how they deal with one another. We come to these conclusions by what we have seen in the media, heard from other people, or actually experienced ourselves. Most people would consider these opinions to be stereotypes. Dances with Wolves is a motion picture that deals with and touches on all sides of personal stereotypes we as American and American Indians have about each other. John Dunbar takes us through and allows us to see how it is to come into a situation he was not familiar with and then eventually the situation became a part of him and his lifestyle. He allows us to experience people for who they really are and not how we assume them to be.
In the beginning of the movie, which takes place in the Great West Plains of North Dakota, we see the main character John Dunbar ride on a horse across enemy lines. While he is galloping through the wide open plains full of his comrades and enemies, you can see the great amount of respect that both sides have for this one brave and courageous man. He gets across the whole plain and then finally falls off the horse in great exhaustion. What this scene does is sets the tone for what type of person John Dunbar is going to be. Going into the rest of the scenes through out the movie I expected this man to be courageous, brave, independent, and willing to try things that seem risky and even life threatening at times.
In the next scene John Dunbar goes to a man of higher ranking to ask him if he could go to the frontier because he realizes that it is not ...
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Even though I had the odds against me I really wanted to find out for myself what I thought of the Indians and the movie. What I found was this movie was very uplifting and really made me realize that even though some of us may have different color skin, or may have a different language we are all still human beings that are not that different from each other. No one of us are better than anyone else, we are all the same. I am very grateful that someone made a movie like this because we all need to realize we can all get alone if we are open minded, willing to try knew things and courageous just like John Dunbar was. This movie and especially John Dunbar have taught me a valuable lesson; we should not judge anyone for what they look like, or for what people say about them because you really need to get to know them for whom they really are.
The movie Dances with Wolves was a real good movie and I enjoyed watching it. It showed how life was back in the time of the Civil War. The movie also showed how Indians lived and how they respect everything except the white men.
...Mexico teaches him that the world is completely different. The real world is filled with hardship and disappointment, not his idea of simple innocence. John also learns that the romanticism he finds in horses only exist in horses and cannot be applied to people like you and me. His relationship with the horses exists on so many levels: he uses them for friendship, comfort, transportation, and as spiritual mentors. Also, McCarthy describes the horses passionately. John's distinct relationship with the horses causes him to believe humans are like that. Yet, on his journey he learns that men do not have the same passion as horses but instead are violent creatures that make the world ugly, not pretty because of all the heartbreak, and death he has to go through on his long journey.
Hollywood has helped create and perpetuate many different stereotypical images of the different races in the world. Those stereotypes still continue to affect the way we think about each other today and many of those stereotypes have been proven to be historically inaccurate. The movie Dances With Wolves, directed by actor Kevin Costner, does an excellent job in attempting to promote a greater acceptance, understanding, and sympathy towards Native American culture, instead of supporting the typical stereotype of Native Americans being nothing but brutal, blood thirsty savages.
“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” this single quote by the newspaper editor Maxwell Scott (Carlton Young), utters throughout the whole film on what Ford is trying to get across. The whole film tells of a lively era that is so deep in the roots of American history, but we seem to lose sight of that in the here and now. The standard critical approach to Liberty Valance has been to emphasize the contrasts between its two worlds, the old and the new, and to characterize it as celebrating the mythic western frontier and remember its passing by the industrialized times it had to give in to. John Ford brought back that view in his westerns, and although it was the last film with the duo of Ford and Wayne, it can now be referred to as a classical tale of fact and legend.
I have always believed that all races have their good and bad. Their is never going to be the perfect race. This movie definitely set a powerful message that life is not perfect for any race and that even though people are from different cultures, they are all interconnected somehow. The filmmakers did a great job at showing us that individuals should not be based on first impressions such as skin color or the social status.
Identity is a substantial component of a person, it’s something that determines who they are and help establish themselves with people who you find enjoyable and shares similar interests. It could bring people together, and provide a sense of belonging and unity. However, there are times where these people who are within certain cliques are perceived more negatively or believe that all people within that group perpetually have a certain set of traits. In most cases, these negative perceptions lead to discrimination and conflict, and obscures the positive and more genuine traits of an individual. In S.E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, there is a group of poor and lower-middle class teens who are labeled as greasers. This group of wild teenagers
The end of World War II was the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union had control over East Berlin, which was governed by a communist government and the United States had control over West Berlin, which was regulated by a democratic government. Both countries wanted full control over Berlin, so the Soviet Union set up a blockade on the West but was unsuccessful. The Berlin Wall was then built to stabilize the economy of East Berlin, which meant that fewer people could escape the east to live in the west. In the article “The fall of the Berlin Wall: what it meant to be there,” by Timothy Garton Ash, he highlights the feelings of no longer having a “iron curtain” segregating both sides of Berlin.
In conclusion Berlin Wall was an important milestone in the growth of the Cold War. It was the expansion that represented the thinking of a determined Communist system. Western Capitalism, which was more powerful, eventually defeated the system. The massive wall that did so much harm to a country was finally destroyed, and the people of Germany could now live the way they all wanted to live. They could live the life of freedom. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall East Germany has went through a lot of changes, and it still is not easy for all of the people in East Germany. But no matter how hard it is for the people of East Germany now, it is better than being alone and separated from their families, friends and rest of Europe.
...s website explained facts about escape attempts from the Berlin Wall that I thought would be helpful to my paper.
Imagine, literally being trapped inside of your hometown, behind the iron curtain of communism. Thousands of people lived that way for twenty-eight years, forced to live unseen and unheard. Some were born directly in the East side and some died, never to see the curtain lift from them. Life in the 1980’s in America was guided by the truth of real life, which real life was taken away from those trapped in Berlin.
The construction of the berlin wall had begun in august 13,1996, by the GDR although it started as just a concrete wall and barbed wire. The Berlin wall had been built within two weeks, by the eastern german army . Also the wall went through four stages of construction the first was just a simple fence. The second and third were replacing the wall with concrete and setting up traps. And then the final stage with was a pipe on top of the wall to stop people from scaling up the wall. By the end of construction the berlin wall was nicknamed the death strip, the “death strip was equipped with about five different traps and defences to stop anyone from crossing. They were tower, trenches, guard dogs, flood lights, and trip wire machine guns. When it was finally finished the Berlin wall was 4 feet in width and only 27 miles long.
The author, Fredrick Taylor did an outstanding job of collecting official history, archives and personal accounts that tell the complete story of the rise and fall of The Wall. Taylor sets the scene with the defeat of the Nazis in 1945. The Soviets occupying the east of Berlin, and American, French and British forces in the west, Berlin was suddenly the embodiment of the post-war world’s great divide. Before long, thousands of young East Berliners were crossing the open border to take up better education and employment opportunities in West Germany. The leader of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Walter Ulbricht noticed this and turned to Moscow for help. By 1961, two million East Germans had deserted their country and radical action was required. Then officially on the morning August 13th, 1961, the first barbed wire and then concrete barriers appeared, prompting a wave of desperate escape attempts. Taylor does a great job of narrating the desperate bids for freedom. The desperation of people and the things that they did were shocking. Some swam through the icy waters of the river Spree, some went through sewer pipes, and some were crazy enough to try going through the frontier with fo...
While The Berlin Wall symbolized the Cold War division of Germany, the east side of Berlin they were treated wrong. That's why they were always trying to flee to the west side. On the west side you were given more freedom to do what you wanted; the east side are communist while the west are capitalist.
Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be separated from the outside world? The people who lived in East Berlin in the time of the Cold War know. The Cold War was in 1945 through 1990 when the USSR and America were in a place of political hostility. During the Cold War the USSR and America were continually engaged in an ARMS race; both countries wanted to have the best and most weapons. There were many difficulties of the Cold War, but the Berlin blockade and airlift is certainly the first. The three main points of the Blockade and Airlift that I will talk about are why the blockade went up, how the airlift was used, and how it affected people.
When the Berlin Wall was constructed, East Germany went into a state of panic, fell into poverty, and adopted a communist government. The citizens of the GDR were filled with terror and anxiety when the border separating them from friends, family, and lovers was constructed. Many attempted to escape but every passing day, the wall became more and more menacing. Trapped, the people of East Germany were forced to cope with the shortage of goods, accept the fact that anybody could be a spy for the STASI, and follow the rule of an oppressive government. Although conditions were grim, the people of the East united together in order to survive. The wall is but a thing of the past, but it will always be remembered by every individual in Germany and the rest of the world.