Revisionist Western Films

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses revisionist Westerns Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves" (1990), a film sensitivity to cultural differences and to the importance of Native American culture and Thunderheart (Michael Apted, 1992), which enters a more modern Indian community. The author points out that Costner still made major errors in depicting the history and culture of the Lakota Sioux tribe portrayed in the film. The paper continues that "Thunderheart" tried hard to elevate the Native American but a stereotype emerged in this film that the Native American is in some way a mystic more in touch with supernatural and spiritual forces than the non-Native population would be.

From the Paper:

"The film did more than revive old stereotypes in new forms, though, and it fails in terms of its accuracy on a number of counts. One problem faced was to recreate the language of the Lakota dialect spoken by the Sioux tribes in the 1860s. The film producers hired Doris Leader Charge, a 60-year-old teacher at South Dakota's Sinte Gleska College and one of only a few thousand Sioux still fluent in Lakota. Leader Charge translated the script and served as a dialogue coach during production. She also played a small part in the film. However, as Seals points out, the men in the film generally speak Lakota in the feminine form, a result of having the script translated by a woman who did not make allowances for the differences. Seals states that a number of Indian leaders were angry about this error and found it maddening in a film that claimed to be authentic. Seals does note, though, that the film managed authenticity in other ways, such as the way the ruling elders' council was handled. The film was correct in its use of the Pipe, which is the sacred Canupa of White Buffalo Calf Maiden, who founded the buffalo culture nineteen generations ago. The Pipe Keeper and others asked that the film not depict the smoking of the pipe, but it does so just the same."

More papers on Revisionist Western Films:

• Essay # 9113 : "Western Films"
• Analytical Essay # 128787 : "Redefining the Western Genre"
• Comparison Essay # 147530 : "Western Genre Films"

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