Analysis of Dances With Wolves

          In the film Dances With Wolves, First lieutenant John J. Dunbar, a soldier who was badly wounded in the American Civil War decided he wanted to do something more with his life. Dances With Wolves triggered back to the 1860's where a lot of soldiers including Dunbar struggled with severe post-traumatic stress caused by awful experiences seen throughout the war. In a scene shown in the film, First Lieutenant Dunbar was severely injured choosing to try and commit suicide rather than have his leg amputated. During that scene with Dunbar riding his horse, he did a christ pose spreading his arms out wide being an easy target to shoot at. He had sacrificed his life ending up surviving his suicide riding through the Confederate front line he was awarded bravery for his appearance as well as picking his own military base in which he can store his supplies and giving him personal shelter. After settling down in at his new post in the western frontier he began to rebuild the abandoned loft. During his time at the post he would observe his thoughts into a daily dairy. Dunbar started questioning why other soldiers weren't joining him but he unfortunately didn't know that the wagon driver by the name of Timmons who took him to the frontier was killed by the native americans who came across him on his way back to Fort Hays. He would write in his dairy the reasoning why soldiers weren't coming but with the death of Timmons there was no one to tell them where Dunbar was. No help from Major Fambrough for committing suicide after awarding Dunbar for his bravery it prevented the soldiers into not knowing where Dunbar was located.

       

          The Pawnee Indians known to dress in ceremonial clothing were a violent tribe scalping their enemies as a symbol showing that they conquered them in which they did when they killed Timmons. Shortly before the killing of Timmons, a Sioux member known as Wind in His Hair found Dunbar at his post in which he tried stealing Dunbar's horse several times. The Wind in His Hair informed the rest of his tribes that there was an American living on their land and stating the fact that Americans don't appreciate anything they do or what they wear. Dunbar finally decided to go find the Sioux Tribe dressing in his uniform symbolizing civilization and preparation to fight. On his journey through the lands he came upon this women alone and hurt. In this scene it shows pathos where he is saving a women and how it makes him heroic. Usually holding the flag like he did when finding the women was expressing the power and dominance he had over everyone else on that land. He rapped the women's arm in the flag ripping it into pieces symbolizing that this wounded women is more important than his country's flag. These specific scenes in Dances With Wolves each have their own significance for symbolizing something so small that viewers wouldn't recognize.