Various Themes in Dances With Wolves - Essay Example

When the film opens, Lieutenant Dunbar is faced with the unpleasant choice of either having his wounded leg amputated or choosing to die with it still attached; as did so many other soldiers of his time. However, rather than choosing amputation, Dunbar decides he will commit suicide by charging the lines of the enemy and dying in a hail of bullets.  However, his plan does not go according to plan as his action has the effect of rallying the troops behind him and winning the battle. As a reward for his actions, Dunbar is offered a transfer to any unit or regiment he can choose. Dunbar chooses to move West away from the horrors of the Civil War and into the mystery of the frontier (Costner, 1990).

His frontier life is far from what he expected as he soon finds himself all alone at an abandoned base; completely cut off from the outside world. It is at this point that the film develops into the story of how Dunbar begins to come into contact with the Native Americans in the surrounding regions to that of the base in which he alone guards. Rather than being hostile to these natives, Dunbar seeks to strike up a relationship with them and engage them in a form of conversation (although his language skills are non-existent).  Rather than viewing the Native Americans around the fort as natural-born enemies, Dunbar is intrigued by their lifestyle, their curiosity, and how they have sought to survive even in the face of continuous attacks from white frontiersmen.

Dunbar becomes so taken by the culture and lifestyle of these Native Americans that he abandons his post and seeks to live a life among them. The story further develops as Dunbar returns to the fort to retrieve a notebook of valuable information he encounters his former colleagues who capture and beat him for deserting and becoming just like a Native American. Before the film ends, Dunbar, with the help of his Native American friends, can escape from the clutches of the Army and decides that he will abandon both his own culture and the culture of the Native Americans as he will only endanger them by his presence since the Army will not stop searching for him. Although the movie has many more themes than just this one that has been listed, it is helpful for the viewer to know and understand the extent to which this cultural dissatisfaction theme is present within the movie. Because Dunbar is dissatisfied with his own culture, he embraces the culture of his supposed enemies and in doing this finds a higher truth.