What Changes and what Stays the Same in America Taking a look at epic western films - Essay Example

30 November Assignment American society is home to a diverse background of people hailing from different countries and races and today, itis one of the world’s largest culture bowls too. It is however difficult for different kinds of people to live without having differences and objections and thus, the socially constructed mechanism of complexities is given rise to. By this I mean to say that American society has undergone a vast amount of change since times immemorial and comparing one time period to another, especially through films set in that time, can help to give us a proper picture of the social status that different kinds of people had, and also help us understand their roles in society with respect to politics; the acceptance of their historical background, as well as their personal gender and identity and how they perceive the same. In this paper, we will be focusing on the Native American Indians and their diminishing face in contemporary American society. The objective of this paper is to understand the changes that American society has undergone over the last couple of decades by taking a look at epic western films and answering questions that are crucial to the existence of society such as the topics of politics, race, gender and sexuality, as well as the historical identity of Native Americans. The idea of race is a very harping issue, especially in the western society in the western world – the western genre of films, movies like Brokeback Mountain and Dances with Wolves for example, do not talk about the inclusion people belonging to different races. These films only address the “fantasies of the master race: the white hero's Indianness evokes the figure and fantasy not of the human and humane Indian but of the American Adam” (Pratts, Armando Jose) this statement merely encompasses the fact that most western American films only focus on the light skinned Americans, forgetting that there could be westerners belonging to a different racial background. This leads to a sort of lack of diversity among the community and also gives a very unclear picture to the rest of the world regarding the kind of people that live in west native Indian community. The idea of class on the other hand is portrayed wonderfully. In the film Dances With Wolves too, the hero is portrayed as a white Indian and thus gives the audience an image of the ‘perfect American’ hero rather than what the actual situation in the western Indian community is like. (Horner, Joy) Renowned Native American author Sherman Alexie makes an attempt to answer questions regarding Native Americans and race as is not easily portrayed in contemporary film and music today. He talks about the Buffalo Soldiers, or the all African-American regiment that fought during the American Civil war – also hailing from a western American Indian society. Such communities are given little or no representation at all today in art despite being a part of the community and that is the fundamental issue in the portrayal of western society and how it is incorrect for the rest of the world that looks at a cowboy as a young white man, with a southern accent. In Dances With Wolves, the idea of race is portrayed excellently as Colonel Dunbar manages to adapt himself to the life of a Buffalo Soldier, and even fall in love with one of their kin – thus the name ‘Dances With Wolves’ as he manages to adopt the lifestyle of a black western man. Next, we touch upon the aspect of gender and sexuality as seen in the two films and understood in terms of western society. Sexuality is a very daunting issue world over today; it is very difficult for people to understand the social construct of gender as opposed to sexuality because of the fact that they have been created by society. The director talks about “a story that had never been told before, of two aging men who bear up under their drab, empty, unbearably lonely lives as long as they can just escape a time or two a year to Brokeback Mountain, where, as teenaged boys herding sheep, they first found love, friendship, sex, and somebody who understood.” (Pittman, Frank) Even though the two men continue assuring each other that they are not gay, the film talks about a bigger picture of the emotions that they have within themselves for each other. As young men, they were away from the rest of the world, living their lives in a ranch, happy amongst themselves. Later they left each other and got on with their lives, each being with a woman, but still not able to find their purpose in life. When they chance upon each other once again in their future, they find themselves locked in embrace, promising to never leave each other again. The film answers the question of what sexuality is and how it affects two cowboys living on a ranch, therefore, answering a bigger question for the audience looking at western American society – sexuality is constructed by society as a term that views a man having feelings for a woman, in terms of his sexual self. However, many men in society have feelings for other men and women towards other women – an idea that has been condemned by various sections of society for a number of reasons ranging from religion to politics. Nonetheless, western American society has been open to the idea of men being in love with other men and discovering themselves to be queer or gay according to their idea of sexuality. This may be for reasons from them being exposed to most men all their lives, working in close proximity with other men, or even the lack of women in western American society. Whatever it may be, the film Brokeback Mountain helps to understand through the vision of Ang Lee that there are many young boys in such a community with a different approach and idea regarding masculinity and sexuality. “Was the film a watershed moment for the portrayal of gay life on film or a cynically calculated sop to traditional values?” (Handley, William R) Brokeback Mountain has answered a number of questions regarding the mix between traditional values and the love for modern contemporary society – according to the film, the idea of two human beings in love with one another’s emotions and feelings has been depicted in the most wonderful manner, better than any other love story out there. The idea of masculinity is answered excellently by stating that the ideal ‘man’ can be one who is macho and straight but has feelings for another ‘man’ because the idea of life in the movie has been portrayed through the achievement of happiness. “Brokeback Mountain's incontrovertible humanist message is that sexual freedom is a human right, whose suppression can be physically and spiritually lethal, often having a deleterious ripple effect.” (Grundmann, Roy) As opposed to this entire idea of being a homosexual, the film Dances With Wolves depicts Colonel Dunbar as a very ‘masculine’ man, having amputated his leg yet riding a horse and participating in battle. Social history in America thus is posed with a challenge of understanding the concept of a man being ‘gay’. As per the facts, the number of women in Native American Indian society at the time was much lesser in population as compared to the number of men and perhaps this is why many men developed feelings towards other men however the term homosexuality was still not given an establishment till the late 1800s. Throughout the film, Jack and Ennis kept reiterating that they were not ‘queer’ and even though they were aptly exploring their sexuality, they did not fail to address that they had feelings for each other, giving themselves the leverage of sexual freedom. Today, Native American society contains a large culture of gays and lesbians, even in the middle and lower classes and one of the largest causes of activism in the western society is the advocacy for gay rights and the legalization of gays and lesbians to get married. This may be understood in contrast to the 60s and 70s when the idea of marriage stood the test of nature as the western society wanted to abolish it altogether in order to have gay men come and live together without having the pressure to marry women and have families with them. Thus, the question of gender and sexuality is a very important one, as seen in films like Brokeback Mountain. The idea behind the film was to help people understand that sexuality surpasses all kinds of races, classes and societies around the world. The western community in America has some of the highest number of gay men and they are not afraid to express their feelings. The idea of ‘masculinity’ has thus been questioned time and again because these cowboys and rodeos are considered to be some of the most ‘macho’ men – befitting the idea of a strong man, yet failing it as they love other men and not women. (Boucher, Leigh, and Sarah Pinto) The cowboy love story, as it has been called, also helps in understanding political battles taking place in America with regard to the different communities that live there. Focusing solely on the society consisting of western American Indians, their political associations can be understood as neo conservative Republicans, very liberal in their nature. “In today's intensely polarized climate, all things - films, judicial rulings, or offhand political quips - can become instant PR ammunition for next year's Congressional races - the outcome of which could further clip the wings of an increasingly lame-duck administration” (Garrison, Lawrence M) Films like these give the government a lot to be active about regarding the laws of the country – in this case legalization of gay marriages as well as welfare to the cowboy or ‘back-ranch’ community. Dances With Wolves talks about the acceptance of black and white people in society and thus about politics from a racial point of view. “It's ironic how Brokeback Mountain so vividly illustrates the same systemic discrimination that we have seen displayed by government leaders right here where the movie was filmed,” (Billet, Murray) writes Murray Billet, focusing on how the government continues to bash gay rights yet invites money for tourism because of the popularity that Alberta has been lucky enough to receive after the widely acclaimed film of the gay cowboys being shot there. The government is not able to provide money for people suffering from HIV/AIDS, yet continues to supply money for people from different parts of the world wanting to visit the very ranches where the gay cowboys found their love for each other. It is thus a very hypocritical state of affairs where the government has been trying to gain support from one of the largest communities of LGBT people in the country, in the western communities, without even providing them with promises of giving back and having them accepted. Politics is a dirty game that involves the participation of every community in society in order to be successful; the Native Americans form a very large part of American society and as depicted through the films, they had little support by the government at the time periods that the films have been set in. comparing the same to modern times, it can shamefully be said that they still do not have enough support – the case examples talked about above with respect to Alberta’s government and the money that they set aside for recognizing tourism of locations that were made famous by a gay movie, and not accepting the gay community at large poses a large problem. It can rightfully be said that the government is merely using these groups of people, aligning them with false hopes of a better tomorrow, yet doing nothing for their welfare. It also goes without saying that it is easy to understand the plight of the LGBT community in a modern society as opposed to a backdoor countryside society where awareness still needs to be spread regarding sexuality and gender instead of letting these topics become a taboo. And how do even volunteers go ahead with such social work if they do not have the support of the government? Costner’s Buffaloes in Dances With Wolves calls for a check on the modification of the portrayal of the native Indian American; ­the origin of the Native American can be understood through Dunbar’s journal in the film, where he talks about him being immersed in the lives of the actual native American community – the conviction with which he remains a white man on the outside, but develops into a ‘true’ Indian Lakota on the inside. “On the one side are "these people," with their love of family and their wonderful sense of humor -all of it unknown to whites, except for this particular one who is blessed with the privilege of telling us so. Opposite them are "a people without value and without soul.” (Pratts, Armando Jose) in Dances With Wolves, a wonderful picture of white families has been provided by the black western community as people without families and souls. Costner, who became a part of the black community, was accepted soon because of the loyalty that he portrayed and he came to realize the historical remorse attached to the struggle of a Native American Indian. By this I mean that since times immemorial, the Indian portrayed in Hollywood has undergone a number of reality checks regarding the question of his actual nativity and cultural origins. Pratt asks that if a large number of western Indians are based in the apogee of American Manifest Destiny, then what image is it that the audience in the rest of the world is subjected to regarding the idea of origin of these people – in other words, how can the audience see anything but the all white American Indian, also known as the white man’s Indian? The author also states that the historical context of these Native Americans is heavily distorted because they are depicted from the point of view of those people that belong to the upper class of movie making and have conquered the cultural inheritance of the west. (Baskett, M) Many have said that these motion pictures did not just reconstruct western history but added to the history as an extension; meaning that there are many accounts of the lives of native Americans however portrayed in a partial manner. Homosexual tendencies depicted among white cowboys and frowned down upon the rest of society? Not entirely true because there is an entire black community that was not even thought of, in my opinion. Lack of political rights and a hazed notion regarding the society that this strata of society hails from, it is very pertinent to understand that there are people being shunned from the limelight – instead of focusing on the actual problems, movie makers have been focusing on what they ‘think’ the problems are and what they perceive native American society to be. Therefore, is the perceived misrepresentation not rather a starting point than the conclusion? As an audience, one fails to understand the history of these Americans and the communities that they hail from because of the reason that these films do not depict them clearly; most people end up thinking that they come from a native group of people that lived in the country at first, the Red Indians perhaps. However, their history needs to be given much more credit than this. Even in Brokeback Mountain, the two boys Jack and Ennis hail from two different backgrounds in terms of class and not race, and thus have a similar identity among each other instead of being portrayed as coming from different racial backgrounds. What I mean to say is that according to me and the research done for the two films, there is not much intermingling among Native Americans belonging to different backgrounds. In Brokeback Mountain, there is no mention of a black westerner or a Black Native American Indian whereas in Dances With Wolves, Costner finds himself mixing with the Buffalo Soldiers – a white man mixing with a race of black cowboys was considered to be very unique back then when the film was made, and is even now because of the lack of awareness in these small areas. Who is to thus say that things are different now than what they were back then in all these spheres because back then what was considered to be modern is now archaic – in that time period, people were not able to accept race mixing or exploration of one’s sexuality; moreover, politics thrived on the unhappiness of people because governments were focused on getting what they want for the majority, ruling out the needs of the minority groups like the LGBT community or the rural farmers and cowboys. Even today, these aspects have not been taken care of but are at least portrayed through film and media, making the world aware of the problems and opening up the minds of people regarding the issues. However, the government still needs to support these communities and even though people are more open about topics like race and sexuality, it is for the government to recognize the same through a permanent form of legislature. In conclusion, the ideas of race, gender, history and politics have been talked about during the course of this paper with relation to the western American society. It must be understood that there are deformations and misrepresentations in the images that are portrayed to the world today regarding this society because of the biased opinions made my film makers. People think westerners hail from a white class of people, and are confused about their gender identities. Moreover, their political ambitions are not given a voice to as discussed throughout the paper. All these ideas need to be understood better to get a clearer picture of westerners. At least in the past, these aspects of life were not so crucially depicted, however as compared to today, it may be said that nothing has changed – if something has, then it is negligible in nature. Western society still needs to develop and still requires better and equal representation in American society with better political rights and an advocacy for the rights that people belonging to the communities should have, affecting their freedom and liberation. Works Cited "Brokeback Mountain Quotes." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Horner, Joy. "Race, Sexuality, and Space: Analyzing Brokeback Mountain." Contemporary Queer Cinemas Pittsburgh. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Pittman, Frank. "Mountain Challenges Our Most Cherished Gender Stereotypes."Psychotherapy Networker 30.2 (2006): n. pag. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Handley, William R. The Brokeback Book: From Story to Cultural Phenomenon. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2011. Print. Grundmann, Roy. "Brokeback Mountain." Cineaste 31.2 (2006): 50-52. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Garrison, Lawrence M. "'Brokeback' Sets the Stage for Latest Political PR Battle." PRWeek9.1 (2006): n. pag. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Billet, Murray. "Brokeback Mountain: Gov't Loves the Scenery, but Not the Lifestyle: [Final Edition]." Edmonton Journal (2006): n. pag. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Boucher, Leigh, and Sarah Pinto. ""I Ain't Queer": Love, Masculinity and History in Brokeback Mountain." Journal of Men's Studies 15.3 (2007): 311-30. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Pratts, Armando Jose. "The Image of the Other and the Other Dances with Wolves: The Refigured Indian and the Textual Supplement." Journal of Film and Video 50.1 (1998): 3-19. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Baskett, M. "The Historical Epic and Contemporary Hollywood: From Dances with Wolves to Gladiator." Choice 46.1 (2008): n. pag. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . Read More