DANCES

WITH

WOLVES

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DANCES WITH WOLVES

HOMEWORK QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think Dunbar rides across the field?

2. What is the outcome of this event for him?

3. Dunbar can go anywhere he wants to be posted, where does he choose and why?

4. What is the significance of the “Crazy” Colonel who gives Dunbar his orders?

5. What is Timmons’ view of the Indians?

6. What fort does Dunbar become stationed at?

7. After Timmons’ encounter with the Pawnee, who knows Dunbar is at the fort?

8. What is the name of Dunbar’s horse?

9. Why do you think the fort is abandoned? List two clues that Dunbar discovers.

A.

B.

10. What is Dunbar’s first instinct when he sees the wolf?

11. What does Dunbar name the wolf?

12. How do the Indians react to Dunbar’s presence at the fort?

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13. What do the Indian think about white people?

14. Both the Indian boys and men tried to do what to Dunbar?

15. What is Dunbar’s first reaction when Wind in his Hair comes charging? What other scene

in the movie is this like?

16. What is the Indian woman doing on the prairie?

17. How do the Indians react when Dunbar brings the woman back?

18. What do we find out about the woman? What happened to her family?

19. What is Dunbar trying to do with Two Socks?

20. What is Dunbar’s impression of the Indians now? What does he say about them after they

give him the blanket?

21. What parallels do you see between Two Socks and the Indians?

22. What title (job) does Kicking Bird have among the Sioux?

23. Who had killed the Buffalo before the Indians got there?

24. Why do the Sioux seem to not understand such an act?

25. What is Dunbar’s view of the Indians after the buffalo hunt?

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26. What does Kicking Bird always want to know? Is Dunbar truthful with his answer?

27. Why is Dunbar not allowed to go in the war party against the Pawnee?

28. What is Dunbar’s new name?

29. How did Stands With a Fist get her name?

30. Why is Stands With a Fist not married?

31. What is the significance of Two Socks taking the bacon?

32. What does that event symbolize (hint: with the Indians)?

33. Who dies from the Sioux in the battle?

34. How is the Sioux marriage ceremony different than a white one?

35. Where is Ten Bears’ helmet from? Does he seem worried about the whites?

36. Why does Dances With Wolves have to go back to get the journal?

37. What was the first reaction of the white soldiers when they first saw Dances With

Wolves?

38. What are they going to do with Dances With Wolves when he gets back to Ft. Hayes?

39. What does the event that happens to Two Socks symbolize?

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40. Who kills Sgt. Bower (the soldier who was trying to sneak away)?

41. What happened to the journal after the fight at the river? What might that symbolize?

42. Why will Dances With Wolves be leaving?

43. What do you think he is trying to accomplish with “those who will listen”?

44. What does Smiles A Lot give to Dances With Wolves? What does this symbolize?

45. After the fight at the river, do you ever see Smiles A Lot smile again? What might this

symbolize?

46. What ultimately happens to the Sioux?

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MOVIE NOTES

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Dances With Wolves Orion Pictures, 1990; directed by Kevin Costner

Major Character Actor/Actress

Lieutenant John J. Dunbar Kevin Costner

Kicking Bird Graham Greene

Stands with a Fist Mary McDonnell

Wind in His Hair Rodney A. Grant

Ten Bears Floyd Red Crow Westerman

Black Shawl Tantoo Cardinal

Smiles a Lot Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse

Stone Calf Jimmy Herman

What to Watch For Dances with Wolves was produced and directed by Kevin Costner, who also played the part of the

main character, John Dunbar. This epic film won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.

This film has been hailed by many historians as one that redresses many wrongs in Hollywood’s

portrayal of American Indians. Costner went to great lengths to provide an accurate picture of Sioux

(or, as these people called themselves, Lakota) life. Specialists versed in Sioux culture were hired to

make certain that costumes, rituals, and props were authentic. The language spoken by the Sioux in the

film with English subtitles is Lakota. A professor of Lakota studies from Sinte Gloska College in

South Dakota taught crew members, including the native Sioux, Lakota for the film. One result of the

popularity of this film has been a renewed interest in the Lakota language and culture by many Sioux.

The film has also been hailed as the first environmental Western. Dunbar searches for the unspoiled

frontier; he wishes to see it before it is gone. Compare the ways in which the American Indians inhabit

the land with the ways in which white settlers, soldiers, and hunters occupy it.

Animals play a very important role in the movie. One reason that Costner selected South Dakota as

the location for shooting was the proximity of the world’s largest privately owned herd of buffalo.

Two trained buffalo (Mammoth, owned by rock singer Neil Young, and Cody, the mascot of a meat

company) were also used. The scene where a buffalo charges a fallen boy is actually Cody racing

toward an Oreo cookie, his favorite treat, held out of camera range by a trainer. The fallen buffalo are

wire-framed fur dummies. No animals were harmed to make this film.

This movie has also generated some controversy. Some critics accused Costner of making the

American Indians too virtuous and the whites too evil. Others felt that Dunbar’s sensibilities were

those of a twentieth-century person and that the film transferred 1990s values into the world of the

1860s, when the environment was seen simply as a resource to be tamed and exploited for human

benefit.

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Vocabulary frontier medicine man

garrison Tatonka (buffalo)

Pawnee tipi

Sioux

Questions Based on the Film 1. Why does Dunbar end up at Fort Sedgewick?

2. What is the significance of Dunbar’s discovery of the garbage dump near the fort?

3. Why is Stands with a Fist afraid of Dunbar at first?

4. Why has this film been labeled the first environmental Western?

5. How does Dunbar compare the warfare among American Indian tribes to the Civil War in which he

has participated?

6. What kind of helmet does Ten Bears show Dunbar? What are Ten Bears’ fears?

7. What devices or techniques does the film use to draw you sympathetically into Lakota life and

culture? How do they help you understand the American Indian view of the relationship between

human beings and their environment?

8. Why is Dunbar accused of treason?

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The Buffalo

A Use for Everything

Item Native American Use

1. Blood, bile from gall bladder

2. Brains

3. Gristle from snout

4. Horns

5. Skins

6. Hoofs

7. Hair

8. Bones

9. Teeth

10. Tendons

11. Stomach

12. Intestines

13. Skulls

14. Tongue

15. Tails

16. Buffalo fat

17. Buffalo chips

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ONE WITH THE LAND Activity One The Sioux Indians, like virtually all Native American tribes, lived in

harmony with their environment—until that harmony was disrupted and

destroyed by the coming of the white American between the 16th and 19th

centuries. The new Kevin Costner film Dances with Wolves—about an

American soldier who comes to live among the Sioux in the 1850s—

depicts this clash of cultures, which in part rose out of basic differences

between the two peoples and their attitudes toward the land and the

creatures living on it.

Part I

From what you know of the differing lifestyles and cultures of Native Americans and the white American

settlers who moved into their lands—especially during the 19th century—compare and contrast the attitudes of

both groups regarding each topic below.

NATIVE AMERICANS WHITE AMERICANS

Hunting the buffalo

Using the land

Accepting other cultures

& people

Part II

After viewing the film Dances with Wolves, explain how each pair of events from the movie illustrates the

cultural differences between Native Americans and white Americans of the time.

1. The Indians’ buffalo hunt, and the slaughtered animals Dunbar and Kicking Bird come upon.

2. The fight between the Sioux and Pawnees, and the Civil War battle that opens the film.

3. The visit of Wind In His Hair and Kicking Bird to Dunbar and the fort, and the treatment of Dances

With Wolves by the American soldiers.

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A PROUD PEOPLE Activity Two Dances with Wolves portrays a realistic image of the 19th-Century

Sioux Indians which is radically different from the perceptions

which many white Americans once held of them and of Native

Americans in general. Many Sioux were, in fact, loyal, courageous

warriors and fierce hunters who led a nomadic life, following the

buffalo herds across the prairie. Like other tribes throughout the

Americas, they had—as their descendants do today—their own

language, culture, and religious beliefs based on the spiritual nature

of life and the sacredness of nature and all its creatures.

Part I

Respond to the negative perceptions of 19th-Century Native Americans listed below by contrasting each with

a fact that you have learned from reading, viewing a recent television show or film, or from some other

recently published or produced informational source.

PERCEPTION REALITY

1. Indians were savages who lived little

better than wild animals.

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2. Indians were cowards who had no

sense of loyalty, even to their own

people.

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3. Indians disliked all white people and

always had.

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Part II

Circumstances depicted in Dances with wolves reinforce actual realities we now know to be true about the

Sioux and their way of life. After seeing the film, explain how each situation described below invalidates the

three misconceptions from Part I.

1. Village life among the Kiowa Sioux as observed by Lt. John J. Dunbar.

2. The Sioux’s attack on the soldiers and rescue of Dances With Wolves.

3. Christine’s life among the Sioux as Stands with a Fist.

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IT’S ALL IN THE NAME Activity Three

Kicking Bird, a Sioux medicine man in Dances with Wolves, says of the American soldier who

was adopted by his tribe: “He is special… he should have a real name.” For the Sioux, a ‘real

name’ was one that described a physical or personal characteristic of the person being named. In

European cultures, names were often descriptive in similar ways but over time their meaning was

lost or became irrelevant.

Part I

What does your name mean? On the lines below, write your first and last names. Were you named for

someone famous or for another family member? What language and ethnic background is your last named

derived from and what does it mean, if anything? Write your responses in the spaces below.

first name last name

Personal Meaning For You

Ethnic Origin

Meaning and Importance

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Now choose a descriptive, Indian-style name for yourself. Write this name and explain its meaning.

My descriptive name ______________________________________________________

Why I chose it ______________________________________________________

Part II

After viewing Dances with Wolves, explain the origin of each character’s Sioux name. If the origin is not

explained directly in the film, infer one from what you know about this character.

Dances with Wolves ______________________________________________________

Stands with a Fist ______________________________________________________

Wind in his Hair ______________________________________________________

Smiles A Lot ______________________________________________________

Ten Bears ______________________________________________________

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WHO WE REALLY ARE Activity Four Dances with Wolves’ title character, former soldier John J. Dunbar, comes to the realization

that as the adopted Sioux, Dances With Wolves, “I knew for the first time who I really was.”

Personal identity is important to all people, regardless of their cultural and ethnic

background. Personal experience and cultural environment can strongly affect a person’s

perception of who they are.

Part I

Considering how personal experience and relationships affect us all, examine your own life.

Describe below how each of these forces listed have shaped your identity and values.

1. Parents, Family ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

2. School ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

3. Friends ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

4. An Important Experience ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Part II

After having lived among the Sioux, Lt. John J. Dunbar (now Dances With Wolves) finds that his values have

changed drastically. Once you have seen Dances with Wolves, compare and contrast this character’s

viewpoint on each of the following concepts, first as Dunbar and then as Dances with Wolves.

Lt. John J. Dunbar Dances With Wolves

Group or idea he is loyal to ________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

Career or goal in life ________________________

________________________

________________________

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Relationship to the frontier ________________________

________________________

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Fact vs. Fiction As far as the historical background of the film is concerned, the Lakota chief called Ten Bears was actually a

Southern Plains Yapparika Comanche chief.

The real Kicking Bird was not a "medicine man", but a chief in another Southern Plains tribe called the Kiowa.

The original novel centered around the Comanche of the Southern Plains. However, due to the fact that the

film production company secured filming access to a herd of buffalo in South Dakota, a change of tribes

occurred.

The most significant historical error involves the winter campaign launched by the United States Army in

search of Dances With Wolves and Ten Bears' band.

The year is supposed to be 1864. No United States Army winter campaigns were launched against any Native

Americans until November of 1868.

The massacre that took place that month was led by Lt. Col. George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry against Chief Black

Kettle's people of the Cheyenne Nation. It occurred at Washita Creek on Thanksgiving Day.

From http://cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/dances_wolves.html

A white US soldier would never defect and join an Indian tribe.

In the movie, the Sioux refused to use guns, but in reality they would have loved to use guns.

Ten Bears was actually the chief of a different tribe.

Kicking Bird was also not a medicine man, but a chief of a different tribe.

Goofs When Dunbar and the Sioux leave for the buffalo hunt, one of the boys riding a horse is wearing Converse

sneakers.

The piece of meat Dunbar is offering Two Socks varies in shape and size throughout the scene.

When the Sioux try to steal Cisco, Dunbar jumps into waist-deep water as he runs towards the corral. When he

gets back on shore, his pants are dry.

When Dunbar knocks himself out on the door frame, he cuts his head and starts to bleed. When he wakes up

the blood has run down the front of his face, when really it should have run down the side of his face since he

was lying horizontally.

The buffalo that charges Smiles a Lot is first seen with no arrows in him. When the buffalo is next shown

charging, there are three arrows in its side.

The Sequel The Holy Road, a well-received sequel novel by Michael Blake, the author of both the original

Dances with Wolves novel and the movie screenplay, was published in 2001. It picks up eleven years

after Dances with Wolves. John Dunbar is still married to Stands with a Fist and they have three

children. Stands with a Fist and one of the children are kidnapped by a party of white rangers and

Dances with Wolves must mount a rescue mission. As of 2007, Blake was writing a film adaptation,

although Kevin Costner was not yet attached to the project. In the end, however, Costner stated he

would not take part in this production. Viggo Mortensen has been rumored to be attached to the

project, playing Dunbar. The title "Holy Road" refers to the transcontinental railroad, which is a

symbol of the clash of civilizations. The Holy Road was expected to begin production sometime in

2009.

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'Avatar' And 'Dances With Wolves': How Similar Are They? We break down the similarities between the epic

movies.

By Eric Ditzian (@ericditzian)

Welcome to the Jungle In "Avatar," Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) leaves

Earth behind in 2154 to jet off to distant Pandora, a

lushly untamed planet filled with danger and

intrigue and populated by an indigenous population

called the Na'vi. In "Wolves," John Dunbar (Kevin

Costner) leaves behind American civilization during

the Civil War to travel to the untouched Western

frontier, where Native American tribes still flourish.

Of course, both these native populations are under

threat from aggressive white colonialists.

Scarred but Not Scared Sully was a Marine until he lost the use of his legs.

Now he's confined to a wheelchair. Technology to

repair his injured spine exists, but the ex-solider

can't afford the procedure. Sully's superior promises

that if he completes his assignment, he'll be given

the surgery for free. Army Lieutenant Dunbar

suffers a severe leg injury that will require

amputation — until his superior intervenes and

hands over his personal doc to perform free surgery

and ensure Dunbar still has two working legs.

Going Native In both "Avatar" and "Wolves," it's not long before

the foreign white man takes a liking to the native

culture he inhabits. Through the use of his Na'vi

avatar, Sully frolics with the big blue humanoids,

learning their at-peace-with-the-land ways and their

language. So it is with Dunbar, who is taught the

Sioux tongue and begins to appreciate their

connection to nature. Sully and Dunbar bond with

their new friends around the campfire and learn to

hunt. Their relationships with animals — wolves and

crazy flying creatures — help establish their

connection to the new cultures. Each has a close

bond with a horse or horse-like creature. The Na'vi

and the Sioux eventually recognize them as part of

their tribe. The men, in turn, choose to live with the

tribe rather than their native people, who they

come to see as barbaric and disconnected from

nature.

Can't Help Falling in Love Sully falls for Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Dunbar falls for

Stands With a Fist (Mary McDonnell). Both women

act as their man's translator. Both relationships are

taboo, so they must make love in secret. While the

romances arouse anger when they first come to

light, both tribes ultimately accept the pairings.

During their journeys of love and adventure, Sully

and Dunbar contribute voice-over narration, one

through a high-tech video journal, the other with

simple pen and paper.

Lead Us Into Battle When the cruel industrialists decide to kick their

conflict with the Na'vi into overdrive, Sully rouses

his big blue brethren to fight the good fight. When

the Sioux find themselves facing off against a

nearby Native American tribe, Dunbar leads his

adopted people — guns a-blazin' — into battle.

Both the Na'vi and the Sioux triumph. At least

temporarily. You just know those evil white

colonialists are going to keep on fighting.

From http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1629012/avatar-

dances-with-wolves-how-similar-they.jhtml

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MOVIE REVIEW

NAME____________________ DATE____________________

TITLE OF MOVIE_____________________________________

STARRING: ______________________________________

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THE BASIC PLOT OF THIS MOVIE WAS: ________________________________________

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2 THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE: ________________________________________

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2 THINGS I DISLIKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE: ____________________________________

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2 THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT LOOKED HISTORICALLY ACCURATE _______

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2 THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT LOOKED HISTORICALLY INACCURATE _____

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ON A SCALE OF 1-5 STARS, I WOULD GIVE THIS MOVIE __________ STARS,

BECAUSE ___________________________________________________________________

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I WOULD OR WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE TO A FRIEND BECAUSE ____

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