The winner of seven .
Academy awards, it was the first Western to pick up more than four Oscars. But this movie is not just .
another movie, as many interpreters say. Dances With Wolves is a work of imagination that is so startlingly .
close to reality. It raises questions about identity and culture, both of which are conveyed by dialogue and .
enacted by character and plot. It depicts cross-cultural encounters and explores the fundamental questions .
on humanity. It is no small wonder that the film aroused much interest in both the public and critics in .
general. However, despite the general consensus that the major aim of the movie was to depict culture as .
authentically and accurately as possible, much disagreement has arisen over whether or not this goal was .
achieved. This study features two prominent reviews of the movie; Argumentation and self: the enactment .
of identity in Dances With Wolves by Lake Randall and Review: Dances with Wolves by Larry R. Bowden. .
These writers analyze the movie and presents details as they feel they should be interpreted. This study .
aims to compare and contrast the two interpretations, evaluate the common ground between them, as well .
as areas of conflicts. Both writers attempt to collate reviews of the movie and present a number of positive .
and negative interpretations done by supporters and critics likewise.
.
One area of discussion was the theme and message of the movie. According to Larry Bowden, .
Dances With Wolves is not just another movie but is a story that has the ability to open up the emotional .
depth of the West. In depicting the Indian culture as profoundly as it did, he believes that the movie has .
helped to put Indians in a better light. The movie has played a big part in increasing appreciation of other .
cultures (in the case of this movie, the Indian experiences) by non-indigenes. Bowden stresses that the .
message of Dances With Wolves was not to persuade people from other cultures to give up their own .