Shifting Views on Native Americans in the Film, Dances With Wolves :: Movie Film Essays

Shifting Views on Native Americans in the Film, Dances With Wolves A wounded soldier lay on an operation table. The scene is surely not that unusual. 150 years ago, the medical field dealt with gangrene and infections by amputating any wounded limb. Now John Dunbar finds himself in almost the same situation. On a stroke of luck, as it would turn out, the doctor feels to tired to complete the operation on Dunbar and decides to finish for the day before taking his leg off. In the moments that followed, a frustrated, confused and disillusioned Dunbar pulls his boots back on and stumbles back onto the battle field. Feeling like there is nothing left to live for, Dunbar mounts a horse and charges the stagnant enemy line, bringing the battle to full fledged combat. Though his original intent I feel was not to start the battle, but rather to end his life, he becomes a hero, seeing that he wasn't shot or wounded. His cowardly actions in a twist of fate, ironically landed him as a decorated soldier. Due to his position, Dunbar was given the option to go where ever he wanted. This was a customary option for war hero's of his time. Being the romantic type, as depicted in the film, he requested to be sent out west to become a US marshal. He felt a calling to see the Old West before it was gone. Upon his assigning to his post, it was understood that he was an Indian hunter. So, he was sent to a completely unmanned post in the west. Here is confronting with an interesting sequencing of events that would eternally change his life. The American Indians, in the eyes of virtually everyone moving west, were considered the enemy. I didn't get the impression that Dunbar or his traveling counterpart felt any differently as they the stopped and carefully and with concern, inspected a human skeleton with arrows in it. I also couldn't help but feel some comradery with them. Moments later, a band of Indians notice a cloud of smoke rising in the distance. We see the paint and the scowls on their faces. They look like everything I've ever thought to be Indian. Savage, heartless, rough, mean and having no concept of rational. And sure enough, as the film would lead me to believe, the horrid Indian descends into the plains to find a white traveler cooking a meal.

Crimson Tide film Essay

Crimson Tide film exhibits a theme of leadership case, is based on nuclear ballistic submarine order aimed to hit against Russia. The attack is aimed to silence threat of launching nuclear missiles which Russia is in possession. The combative action is in a problem since the army structure is loose due to dispute between executive officer and the captain over the course of action to be taken by the crew. This results to splitting of the crew in this mission hence formation of two confrontational factions for same combative mission. The warship is in problem as the rival group tries to take control of command. The situation turns desperate and speedy resolution in to this problem is requiring since the time is running up to launching moment. Success in this situation largely depends on the decision made since it has to be resolved in case of winning or face the disastrous consequences due to wrong decision (Kempley 1995). Crimson tide film exhibit the strength as well as weak point of the responsible leader in this film i. e. the captain and Executive officer. Different strategies and advices by the two leaders geared toward course of action to be taken results to potential conflict. In this situation leadership is required to guide the crew who are expected to follow the directives. But the situation changes due to the internal conflict affecting the crew to lose track of the event at hand since leaders hold diverse understanding of the mission as well as the organization. This film shows element of racial undertone in the leadership theme since captain and Executive Office are white and black respectively. On the other hand this film is designed to show sober mediation in the military setting other than an action thriller (Kempley 1995). This film is set on Archbury Airfield tries to reveal how people characters as well as effectiveness is affected by different leadership approaches. Based on American 918th Bomber Group the film show the fighting crew enduring from low morale, poor performance and bad luck as a result of unsuccessful fighting mission. This situation changes after the change of leadership which is dedicated and persistent toward improving crew’s morale through motivation and uplifting of crew towards actualization and pride. In this film different characters exhibits exemplary leadership as well as poor leadership trait (Maslin 2008). There are two characters in this movie designed to send theme battle and leadership based on different philosophies to ease tense military thriller. These leaders are Captain Frank Ramsey in charge of nuclear submarine, the U. S. S. Alabama. He is respected person almost getting to his retirement age and led his crew with an iron hand. As he puts it he requires the crew to pressure democracy even without practicing it. â€Å"Ramsey is assigned a new second-in-command, Lt. Cmmdr. Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington); Hunter is much younger than Ramsey, Harvard educated, and believes the goal of the military in the nuclear age is to prevent war, not fight it† (Maslin 2008 para 2). Ramsey career moving to an end when atomic era is rising while Hunter highly educated and very careful in handling of nuclear weapons. Crew in the ship becomes alert due to sprinter group of Russia decides to seize missile silo. The Alabama is allowed to fire but the situation at hand is distracted from taking of action due to receiving new external order the radio malfunctions. The leadership of Ramsey is geared to following the orders to the letter such that an order is an order and should be obeyed. Therefore the situation at hand required the crew to move forward and attack the enemy according to Ramsey leadership ideology. According to Hunter the situation required more scrutinizing of the situation to ensure there is no doubt in the course of action taken as well as waiting for conformation orders. Meaning he gave an allowance to analyze orders as opposed to Ramsey ideology who says that an order is an order and calls for action without a second of thought. There emerge differences between the two leaders where Hunter go to an extent of threatening Mutiny against his colleague Ramsey in case a missile strike is undertaken against the enemies. The two leaders become hostile toward each other on the direction to be taken. This is evident as shown from the eyebrow but the leaders are obliged to deliberate on the morality of the attacking Russia. The situation hot up and Alabama is given orders to fire its trident to the radicals and try to engage them. On the cause of fight between the rebels, second message is received delaying the order to fire at the enemy but this ends with loss of contact as well as command control. This results to Ramsey refusal to hold his fire waiting for second message confirmation but this time Hunter does not agree. This results to increase tension between the sailors as well as the officers on the board due to difference of there leaders had hyped and could result to a mutiny (Maslin 2008). Reference: Maslin, Janet (2008): Crimson Tide (1995). http://movies. nytimes. com/movie/134690/Crimson-Tide/overview Kempley, Rita (1995): Crimson Tide. Retrieved on 14th October 2008 from: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/crimsontiderkempley_c015cb. htm

Rainforests Have Been Declining Rapidly over the Last Few...

Rainforests have been declining rapidly over the last few decades. There are various factors responsible for this decline, resulting in serious impacts on the environment and the economy. Critically discuss the causes of deforestation and solutions to it. Deforestation is the cutting down of a large area of trees and the destruction of forests by people. Forests are what we call an exhaustible resource, one which can be used up if it is not used carefully. Over the last few decades, deforestation has threatened the rainforests with total extinction. To understand why deforestation is such an important issue, you first have to understand why trees matter. Trees improve in many ways the life of all species, including the human race.†¦show more content†¦In his concept, Adam Smith explains that in a free market no regulation of any type would be needed to ensure that the mutually beneficial exchange of goods and services can take place, since the †invisible hand† would guide market participants to trade in the most mutually beneficial manner. (www.investorwords.com) Many private agents, according to these studies, have no interest in maintaining the forest’s beauty and biodiversity, as services provided by forests are benefits that cannot be priced, so are not profit-making. Another factor precipitating deforestation appears to be poverty. Commonly held views argue that â€Å"high discount rates† received by poor countries are a cause of deforestation (The World Bank Forestry Policy 1991, Pearce and Watford 1993.). Because forests imply long gestation; private agents, particularly from the poorest countries, value what they can get immediately from forests more than what they can get in the future. But in 1999, Ekbom and Bojo challenged those views in a World Bank examination by showing that poverty does not necessarily lead to shorter time horizons and an increased rate of environmental degradation. They show how in fact the rural poor have used resources in a conservationist manner over a long period spanning centuries. Ostrom (1990), one of the various analysts they quoted, established a number of conditions that would lead to long term use of common resources despite their short-timeShow MoreRelatedMonsanto: Better Living Through Genetic Engi neering96204 Words   |  385 Pagesstory’ that follows this summary gives you considerable detail about how to go about a case analysis, but for now here is a brief account. Before we start, a word about attitude – make it a real exercise. You have a set of historical facts; use a rigorous system to work out what strategies should be followed. All the cases are about real companies, and one of the entertaining bits of the analysis process is to compare what you have said they should do with what they really have done. So, it is best