A Man Called Horse By Dorothy M. Johnson: Film Analysis

An aristocratic English rich man was taken captive by the Native Americans and dragged to their camp naked. He was treated like an animal, fought dogs over a chunk of meat and pretended to be a horse to amuse the tribe. However, he eventually got married to the chief’s 14-year-old sister and became the new chief of the tribe. It is a very interesting story, right? Well, that is until Hollywood interpreted Dorothy M. Johnson’s short story A Man Called Horse and changed it to fit their standards. However, even though the film follows the author’s storyline, the adaptation has changed the entire meaning of the story. They tweaked the story’s theme, changed the characters’ conventions and added a savior. As a matter of fact, the story has changed from the anti-heroic theory that was adopted by Johnson in most of her stories to a typically classic heroic story wrapped with nudity and violence. Also, the movie overshadowed the main purpose of the story, failed to administrate

A Man Called Horse is no exception. It is simple and not wordy, but still it is a meaningful fictional tale that is authentically and culturally accurate. Conversely, Modern-day critics overrated the movie, claiming that it was a very good movie because of the old techniques that Hollywood had in the 70s” (). Those critics clearly, have not seen The Godfather yet. In fact, most 70s movies considered masterpieces today, did not rely on tools or technology, but rather on a very well-written narrative created by crafty writers and performed by talented actors. Nevertheless, the filmmakers of A Man Called Horse had the same opportunity to adapt a strong narrative to create a remarkable movie. Instead, they disregarded the cultural significance and opted to construct a commercially successful