History through Film and Literature Final Paper The American expansion west was a great time in history for the United States gaining new land and expanding the country, but it was also a very depressing, and terrible time for the Native Americans. Their land was just being taken from them. Many lost their culture and many lost their lives. Two movies that show this western expansion are Dances with Wolves, and Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee. These movies have differences in terms of plot, and setting, the characters and their ways of life, and the way the directors made the films and their styles. These movies do however give the same message and tell stories of the how Americans took land away from Native Americans, and how Natives resisted this. …show more content…
Dances with Wolves took place in the 1860’s during the time of the Civil War, but Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee took place around the 1890’s about thirty years later. This is a pretty big difference because western expansion really did move pretty quickly. In Dances with Wolves, the Lakota Indians still were not convinced in the beginning of the movie that Americans were going to stay in their land for good, and push them further west. Then, John Dunbar was captured by a whole crew of Americans and the Lakota moved further west. Dances with Wolves was an early stage of pushing back Natives, while Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was one of the last steps to destroying the culture of Native Americans. In Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, the Sioux were some the last Natives to submit to American Authority, and give up their ways. So the movies were different in when they took place on the timeline of western