Michael Blake's unique portrayal of the Sioux Indians and their socio-cultural conflict with nineteenth century white Americans, Kevin Costner's brilliant direction and acting, John Barry's sweeping musical score, made "Dances with Wolves" an unforgettable movie. The story reminded me of an inter-planetary conflict between Dracs and twenty-fifth century humans in Wolfgang Petersen's "Enemy Mine". The central characters in both stories are soldiers from empires that have intentions of settling into unconquered territories. Both befriend a foreign race, which leads them to question the values of their native cultures, and eventually into violent confrontations against their own people.
There are many similarities found in these two stories. In both films, 1) the narration is performed by central characters, since neither the Drac or the Sioux speak English; in both cases, the protagonists eventually speak the language of the alien culture. 2) Lieutenant John J. Dunbar awaits to no avail, the arrival of relief troops; Captain Davidge also waits in vain for the arrival of a human rescue team. 3) Deeper bonds develop between the two members of these opposite cultures when helpless figures are rescued and helped by the protagonists: Stands with a Fist is rescued by Lieutenant Dunbar; Drac and it's child is protected by Captain Davidge. 4) The first glimpse of hope for both protagonists, happens to mark their realization of cruelty and waste in their native cultures: Captain Davidge finds dead Dracs and a PEPSI can; Lieutenant Dunbar finds wasted buffalos and a wagon trail. 5) Aliens in both films are treated as real living beings capable of experiencing life and spirituality: Sioux people rationally discuss Dunbar's presence and the ethics of killing another person; the Drac are shown to have cultural and religious values. 6) Aliens in both stories have humorous lines as they mispronounce names: in "Enemy Mine", the Drac confuses Mickey Mooze for Mickey Mouse; in "Dances with Wolves", the Sioux chief calls John Dunbar a Dumb Bear. 7) Both protagonists confront near death experiences as they are brought back to their native cultures: Captain Davidge is taken for dead, and does not receive immediate medical attention; Lieutenant Dunbar is treated as an Indian criminal when he arrives at his post. 8) Both receive similar dehumanizing treatment: Captain Davidge is barely resuscitated by a machine; Dunbar is questioned and tortured by officers. 9) In both stories, protagonists eventually escape from confinement denying their native identities to rescue their alien friends. 10) The main character in Barry Longyear's original version of "Enemy Mine", was a Lieutenant instead of a Captain.
Christine (Stands with a Fist) is shown rescued as a child by friendly Indians; Zammis is kidnapped by hostile humans. Meteors are a major threat to both the Drac and Captain Davidge in the hostile planet; the only meteor in "Dances with Wolves" zips across the plains and becomes a pretty picture in Lieutenant Dunbar's diary. Captain Davidge raises the Drac's child and participates in his new adoptive thriving culture; Stands with a Fist and Lieutenant Dunbar become outcasts by necessity, and the Sioux face eventual devastation and defeat. The main difference between the two stories may be the fact that "Dances with Wolves" utilizes human characters set in a historical period we are quite familiar with; "Enemy Mine" uses inter-galactic beings, set in some hypothetical future.
"Dances with Wolves" exploits and stretches the possibilities and conventions of the Western genre. These stories are usually set west of the Mississippi River, at the edge of the frontier, in a time span between 1865 and 1900. The western hero is a rugged individualist, mysterious loner free from community pressures; his personal code emphasizes human dignity, courage, justice, fair play, equality, and respect for women; he is quick and accurate with pistol or rifle, adept at horsemanship and quietly confident of his own abilities. Heroines in westerns may be ranchers' daughters. Villains are typically those who attack stagecoaches, wagon trains, forts, or ranches; villains could also be crooked authority figures working under the guise of respectability, who manipulate savages and outlaws to bring about their goals. Sidekicks are usually a comic characters who provide a comic relief for the serious, rugged hero [Boggs, p328-331]. The plot consistently portrays John Dunbar as a hero, who strives for justice, fair play, equality and respect for the Indians through his own rugged determination and skillfulness with his guns and horse. This is aided by extensive use of the French Horn in John Barry's soundtrack, which in orchestral convention describes and portrays all things epic and heroic. Stands with a Fist (Christine), is the rancher's daughter who was kidnapped by the Pawnee. No coincidence here, she is portrayed as a heroine and romantic counterpart. The Pawnee Indians here are the typical Indian-enemy used in other westerns. Pawnees murder people like cattle, and will take bribes from corrupt Union army generals to eliminate the Sioux. The generals that Dunbar confronts are either demoralized by the war (the leader of the Union battalion), incompetent (the general in charge of the Tennessee outpost), or manipulative (the general who bribed the Pawnees). Finally, true to the western convention, we have the sidekick personified by the wagon driver who provides hilarious lines and comic relief for our serious hero.
In most western movies, we can expect a main street shoot out between the hero and villain; the love interest developing between the hero and heroine never reaches fruition. However, in "Dances with Wolves", our hero is not merely a hero: Dunbar sets himself out to explore the last western frontier, very much the way an anthropologist would. The forces of "good and evil" are not conveniently cut and defined; this allows the protagonist to betray his native culture, who realizes the invalidity of his preconceived notions regarding the Sioux Indians. As a result, our hero becomes a very dynamic character. Although the Pawnee Indians are identified as a blood seeking race, the real villains are the bigoted corrupt Union army generals. The plot seems to be interested in portraying bigotry as the main enemy; the Pawnee Indians are thus enemies to a lesser degree because they are indiscriminate killers. "Dances with Wolves" ultimately violates the western formula through its portrayal of Sioux Indians as peace-loving, multi-dimensional people, unlike the simple indian villains of John Wayne western movies.
"Enemy Mine" also shows that one's enemies -in this case, Dracs- are not necessarily the criminals they were originally thought or made out to be. In both stories, original stereotypes are replaced with more realistic views. "Enemy Mine" comes across as an anti-war science fiction film. "Dances with Wolves" is intent on healing the wounds of racial inequality found in nineteenth century American colonialism, and the twentieth century Indian stereotypes created by western movies. Although both stories are essentially social commentaries, they differ in genre; this places unique technical demands, especially in the special effects department. Science-fiction movies depend heavily on "incredible" special effects such as space travel, to make the story credible. On the other hand, western movies rely on "credible" special effects such as historical sets and locales [Boggs, p159-160]. Therefore, with the exception of computerized mechanical buffaloes, "Dances with wolves" probably will not be remembered for its special effects. It is unfortunate that eye-dazzling special effects often upstage social issues in good science fiction movies. Good science fiction movies that use less than spectacular special effects are often less successful at the box-office, despite its social message. Although "Enemy Mine" was nominated for a Hugo (best science fiction movies award among members of the World Science Fiction Convention), it did not enjoy much box-office success, probably due to its second-rate special effects [2].
It is quite questionable that a hero of Dunbar's caliber would "simply" misplace something as personal as his diary. Prior to this, the film could very well have ended with Dunbar and Stands with a Fist living happily ever after; that was however, an intentional false ending. I think this was done to test Dunbar's loyalty to his new found identity, and to create conflict with his native culture. Here, "Dances with Wolves" shares its most evident similarity with "Enemy Mine": our heroes must confront their native cultures. I'm not sure the voice inflexions between the Sioux and English were as similar as they turned out to be, when expressing emotions of surprise, anger, and frustration. However, the film seems to be justified in using those voice inflexions: we knew for example, that Stands with a Fist was snapping back at her adoptive father through her voice inflexion, even when the translated subtitles were not displayed. In either case, down playing "Dances with Wolves" on these grounds quite totally ignores its achievements, and particularly the theme and social message of the story.
Since the story is set in some hypothetical future, it does not have to answer for plot impausibilities imposed by limitations of current technology; obviously, those who are unwilling to suspend disbelief would see many more questionable elements in "Enemy Mine". It's almost unbelievable to expect a machine in present day time to be capable of resuscitating an individual on the brink of death. However, by having the machine treat Captain Davidge as a "working unit", the story criticizes the inhumanness of institutionalized medicine. This also parallels "Dances with Wolves" when Dunbar is treated as the "last one" to be amputated.
In both stories, former enemies find lasting peace and friendship, through self-sacrifice and understanding. Both stories are about heroes who conquer their native sense of hatred against another race or species. "Dances with Wolves" could be viewed as a down-to-earth dramatization of a conquest first depicted in "Enemy Mine". No enemy mines were ever found in "Dances with Wolves". The similarities between the plots of these two stories didn't result in similar box-office success. I think "Dances with Wolves" is a fully developed variation on a theme from "Enemy Mine". "Dances with Wolves" is one of the first films to recognize abuses of nineteenth century American colonialism. I think it's about time we recognized that good social commentary can often be found in science fiction movies and Enemy Mines.
[1] BOGGS, Joseph M. "The Art of Watching Films" 2nd. Ed. Mayfield Pub. Co. PaloAlto, CA, 1985.
[2] GRIGGS James, Ed. "The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" Viking Inc. 1988.
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