Dances With Wolves Essay -- Movies Native Americans History Papers

Dances With Wolves No matter how you choose to categorize human beings, whether by race or religion, nationality or gender, the resultant categories will display at least one immutable constant. Each group, no matter how diverse their beliefs or how dissimilar their behaviors, will contain men of honest and peaceful natures as well as men of divisive and violent natures. In the film Dances With Wolves, we are exposed to two distinct categories of people inhabiting post civil war America, the white man and the Native American. We, most likely, begin the movie with defined ideas as to which group contains honest, peaceful men and which group contains violent and savage men. We are, however, exposed to behaviors which are in opposition to the accepted stereotypes associated with these groups. As we move through the film we are taken from the comfortable starting point of our existing stereotypes into new territory, both literally and philosophically. The film accomplishes this by allowing us to journey wi th John Dunbar, a man who is as open minded and free of preconceived notions as the originally empty journal on which his new ideas and understandings are written. Through his experiences we are exposed to the sharp contrast between the violent and crude, as well as the peaceful and thoughtful natures of men. With every exposure we are purposefully moved further and further away from what may have been our preconceived notions regarding these groups of people. Through John's eyes we are first exposed to the world of the white man embroiled in the carnage and butchery of the Civil War. The gruesome hospital scene only emphasizes the fact that life in the "civilized" world can be anything but. A brief contrast is made when the... ...bar, separate ourselves from them. The film Dances with Wolves provides us with an opportunity to journey out of a comfortable world which may be founded on hastily established stereotypes, into a world of truth. It begs us to deal with people from a position of knowledge and understanding, rather than one of ignorance clothed in superiority. It shows us enough of our own shortcomings to make us see that we could also be the victims of generalizations made by others based on the behaviors of the few. It presents us with a poignant example of what can be lost when people become what they claim to be fighting. It is a message that is as applicable today as it was in the time of the American West. Works Cited: Costner, Kevin, dir. Dances with Wolves. Perf. Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, and Rodney A. Grant. 1990. Videocassette. Orion, 1991.

“Kuso Culture Can Positively Uplift the Political Participation of Adolescents.” to What Extent Do You Agree with the Above Statement?

â€Å"Kuso culture can positively uplift the political participation of adolescents. † To what extent do you agree with the above statement? With references to the above sources and your own knowledge, explain your answer. To a large extent, I agree that â€Å"kuso culture† can positively uplift the political participation of adolescents. â€Å"Kuso culture† refers to people reorganizing other people’s cultural products with creativity, creating works that are humorous and sarcastic. Most of the â€Å"kuso culture† is pictures or photos. Adolescents can freely express their views on political events.They are the â€Å"second making† of the original pictures, and some of them are just for fun. But most of them reflect the problems or policies that we are facing. For example, when the Chief Executive of Hong Kong was still in the voting period, Harry Tang was discovered that he is telling lies. He built underground Unauthorized Building Works i n his house. It is illegal. After this news published, many people started their â€Å"kuso culture†. They made pictures to satirize Harry Tang. Making ironic pictures about Harry Tang is also one of the political participations. It can let adolescents care more about policies by â€Å"kuso† pictures.Nowadays, adolescents love surfing the Internet. â€Å"Kuso culture† can be easily found on the Internet. Due to it, it is not hard to let adolescents keep in touch with the political participation. Adolescents like watching humorous pictures or video. â€Å"Kuso culture’s† pictures are humorous and easy to remember. It is also the reason why â€Å"kuso culture† is popular and adolescents would like to gain more interests in the â€Å"kuso pictures†. â€Å"Kuso culture† is like comic books. There are full of pictures with funny charters and actions. But the difference between them is the meaning of the pictures.Comic books may not meaningful but â€Å"kuso pictures† are mostly with meaning. They remind people what happened or released in that period of time. For example, iPhone 5 was released in 2012. Many people think it was just a taller version of iPhone 4S, so they make â€Å"kuso† picture of â€Å"iPhone 10†, which is more like a laser sword. It is one of the examples that â€Å"kuso pictures† tell people what was released nowadays. There are also examples of â€Å"kuso culture† about policies in Hong Kong. For example, there is a picture that has two faces — James Holmes and Barack Obama (See figure 1).It was shown that James killed 12 people, everyone freaks out. But Obama killed thousands with his foreign policy, he won Nobel Peace prize. It shows that people care about policies of their government in every country or city. Figure 1 In conclusion, as â€Å"kuso culture† is one of the political participations in order to telling people the policies of th eir government and it is easy to find on the Internet, adolescents can easily get it and read it. It will directly uplift the political participation of adolescents. Therefore, to a large extent, I agree that â€Å"kuso culture can positively uplift the political participation of adolescents.

El Tajin the Pyramid of the Niches

The archaeological site of El Tajin, located in the present-day Mexican State of Veracruz, is remarkable for many reasons. The site boasts many buildings, temples, palaces and ball courts, but the most impressive of all is the stunning Pyramid of the Niches. This temple was obviously of great symbolic importance to the people of El Tajin: it once contained exactly 365 niches, marking its connection to the solar year. Even after the fall of El Tajin, sometime around 1200 A.D., locals kept the temple clear and it was the first part of the city discovered by Europeans. Dimensions and Appearance of the Pyramid of the Niches The Pyramid of the Niches has a square base, 36 meters (118 feet) on each side. It features six tiers (there was once a seventh, but it was destroyed over the centuries), each of which is three meters (ten feet) high: total height of the Pyramid of the Niches in its present state is eighteen meters (about 60 feet). Each level features evenly-spaced niches: there are 365 of them in total. On one side of the temple is a great stairway which leads to the top: along this stairway are five platform altars (there were once six), each of which has three small niches in it. The structure at the top of the temple, now lost, featured several intricate relief carvings (eleven of which have been found) depicting high-ranking members of the community, such as priests, governors and ball players. Construction of the Pyramid Unlike many other great Mesoamerican temples, which were completed in stages, the Pyramid of the Niches in El Tajin seems to have been built all at once. Archaeologists speculate that the temple was built sometime between 1100 and 1150 CE when El Tajin was at the height of its power. It is made of a locally available sandstone: archaeologist Josà © Garcà ­a Payà ³n believed that the stone for the building was quarried from a site along the Cazones River some thirty-five or forty kilometers from El Tajà ­n and then floated there on barges. Once completed, the temple itself was painted red and the niches were painted black to dramatize the contrast. Symbolism at the Pyramid of the Niches The Pyramid of the Niches is rich in symbolism. The 365 niches clearly represent the solar year. In addition, there were once seven levels. Seven times fifty-two is three hundred and sixty-four. Fifty-two was an important number for Mesoamerican civilizations: the two Maya calendars would align every fifty-two years, and there are fifty-two visible panels on each face of the Temple of Kukulcan in Chichen Itza. On the monumental stairway, there were once six platform-altars (now there are five), each of which featured three small niches: this reaches a total of eighteen special niches, representing the eighteen months of the Mesoamerican solar calendar. Discovery and Excavation of The Pyramid of the Niches Even after the fall of El Tajin, locals respected the beauty of the Pyramid of the Niches and generally kept it clear of jungle overgrowth. Somehow, the local Totonacs managed to keep the site a secret from the Spanish conquistadors and later colonial officials. This lasted until 1785 when a local bureaucrat named Diego Ruiz discovered it while searching for clandestine tobacco fields. It wasnt until 1924 that the Mexican government dedicated some funds to explore and excavate El Tajin. In 1939, Josà © Garcà ­a Payà ³n took over the project and oversaw excavations at El Tajin for almost forty years. Garcà ­a Payà ³n tunneled into the west side of the temple to get a closer look at the interior and construction methods. Between the 1960s and the early 1980s, authorities only maintained the site for tourists, but starting in 1984, the Proyecto Tajin (Tajin Project), has continued with ongoing projects at the site, including the Pyramid of the Niches. In the 1980s and 1990s, under archaeologist Jà ¼rgen Brà ¼ggemann, many new buildings were unearthed and studied. Sources Coe, Andrew.  Archaeological Mexico: A Travelers Guide to Ancient Cities and Sacred Sites. Emeryville, Calif: Avalon Travel, 2001.Ladrà ³n de Guevara, Sara. El Tajà ­n: La Urbe Que Representa Al OrbeL. Mà ©xico, D.F: Fondo de Cultura Econà ³mica, 2010.Solà ­s, Felipe. El Tajà ­n. Mà ©xico: Editorial Mà ©xico Desconocido, 2003.Wilkerson, Jeffrey K. Eighty Centuries of Veracruz. National Geographic Vol. 158, No. 2, Aug. 1980, pp. 203-232.Zaleta, Leonardo. Tajà ­n: Misterio y Belleza. Pozo Rico: Leonardo Zaleta, 1979 (2011).