At the dawn of the 1990s, Dances With Wolves, a cinematic masterpiece penned by Michael Blake and directed by Kevin Costner, emerged and captivated audiences worldwide. This wasn’t just another Western; it was an epic journey that resonated deeply, reminiscent of classic films like Red River and The Searchers in its visual grandeur, yet profoundly unique in its narrative depth. For many, Dances With Wolves transcended the genre, becoming a spiritual odyssey, a poignant exploration of transformation and cultural understanding.
The film struck a chord with its portrayal of a man on a spiritual quest, capturing a pivotal “passing of the way,” where the familiar gives way to the uncharted. What truly moved viewers was the film’s inherent spiritual dynamism, its embrace of the Native American worldview that perceives all life as interconnected – trees, animals, stones, earth, and sky. In this perspective, Earth is a magnificent, living organism, and every being is interwoven into a single life force. This profound sense of unity calls for honor and respect among all, be it human, creature, plant, or element of nature.
Following the powerful impact of Dances With Wolves, curiosity naturally arose about the story’s genesis and the mind behind it, writer Michael Blake. The film’s box office success and Academy Award win for Blake underscored its significance. Revisiting Dances With Wolves remains a rewarding experience, offering layers of meaning and artistic brilliance.
In his own words, Michael Blake shared insights into his creative process: “I come from the school of writing that doesn’t really create characters so much, as much as they try to share their experience with people. That’s what I did with John Dunbar (the Kevin Costner character); I was Lieutenant Dunbar. It was a way for me to have these experiences that I wanted so much to have. I had discovered so much spiritually in the lives that were being led at that time by the Indian people that I really wished I could have participated. So the only way I could participate was in a fictional way.”
Blake’s journey into crafting Dances With Wolves was rooted in meticulous research. “When I first started thinking about Dances with Wolves, I went to the library and read mainly first-person accounts because I wanted to get the feel of that time and place,” he explained. This deep dive into historical narratives became the bedrock of his storytelling. “You have to go to the library to look that stuff up. So I started going to the library every day, spending hours going through the stacks, looking for something that looked like it was interesting, maybe something that was written by someone who experienced something at that particular time in the history of the frontier. I’m always fascinated by first-person accounts.”
Among the trove of historical materials, one book stood out as particularly influential: Mary Sandoz’s biography of Crazy Horse. “One of the books I found became a very important book for me, the biography of Crazy Horse, written by a white woman, Mary Sandoz. She’s dead now, but she wrote a lot of books about Indians, and this book about Crazy Horse was probably the most inspiring thing for me during the years it took to write the book.” Blake was deeply inspired by Crazy Horse, an Oglala Sioux leader, viewing him as a figure of immense spiritual stature. “Crazy Horse was an Oglala Sioux and probably one of the greatest people who ever lived in this world. He was a lot like the great religious leaders, like Jesus, or Muhammad, or the Buddha. A great, great Being.”
Blake vividly described the spiritual practices that informed his understanding of Native American culture. “When a Sioux Indian would take the pipe, for example, he would hold up the stem and offer it to the sky so the sun could take the first puff. Then he’d address the four directions; north, east, south, west, always. In that frame of mind, when you’re addressing yourself to the horizon, to the world that you’re in, then you’re in your place in the world. It’s a much different way to live that way.” This connection to the cosmos and the natural world became a central theme in Dances With Wolves.
A seemingly minor historical detail sparked the initial concept for Dances With Wolves. “About halfway through this reading period I read a book called Plains Indian Raiders, about the Kiowas and Comanches and their wars with white people. And during the course of reading that book I happened to read an anecdote that talked about a wagon driver who had driven out on the frontier to supply an outpost in western Kansas. But when he arrived, he saw that no one was there; the only sign of life was a piece of canvas flapping in the breeze.”
This solitary image resonated deeply with Blake. “That image somehow moved me, and I started thinking about it, filling it in with other images. I thought to myself, well, what if I was on that wagon, and that was going to be my new post, what would happen then? That was about as far as I got, but that was the seed that was planted, the origin of the idea for Dances With Wolves.” From this seed of an abandoned outpost, the epic narrative of Dances With Wolves began to grow.
As a novelist transitioning to screenwriting, Blake approached his craft with distinct methodologies. “As a novelist, I like to work in broad strokes, and pay close attention to dialogue and character development. But I have certain way of writing as a novelist that I don’t have as a screenwriter. When I’m writing a script, I prefer to write in a linear way from the main character’s point of view. I do some cross-cutting from time to time, but basically I just try to tell the story.” His focus on linear narrative and character perspective became key to adapting his novel for the screen.
Blake aimed for clarity and readability in his screenplays, viewing them as works in their own right. “I try to make my screenplays readable. I never approach them as a blueprint for a movie, I approach them as a piece of work in itself. One complete chapter in the book may only be a couple of sentences in the screenplay.” This distillation of prose into cinematic language is evident in the film’s impactful scenes.
The scale of Dances With Wolves expanded significantly in its cinematic form. “Writing a movie is a much more linear process, and Dances With Wolves is less an epic book than it is an epic movie. As a film it’s this big giant thing that plays all over the world, whereas the book is like a little gem. Kevin and I both felt that they only way we could present the book in movie form was as an epic, something larger than life.” The collaboration between Blake and Kevin Costner envisioned and delivered an epic cinematic experience.
Blake emphasized the disciplined nature of screenwriting. “Screenwriting is a craft; it’s something that has to be learned just the way a person learns how to be a lead guitarist. You learn the instrument and you play gigs and you get a lot of rejection and you have a lot of self-doubt and you think about giving up all the time. You go through all this stuff and you try to have a life at the same time. It’s a discipline, something to be learned, it’s not something you can just jump into and expect immediate rewards and gratification.” He demystifies the process, highlighting the dedication and perseverance required.
Reflecting on the cultural setting, Blake noted a shift during the writing process. “I had first written the novel to be about the Comanches, but because of the locale, and other logistical problems, I changed it to be about the Sioux. But no matter what the differences between the Sioux and the Comanche, the spirituality of it is pretty much the same. And that’s what I was writing about – the spiritual aspects of the way these people lived.” Ultimately, Dances With Wolves, starring Kevin Costner, became a powerful cinematic exploration of Native American spirituality, adaptation, and the enduring quest for understanding across cultures.
