Michael Apteds Thunderheart: Urban Planning

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Thunderheart is a fiction-based movie about the Wounded Knee incident directed by Michael Apted. The Native Americans protested against the discriminatory policy by the federal government. Apted used Val Kilmer to act as an FBI agent (Marubbio 102). His role was to investigate the circumstances that led to the murder of a Native American who was a follower of the American Indian Movement. Other actors in the film are Shepard, Greene Tousey, and Ward (Marubbio 102).

Main body

Various themes are found in the movie, in particular; favoritism, political activism, and public issues. Thunderheart is a movie that gives the base through which urban planning can be structured by the engineers. According to the movie, urban planning should be determined by several factors before the actual planning. These factors include culture, politics, political corruption, social awareness, and education (Marubbio 102).

Judgment on other peoples culture should be consistent with urban planning. In the Thunderheart movie, the American Indian movement members who were Native Americans were judged by the local government based on their culture. The local government decided to strip a piece of land inhabited by the Native Americans to strip Uranium mining (Boyer 145). This was a planned move by the local government to discriminate against them. The federal government judged them based on their own culture and felt they were less superior which was wrong. Other peoples culture should be treated as ones own culture because they are part of one society inhabiting a certain urban area.

Politics and political corruption need to be addressed before urban planning. In the movie, urban planning can lead to political murder. Leo Fast Elk, a Native American politician in South Dakota was killed because of his protest concerning urban planning (Boyer 145). Politics in urban planning is important because it involves social power. In the case of the federal government, it was crucial to have Leo killed so that they would advance discrimination against the Natives. During the investigation, Val Kilmer who was a Native FBI suspected of a scheme involving a small town. This did not go on well with Coutelle who became angry because of Vals suspicion. Later on, Val and his colleague discovered that the local governments move to strip a Uranium mine was the actual cause for the murder of Leo. The mining caused side effects to the residents through water pollution. As a result, conflicts between the anti-government reservation council and the pro-government natives headed by Jack Milton arose. However, Milton and Coutelle used the mine land to get kickbacks. Therefore, political corruption is at the center stage of urban planning.

Lack of understanding of the Native Americans culture was at the center stage of Leos murder. The federal government viewed the American Indian Movement as another culture different from the Americans. The movement was made up of Native Americans and the protest against the federal government was driven by their culture. It is important that urban planning and road construction consider the Native Americans cultural peculiarities because understanding would have helped to plan the small town. If their culture had been considered, the Natives would not have felt discriminated in the town.

Cultural awakening is an important consideration in urban planning to reduce the lack of understanding of other peoples cultures. In the case of Thunderheart, the federal government was not aware of the Natives culture. Undoubtedly, common knowledge of all peoples cultures will reduce acts of discrimination during urban planning. Thus, leaders of every cultural movement or organization should take the responsibility to inform every member of that society about their respective culture. The government needs to learn about the Native American culture before any urban planning or road construction. Knowledge of culture enables engineers to make an urban plan that respects every persons cultural adherence. As a result, urban plan design will not lead to protests by members of the discriminated culture. Cultural awakening should be a campaign for everybody in the urban town. The engineers should be allowed to design the urban plan after they have satisfactorily been awakened about culture (Creese 117).

A social network is significant in the process of urban plan design. Every social network has a kinship that is the leader. In the movie, Thunderheart, the Native Americans had a social network that was led by Leo. The pro-government natives were led by Jack Milton. The anti-government reservations council members went on to protest because their kinship had been murdered. Consequently, the urban plan should identify the social network and the kinship so that information can be transferred properly. The natives felt that they were being discriminated against as their leader had told them. His murder confirmed that he was a hero who risked his life fighting for their rights.

Thunderheart shows how important other peoples culture is to urban planning. The urban plan by the local government at the Wounded Knee did not consider the culture of the Native Americans. As a result, there was political corruption within its branches. The protest against the federal government was caused by the fact that the Natives felt discriminated in the urban plan for the Uranium mine. Although cultures are different, the urban plan should assimilate all cultures during the plan design. When different cultures are assimilated, a new culture is evolved which serves the interests of all members of the plan. Therefore, all cultures should be identified and assimilated by engineers which will result in discrimination being avoided.

Education about urban planning and culture is needed to reduce conflicts among individuals. A proper urban plan should address the side effects of the plan on the people. In the case of Thunderheart, the urban plan failed to address the problems. The Uranium mine led to the pollution of water that was being used by the Natives (Calthorpe 87). Lack of knowledge about the natives life also caused the protest against the federal government. Proper studies should be done to determine the consequences of a plan before it is implemented. Also, educating people about a proposed plan allows the residents to live according to the plan. As one may see, education in Thunderheart is poorly managed.

Conclusion

Modern urban design is a result of several factors. A proper urban plan will help to increase efficiency between the streets in an urban setup. Safety, privacy, and health are improved through proper planning. However, a failure to consider these factors can result in various acts of urban unrest. These can be political killings, corruption, health hazards, and insecurity. Therefore, it is important for all engineering works to consider other factors other than the design to determine an urban plan.

Works Cited

Boyer, Christine. Dreaming the Rational City: The myth of American City Planning, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. Print.

Calthorpe, Peter. The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community And The American Dream, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003. Print.

Creese, Walter. The Search For New Environment: The Garden City Before and After, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. Print.

Marubbio, Elise. Killing the Indian Maiden: Images of Native American Women in Film. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. Print.

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Michael Apteds Thunderheart: Urban Planning

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