The documentary "The Great Dance: A Hunter's Tale" revolves around the survival techniques used by Bushmen in the central Kalahari. It tells the tale of the Bushmen of the San ethnicity as hunters who face the most intense endurance limits that are imaginable. The plot culminates in "the Chasing Hunt," a term used to denote a previously unseen ritual that helps to represent what exists in the outer world of the Kalahari's original habitat. As a result, the directors help the reader understand the theme of the sacred bond between the hunter and the hunted. It is, however, apparent that the directors focus more on the wealth of knowledge that the bushmen had and that the San people ended up experiencing about the world around them. The relevance of the documentary, however, is the manner in which it enables the viewer to relate the experiences of the hunters to the relevant to the anthological and globalization principles by the outside. The economic, cultural and political influences that are depicted in the film affirm that globalization and related changes in the traditional way of life have devastating effects on the natural way of life.
One of the key themes that the reader can draw from viewing the movie is on the relation of biological anthropology to the experiences that have shaped hunting in the world. The model of biological anthropology is centered on the non-cultural aspects that define human and organism who are in the near human context. The primary issue that interests many biologists today, however, is the fact that human evolution and the changes that have occurred since are relevant. The context of biological anthropology and the nature of human evolution is a represented in the documentary in many scenes with the directors focusing on how nature has changed over the years thanks to the evolutionary factors. For example, the film depicts the Bushman skill and how they are appropriate hunting and lifestyle have since changed due to idea of embracing the new ways of life. While their life processes were inherently free and natural, there has been massive evolution over the years and what the ancestors of the Bushmen experienced is not what is perceived today. It thus underscores the fact that because of the model of biological evolution, adaptation to the environmental stresses has become significant in changing the way the world is perceived.
The other major influence that defines the lifestyle changes for the hunters in the documentary is globalization. It used to refer to the process by which institutions in the economic and cultural perspective adjust to the international influence so that issues are perceived in the greater international scale as opposed to the more local and domestic limitations. Globalization is a blessing in disguise because while it has been linked to many benefits in many aspects of life, the same cannot be described for the life that the Bushmen led. It is the primary aspect of understanding the San cosmology in the movie because it is an inevitable aspects of change that touches on almost every part of the world and the native hunters were not excluded. The bushmen as described by Nqate Xqamxebe in the film had traditions and beliefs that ended up being altered and compromised because of the most advanced lifestyle that was being introduced by the western influence. The initial life that the Bushmen led focused on a free and reliant life that is different from the life of actuality that is evident in the later effects. There are major changes in the manner that the characters dress compared to the way their ancestors would dress as it is presented that they presently have to adjust to the western type of clothes. It is a shift from the traditional and independent lifestyle that they led in the past as the Westers culture has had a major influence on them. It is one of the negative impacts that the directors focus on in the movie to show that while the western culture could be perceived as modern and more advanced way of life, it ended up affecting the hunters adversely.
Furthermore, the movie can also be used to understand the concept of political anthropology as an outcome of lifestyle change. It is inevitable that change has to take place in many aspect of people’s lives but the subject of political change is a major focus for anthologists from the thematic assessment of the film. The foundation of political anthropology is on the contextual specificity of the political processes of life that also involve the mechanism through which localities get embedded in the larger scale of the social, economic, and political dimensions. It is an essential feature in trying to conceptualize the meaning that define people in their political processes. The film “The Great Dance: A Hunter’s Story” embodies this concept when assessing the manner in which political factors have played a crucial role in defining the lifestyle changes on the hunters. Political issues filter in the documentary when the narrative changes relative to the political dislocation from their ancestral land. The narrator states that “Today we are told that we don’t own any land, we don’t own our animals.” The political factors that often interest political anthropologists are thus fundamental in trying to understand the lifestyle change in both the social and economic dimension. For example, because of the shift due to the displacement, the hunters could not engage in any other economic activities on the lands because it had been taken away from them.
The film is also relevant to an anthropologist interested in examining the economic perspective because throughout the documentary, the hunters engage in some form of living. The economic formulation in the setting of the film are focused on the bridge between social and cultural anthology because while the hunters coexist in the cultural and social setting, they behaviors are perceived in the economic perspective. The film depicts the extensive knowledge that the San’s had about their environment and nature as a whole because it formed their everyday lifestyle and consequently their economic potential. Their hunting is the most relevant activity that has been an effect of evolution and that has since enabled them to become more agile and sharp when targeting the prey. For instance, it is apparent that the Bushman’s skills in the hunting process was a consequence of their instincts towards their prey. The environment that is used for hunting is also appropriate because while it changes after some time, t still remains relevant as an economic factor.
In summary, an anthropologist will find the film useful from the way the directors focus it not only in the globalization model but also considering the economic, political and cultural shifts of nature. The overall impression is that because of the changes that are perceived, the hunters end up leading a lifestyle that is different from that which their ancestors led. It thus underscores the fact that many influences of the natural way of life have adverse effects in preserving an independent and natural way of life.
Bibliography
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