Film Review: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - Character and Storytelling

To be able to build a believable character you have to think about a number things that will help to make them less 1 dimensional and generic but also help to build the world around them. Sometimes you can't plan out certain parts of the character from the start and only find the answers as you are going along the story or when it has finished.

For this I will be looking at two opposing characters from DreamWorks' 2002 western-drama film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - The lead character Spirit and The Colonel.

Spirit

Personal History
Spirit is a wild horse born in the American west. He is the leader of his herd, a title he inherited from his father.

Personal World View
We get an understanding of Spirit's views about the world when the film starts as he is heard saying about his home "...to my kind the land was ageless. It had no beginning and no end, no boundary between earth and sky. Like the wind and the buffalo grass, we belonged here. We would always belong here..." (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, 2002) This shows that he believes that everything should be free and wild from start to finish. He also believes that there are no set boundaries in the world and that everything can come and go as it pleases with nothing stoping them.

Inherited World
I would say that the Lakota village that Little Creek, a native American who helps him escape after being captured by the Colonel's men, takes Spirit to would have to be the Inherited World. While he is there Rain, Little Creek's horse, shows him around and Spirit start to see that there are some humans that are not as bad as the ones that captured him and that they also believe in being free and having no boundaries saying how they live.

Wants/ Goals
To go back to his herd and family and to also drive out the humans that are making their way across the west, and who are taking control of everything in they path.

Needs
To be free and wild.

Internal vs External Traits
When looking at Spirit's Internal Traits, what he is on the inside, it can be said that he is free and wild along with maybe being a little stubborn with his thinking. This shows up when he is tied to Rain so that he can look round her village, he is seen confused when he sees other horses being happy working along side humans as he can't understand how they like being controlled. It comes up again when Little Creek tries to paint some markings on to Spirit, like the ones that are on the other village horses, only for him to kick the blow back all over Little Creek. This shows that he doesn't want to become part of their world as it is not what he believes in.

But on the outside, his External Traits, he is shown as being brave, determined and daring. The viewer first sees this near the beginning of the film when Spirit has to save two fouls from a large wild cat along with the way that he out smarts the wranglers when they are chasing him. It also shows up again at the end of the film when he dares to jump over the gorge showing how far he is willing to go for his freedom.

Flaws
Spirit's flaw would have to be that he is not have accepting of other's culture or that others can be happy living in a way that seems strange to him.

Overall Story Arc
Spirit has lived being wild all his life but when humans start to move in to the west he is captured. The US army try to break him in but he breaks free with a native American, Little Creek. After meeting Little Creeks horse, Rain, Spirit starts to enjoy a new way of living by having fun and also sees that not all humans want to control the world they live in but after being captured again by the US army Spirit seeing that he has to stop them before they destroy his home land and Little Creeks' people's way of living, as they themselves are just as free as he is.

Conflicts
At one point Spirit can't choose between being where he wants to be and where he needs to be. This is shown when he starts to question about staying with Rain in her village or going back home to his family as this was his main goal to start off with.

The Colonel

Personal History
We don't know much about The Colonel in the film but we can guess that at some point he join the US army on the side of the Union. He made all the way up to the rank of Colonel and clearly respected by his men.

Personal World View
It can be guessed that he believes that he is always on the right side of things. This can be noted when he says that Spirit can be broken in like "any other horse" and that Little Creek is nothing like a pesty native who keeps getting in the way of things.

Inherited World
I can't says for sure what The Colonel's inherited world be but thinking about it I could say that it might be the war that he is fighting. It can also be say that it might in the environment that they are traveling in as it is most likely that many of them came from small towns and cities to fight in the war.

Wants/ Goals
For his side to win in the war and for nothing to stand in his way as his people cross the wild west.

Needs
To be in control of the situation.

Internal vs External Traits
His Internal Traits is clearly that he is determined and also thinks that he is chooseing the right action and that it is justified. As said before he believes that Spirit is just another horse and that there is no thing special about him and that he will be broken in given some time. He even tries him self at one point to show to his men that he is in control.

The Colonel's External Traits is a quit different from all that has been said before. At the end of the film, after Spirit and Little Creek have jumped the canyon to get away from the Colonel and his men, he seems to except that Spirit is one of a kind. He stops one of his men from shotting at them before smilling and nodding his head to them to show that they have bested him and won his respect.

Flaws
The Colonel is stubborn and believes that all other ways of live are below him and his way of life.

Overall Story Arc
The Colonel at the start of the film is seen as a man of as man of power that is always right and in control, but when Spirit and Little Creek show him up he is agained when ever they cross paths again he sets out to kill him so they are out of the way. But by the end of the film he starts to see that they are his equals and that sometimes he can be wrong about somethings.

Conflicts
The Colonel's conflict happens briefly after Spirit throws him when thinks that he has been broken. The other horse that had been watching start laughing and mocking him, to the Colonel he has lost control and been made a foul of.

Bibliography
  • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. (2002) Directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook [DVD] United States: DreamWorks Animation.

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