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Native Americans In The Film 'Smoke Signals'

164 Words1 Pages
Originally, I was drawn to Smoke Signals because of the modern portrayal of Native Americans by genuine Native American actors. Native Americans have little to no representation in modern media; if they are portrayed, they are depicted as casino-loving drunks. This movie begins with a fourth of July “party” on an Indian Reservation in Idaho which drips with irony that is not lost on the party goers. To make it worse, a house full of sleeping Native Americans is burned to the ground causing one of the main characters, Thomas, to be parentless. I think that Thomas goes through many internal struggles with regard to losing his parents and he copes with this by being overly involved in his friend, Victor’s, relationship with his parents. A reoccurring
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The movie Smoke Signals is a great representation of Durkheim’s theory of religion and the sacred as being social and serving society. As well as a culture’s sacred beliefs and rituals being a symbolic way of a person aligning themselves with their society. Smoke Signals focuses on two individuals, both of whom are Indians of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, on a journey where they struggle to hold on to the beliefs and traditions that have enabled them to cope with their difficult pasts. The first part of this essay will provide evidence from the movie to explain how the first individual, Victor Joseph, holds to the belief that an Indian must act like a warrior to receive any respect. Second, this essay will then provide evidence to explain

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Smoke Signals is one of the most touching films of the 1990’s, based on Sherman Alexie’s short story, This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona. Although it is not a standard Western film, but one can learn much about American Indians’ life as it is a film created and acted by them. The indigenous characters of the film are not represented as the typical Western film’s American Indians, but the story represents indigenous life in a natural way, and gives a contemporary image to the viewer of them as the new generation American Indians, who grew up in Native American boarding schools, speak the English language well, and white people started to convert them into the Christian religion. The well-known stereotypes about their roots and lifestyle appear in a hidden, humorous way with the help of symbols that usually refers to their past; and do not appear in an easy, clear way, as it is hard to understand without any background information about Native Americans. In this paper I would like to search for the symbols of the film, analyse them, and try to understand the historical or even political background of these motifs, which pervades American Indian’s life, and can help us understand their spirituality that is deeply rooted in their culture.

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