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Smoke Signals Movie Essay

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The first of its kind, the movie Smoke Signals features a mostly Native American cast, and is both written and directed by a descendent of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Native Americans. The movie begins on the Coeur D'Alene Native American reservation (or "the rez" as it is called in the movie) in Idaho, where the importance of the culture of the Coeur D'Alene Native Americans becomes immediately apparent in the first few scenes. In fact, one of the first scenes is completely told in the Native American oral tradition of storytelling, which continues to be utilized throughout the movie to place importance on various aspects of the histories of the main characters and their families. Overall, Smoke Signals challenges the conventional views and stereotypes …show more content…

The reservation contains only a couple hundred people at most from what can be gathered from the movie, but everyone and everything seems to be spread out over miles. Various times it is mentioned over K-REZ radio (the local Native American run radio station) that there is no traffic, and rarely any cars on the roads, suggesting that the reservation is not a very busy place to live. The reservation seems to contain one small store that also acts as a bank, which is used by the entire …show more content…

One such cultural/behavioral norm is the stereotypical bartering system that is brought up a few times throughout the movie. Another cultural norm is men having long hair, which is why Arnold cutting off all of his hair after burning down Thomas’s house is important. This is significant because hair acts as a religious symbol to many Native American members, and is only supposed to be cut when in mourning for someone very close to them, as cutting of the hair symbolizes a loss of something. Another behavioral norm seems to be social drinking. At almost every party/ gathering depicted in the movie, there is a form of alcohol present, and in some cases, the effects of the alcohol is obviously

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