In the film
Smoke Signals, two Native Americans go on a journey together, and along the way we learn about the many burdens as well as the benefits that come with living as an Indian man. Victor and Thomas both have grown up on an Indian reservation, and have come to understand Indian life completely. While Victor represents a common stereotype of a stoic Indian facing violence and hardships, Thomas represents a kind Indian who is very involved in Indian tradition. Indians seem to have had it rough in our country's history, and that history effects how they are today and also how they are looked upon by society. Although there are many struggles due to the history and stereotypes, there are also some very meaningful and powerful aspects of Native American life that are represented in this movie.
In both Victor and Thomas' early lives they experience and struggle with circumstances and ideas having to do specifically with Native American history and stereotypes. For example, Indians are thought of as fierce warriors that are prone to violence. This need for violence has come from the Indians feeling a need to fight for their lives due to the American's many attacks on them. In Victor's early life he experiences and is majorly affected by violence coming from his father. His parents also represent another common issue among Indians, alcoholism. In a few scenes there are flashbacks to when Victor is a child and he is watching his parents as they get more and more drunk and make fools of themselves. He represents his hatred for their drunkenness by throwing bottles of alcohol and breaking them the next morning. In Indian culture parents have a great impact on their children so this is very affective to his life. He is also aware that he has a family history of alcoholism, therefore he does not drink ever. All of these terrible occurrences are happening on an Indian reservations, where history has shown that there is extreme poverty there. We are shown examples of the Indian's suffering from extreme poverty when the truck will barely start, Victor doesn't have enough money to go to Arizona, and that the women's car can only drive in reverse. Poverty, alcoholism, and violence are all things that have become a part of a Native American lifestyle due to their history of being attacked multiple times and forced to live on reservations. Many ideas that branch off of these aspects and other history have created stereotypes of Indians. Common stereotypes of Indians include that all they do is tell war stories, they are very poor, and since they are a different race than whites they are not like us. On Thomas and Victor's journey they experience hostility due to people believing in these stereotypes. When they are traveling on the bus, they get many weird stares from the people sitting down because they look different, and then later on they are disrespected by two men on the bus. Two men take their seats and Victor asks them to move and one of the men replies, "Find somewhere else to have a powwow." This is mocking their culture and shows that whites feel superior to them due to their many victories in historic battles against them,so they can say mean things. Living as a Native American comes with many challenges due to peoples' assumptions based off of history and stereotypes.
In contrast to all of the terrible aspects of Indian life, there are some things that bring power and meaning to living as a Native American. In Native Americans' lives, culture, tradition, and family are the most important thing to them. In the movie we hear stories from both Thomas and a woman they meet along the way named Suzie. Telling stories is a very popular tradition among Native Americans and is very sacred to their culture. In the movie we are shown that often times Indian stories are embellished in order to create community, express magical ideas, and provide entertainment. Stories like this are very meaningful to those who tell them and hear them in the community. They provide a very strong sense of power to the Indian's and help them create meaning to their traditions as well as highlight the importance of all of the great things Indian's have accomplished in the past. Another very important detail about Indian life that is shown through the movie is how often the Indians join together as a group, both Suzie and Thomas tell stories from these type of events. Indians often have powwows or feasts in order to bring their community together. This sense of a strong community brings so much power and joy to the Indian tribes. It is very obvious that family and community are very important virtues to Indian culture. We see the importance of family and the influence that family has on each other through the interaction of Thomas and his grandmother at the end. They act alike, look alike, and could not be happier to see each other. This represents the Indian's closeness in community, and so does the fact that Thomas offered Victor money in order to help him on his journey. The importance of family adds a lot of meaning to their lives and helps them get through their hardships. From telling stories to helping friends and family, we see that there is much power and meaning in Native American history and culture.
This movie does a great job of showing both the positive and negative side of life as an Indian. It shows both the relationships between whites and Native Americans as well as Native American's relationships with each other due to conflicts in the past. Thomas and Victor come face to face with many problems in their lives and also on their journey due to these historic conflicts, but in the end they are successful with their goal and find forgiveness and acceptance. This shows that although Indian's have had it rough in the past and are still discouraged for it, they have found power and meaning in their lives.
These are two images of railroad accidents in the West in the 1870s.
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