Analysis Of The Film Smoke Signals

From the flashbacks the readers can conclude that Victor and his father didn’t have that close of a relationship. Victor’s character seemed unemotional. Also during his flashbacks, he seemed happy most of the time until Thomas and Victor got into a fight. From then on, Victor seemed to lose his way and connection with the Indian people. Thomas seemed to feel like Victor’s father was his father.

In the film “Smoke Signals” written by Sherman Alexie, anger and forgiveness play a major part in the lives of the Native Americans who live in the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation. Forgiving oneself or forgiving others proves to be a hard battle to conquer. As you view throughout the movie the changes that take place in each character, think about yourself and what feats you have overcome with anger and forgiveness.

Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories do not wants to hear. Thomas bring a very interesting flavor to the story. He tells many stories to the people, but most people ignore him, because most of his stories are made up. He sees Victor as a brother. Each time something happen between Thomas and Victor like a fight or an argument, Thomas would go back to him and talk to

Victor thought that Thomas might be able to help him because “Victor felt a sudden need for tradition” (78). This quote means that after Victor’s fathers died he wanted to feel like he belongs to the tribal community and traditions. Thomas offers to lend Victor the money on the condition that he accompany Victor to Phoenix, Arizona.

     In the movie there is Victor, the main character, which tries to be the typical Indian, or maybe just a typical man. He shows just hate towards his father, who left Victor and his mother alone and fled to Phoenix. The picture Victor has about his

Smoke Signals, released in 1998, is a classic film that provides insight to the lives of Native Americans living on reservations. There are very few films that attempt to portray Native Americans at all, yet alone in a respectful manner. The characters are all played by genuine Native American actors including: Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer, and Tantoo Cardinal. Additionally, it is directed by Chris Eyre, another Native American. This film tries to overcome stereotypes of Native Americans that are prevalent in society, and does so in a humorous way. Smoke Signals takes the viewer along on a journey with the two main characters, Victor and Thomas. They leave their reservation in Idaho to travel to Arizona in order to collect Victor’s father’s ashes. This film is a classic because of it’s timeless theme: forgiveness. Smoke Signals portrays the theme of forgiveness by featuring Victor, a character struggling to forgive his late father for being an alcoholic and leaving him as a child; Victor takes Thomas along on a trek to Arizona to retrieve Victor’s father’s ashes.

Stereotypes are shown in the story through the binary depictions of Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire. The most important binary that is emphasized by Alexie is the stereotypes that Victor is “bad,”while Thomas is good. Victor is portrayed as the negative views of Indians. “Victor was really drunk and beat up Thomas up for no reason at all” (Alexie). In this situation, Victor is shown as the typical drunk Native American. Other stereotypes that are presented by Victor are that Indians are lazy when he fails to be persistent to try to get more money to get to Phoenix. When Victor beats up Thomas as a teenager, this depicts Victor as the bloody savage. Thomas Builds-the-fire, on the other hand, is portrayed as the more positive view of Native Americans. The romantic portrayals of Native Americans include the idea that they are noble savages. Indians are characterized as gentle and connected to the world. For example, instead of being captured as a bloody savage as Victor, Thomas is seen as the noble savage as he appears to be more connected with the environment and nature. Being connected with the nature and the world shows that Thomas-Builds-the-Fire is is not a selfish person. Also, instead of being viewed as lazy, Thomas Builds-the-Fire appears as diligent. This is because Thomas continued to

Native Americans are mostly judged by their addictions and the battles they fought. They are not normally judged by the hardships they had to face. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian and Smoke Signals show that these struggles are real. In his book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, and his movie, Smoke Signals, Sherman Alexie wrote about the challenges of being a Native American. Diary and Smoke Signals are similar because they both showed many family problems throughout the story lines. Also, they are similar in that the families faced difficulty with alcohol addiction. They differ because in Diary, the main character, Junior, adapts to his new school that has all white students while in Smoke Signals, Victor tries not to interact with anyone outside his race.

As Victors brother was killed by the creature he created, the remourse victor and his father have towards his death show weakness. Men in society are conditioned to be brought up as brave and protective. While Victors father is letting the death of

Throughout the story, Thomas was always an optimist. His stories always had a positive ending. He seems to remind us that no matter what happens in life, everything will have a good turn out. The stories are everything that Thomas has. He relies on them to provide him his identity. Once everyone had turned their backs on him, his stories were the only thing that kept him going. They make him happy and they keep him alive. Thomas is as lonely on the reservation as the jackrabbit was on the desert in Nevada. According to Thomas, the jackrabbit was so lonely that he chose to give his life away under the wheels of their car. Thomas “build-the-fire” was a storyteller, and as long as he could tell his stories, he would live and the purpose of his life would be fulfilled. The stories always ending well represent Thomas’s unshakable belief in a better future, and him never giving up. Thomas’s kindness was never really reciprocated. Instead, the other Indian boys teased him. When he jumped off the roof and broke his arm as a child, his playmates started laughing at him and sang to him that he had broken his wings.(Sherman, 292) As the author would point out, “they hated Thomas for his courage.”(Sherman, 292) Once, Victor even beat him up for

In the film Smoke Signals, Sherman Alexie displays the importance of past using action, flashbacks and storytelling. There was a fire when Victor and Thomas were only babies; both of Thomas’s parents died, but Arnold saved baby Thomas. Although Thomas doesn’t remember it, it affected his whole life dramatically. This flashback sets the stage for the idea that the past is why everything is how it is in the present. The scene where the girls are driving backwards down the road is a solid example of a metaphor for how looking at the past can help you progress into the future. After hearing a story that was a trade for a ride, Velma says “I think it’s a fine example of the oral tradition”. The metaphor we used for the backwards driving and

Coming from a traditional Native American tribe located in who knows where Victor was simple kid and having one close friend. And that only friend he ever showed great interest in as a child was Thomas-Builds-the-Fire.But time can change a person and Victor no longer gave Thomas that interest as they grew up.In till Victor's father died and he had no option but to come to an agreement with himself to rejoin Thomas-Builds-the Fire in a trip to Phoenix,Arizona to collect his father’s remains,belongings but also to collect a lesson to himself. Victor contemplates his true ties to himself and even to Thomas-Builds-the-Fire throughout his journey with Thomas.But only to become regretful in the end and try to be a fair person with Thomas-Builds-the-Fire.

The movie Smoke Signals is based on the series of short stories written by Sherman Alexie. Just like any movie, there is a meaning to it. Before this movie, when I thought of the phrase "Native American" I thought of things like feathers and societies that were impeccable. But after watching the movie, Smoke Signals, it portrays what being a Native American really means. It is not all fun and games. The protagonist, Victor Joseph, has many hard aspects of his life, but throughout it all he grows mentally. His personality in the beginning of the movie is mean and despicable, he is filled with wrath, but as the movie goes on his personality grows gradually. By the ending of the movie, he was a nicer and kinder.

Every song has a story to tell, and some contain hidden stories or lessons, while others are completely blatant. In Billy Joel’s song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” he does not hesitate to be very obvious with what he tries to prove, which is how all of the events in his song contribute to one large fire. I chose to remediate Joel’s song because it spoke to me with historical context. When researching the song, I read a majority of the history behind it and decided to reflect upon it in a visual picture collage, combining a majority of the elements he mentions with pictures--all circled around a fire in the middle. I decided to also make red-dyed cupcakes reflecting the fire Joel speaks of and ice them with a flame, yet placing an X over it,

Another example of the ancient Native American spirit on the reservation was given early in the movie, just as Victor and Thomas are beginning their journey to Phoenix. We see the duo walking side by side down a dirt road, and soon a beat up "reservation car" pulls up beside them carrying two women. The reservation car is old and worn down, dust caking