Smoke Signals: A Native Reality?

Today in class we watched the majority of the film Smoke Signals. One of the points of discussion about this film is how representative it is of the average Native American experience. Obviously the experience of Natives in every nation is different, but, for the sake of argument, I am going to generalize a bit.

Before I even began to consider the content of the film, I did a little research on the good ol' IMDB. What I found was encouraging: Smoke Signals is directed by, written by (screenplay and book), and stars Native people (on a side note, the woman who played Suzy voiced Pocahontas in the Disney film. I'm not commenting on her credibility, I just thought it was interesting. A gig is a gig is a gig, I guess...). This fact certainly boosts the degree of the film's sovereignty for Native peoples. It is a story written by Native people, filled with many jokes meant for Native people, filmed at a place where Native people really live, with all creative decisions about the film made by Native people.

As far as the content of the film, it seemed to be very much based in reality. By this I mean that it is not a film in which the Native experience was romanticized. It showed modern Natives on a modern, poverty-stricken reservation. There was no Native crying at litter on the side of the road, nor were there peyote rituals or rain dances or potlatches. The Natives in the film litter. They drink, though some do not. Some live in poverty, and some have money. They have senses of humor. Most importantly, they are all different people. The dichotomy that exists between Thomas and Victor exemplifies this. Thomas has money, lives with his grandmother, and never seems to have suffered any abuse. Victor lives with his mother and, when his father was around, he was an alcoholic and abused both Victor and his mother. These are experiences as different as between any two people of any ethnicity.

One thing that really struck me was Victor's insistence upon looking like a "real" Native. This could be seen as something negative, but from reading Tom King's college years in which he wore the bone choker and the leather satchel and feathers, it doesn't seem to be such an unusual trend. Perhaps there are a handful of young Native people that go through this phase of wanting to conform to the stereotypes of "Indians."

On the whole, I was quite impressed with the degree of authenticity (at least, based upon what I know) in Smoke Signals. I feel like I have a better understanding of the experiences of some Native Americans and look forward to finishing the film.