Native American Film

Over the past month, I've had the opportunity to watch a grand total of four Native American films. As a person who had originally only claimed Pocahontas for her Native American film experience, I'd say that's pretty good. The four Native American films that I've watched as of now are Naturally Native, Skins, Smoke Signals, and The Business of Fancydancing. Of those, I'd highly recommend Naturally Native and Smoke Signals. Both movies were written and directed by Native American people. As I stated previously, Naturally Native was written and directed by Valerie Red-House. Smoke Signals, on the other hand was written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre. Both movies have a lighter feel to them in comparison to the other two movies that I listed. If you're interested in learning more about the cultural imperialism plaguing Native Americans in a straight forward manner, I would recommend Naturally Native. If you're looking for a roadtrip movie about a man trying to figure out who his dad was, I'd recommend Smoke Signals. If you're looking for a movie about a poet confronting the reservation he abandoned, I'd recommend The Business of Fancydancing. And finally, if you're gung ho for a film that turns a stark light on the perils of reservation while also telling a tale of vengence, I'd recommend Skins.   

Now a few comments on the movies not previously mentioned in this blog, Smoke Signals, Skins and The Business of Fancydancing: 

Both Smoke Signals and The Business of Fancy Dancing explore a storyline concept that has been done several times before in the past. In Smoke Signals, the story is of a man whose father ran out on their family when he was young and is only able to reconcile with his father after his death. In The Business of Fancy Dancing, the story is about a gay poet who returns to the reservation after a friend’s death. However, unlike the typical movie they use their uniquely hidden storyline as an entrance into aesthetic activism and engaged resistance. As Rader asserts in chapter 7 of Engaged Resistance, “participating in these genres is a form of engagement with their assumptions, techniques, and traditions, even though Alexie’s refusal to succumb to their easy formulas, cultural predictability, and middle-class values remains a powerful form of resistance" (149). When I watched The Business of Fancy Dancing, I found that aesthetic activism was definitely transparent throughout the film. From the lesson that Native Americans need to stick up for the people who are trying to help them through aesthetic activism to the lesson that they need to learn to accept their Indian heritage in a healthy way, Alexie’s movie was a strong dose of aesthetic activism. It was especially hard for me to see the part at the end of the movie when Seymour physically and metaphorically turns his back on his culture. Not only does he turn his back on his culture but with that action, it seems that his people will most likely turn their back on him. I think the lesson in this movie is to not be found copying its storyline because it is important that both people on the rez and people out making money off the rez band together. All in all, I found the movie to be even more depressing than Smoke Signals which at least had some humorous parts, but also full of lessons of what not to do. 

 

However, Skins plays with a somewhat less familiar plot.  At first glance, it would appear that Eyre’s Skins is a message about the hopelessness of life on the reservation and the inability for circumstances to change, but a deeper glance reveals that this is not the case. As Eyre states on the biographical section of his website “cultural aspects of a film mean nothing if you’re not personally and emotionally engaged in the characters you are watching”. Therefore, I think his film has a deeper meaning than merely the fact that life on the reservation is gloomy and hopeless. I think the whole point of that film comes from the desecration of Mount Rushmore. Rudy’s character is not only feeling exhilarated in that scene but finally feels a real sense of empowerment. When all of his acts of vigilantism seem to go wrong from  a bigger store being built in place of the one that he burned down, to the scarring of his brother’s face due to the fire he started, and to his inability to prevent his brother’s death. In all of these cases, the vigilantism that should have empowered him only ends up hurting him and showing him just how powerless he really is. However, at the end, it seems as if something has finally clicked with Rudy and so when he creates the red tear running down Washington’s face, he realizes that there still is hope despite his failures and that he does have the ability to fight back the against the metaphorical demons plaguing the reservation. I believe this is the message the Eyre is trying to send; that despite the apparent hopelessness on the reservation, there is a happy ending in store for them and that they should feel empowered. One website that I visited stated that “Chris Eyre’s determination to eliminate “humiliating” stereotypical representation of Native Americans in film and television stems from his childhood movie-going experiences.” If the point of Eyre’s filmmaking is to eliminate humiliating stereotypes, then I believe that the stereotype that he is trying to eliminate is the one in which Native Americans are seen as hopeless to taking action against their problems, and he eliminates this one through the use of Rudy. Rudy tries so hard to make things right in his community but seems to fail at every turn. It is only near the end with the desecration that we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We see that change can happen and it can come through political statements and reasoning. Overall, I thought that this was more of a thinking movie than one that I would actually sit down to watch just for fun.