smoke signals essay

   Today, there are some well known stereotypes for the Native American culture. Some of the most known stereotypes are diabetes, poor, violent, and alcoholic reputation. To raise awareness on these harsh stereotypes people have created movies about the struggles of living on a Native American reservation. The movie Smoke Signals movie shows the stereotypes of their culture.

   In the movie Smoke Signals the father, Arnold, struggles with something that is very prevalent in the Native American community which is alcoholism. It is a really big issue that Native Americans are alcoholics and can become violent and because of this his son, Victor, never drinks. He doesn't because of how he saw his father turn out and be so violent when he was young. In the movie you see that the Natives on the reservation struggle with poverty and violence/crime which are two things that are affecting every reservation. The characters find power by singing and story telling which is something that is a big part of their culture.

   Alcoholism is a very prevalent issue among the Native American community. To raise awareness and show what it's really like they showed Arnold as an alcoholic. 1 in 10 Native American deaths are alcohol related (source NBC News). In the movie they show Arnold getting drunk and shooting fireworks that catch the house of fire when Victor was a baby which caused all the drama with their family between him and his son.

   The Native American culture is known for its music and tribal dancing. On the journey to collect Victor's fathers ashes, him and his friend begin singing on the bus. Although it is not a traditional Native American song it helps them have some joy in the sad trip they're embarking on.

   In conclusion, the movie shows the issues that the Native American community has by having one of the main characters portray someone that suffers from all the stereotypes but having alcoholism as the most significant issue in his life.

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