Austin Ford
Dr. Debbie Wallsmith
Anthropology 1102
November 28th, 2016
Smoke Signals Ethnography The movie Smoke Signals is a movie about the Coeur d’Alene Indians who live in on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho. The movie follows two young Indians as journey from Idaho to Arizona to take the remains of one of the boy’s fathers.
The story starts with a narration of the events that occurred on the 4th of July, 1976. Some of the Coeur d’Alene Indians were celebrating the United States independence. After the party, had died down and people were going to sleep, a fire broke out in Thomas Builds-The-Fire’s house. Thomas and his family were inside of his home when the fire broke out. Arnold Joseph, another Coeur d’Alene Indian, caught …show more content…
Some evidence of affluenza existed. Some families had a car or multiple cars. In one scene, it is announced that a local resident had won the lottery. Through about half the movie, there is evidence to suggest that Thomas comes from a wealthier family than Victor. Thomas is seen having different clothes or very nice clothes such as suit parts. Victor rarely changes clothes and can be seen to have the same clothes as he did as a child. Victors kitchen is small compared to Thomas’s. Thomas’s house is furnished with newer appliances and furniture while Victors house has more worn items. The last piece of evidence that some affluenza exists is Thomas has what seems to be a large sum of money saved up. The saved-up money is enough for the two boys to get two tickets to Arizona and for multiple purchases of diner food. Victor tells Thomas to “Listen Thomas, I can’t take your money. So why don’t you go buy a car or something.” This is evidence that Thomas contained enough money to buy a …show more content…
For the Coeur d’Alene Indians, its suggested that fire is a significant entity in their culture. One of the first few lines of the movie starts with: “Some children are pillars of flame that burn anything they touch and there are some children that are just pillars of ash that fall apart if you touch them. Me and Victor, we were children born of flame and ash.” Thomas was thrown from a burning building as an infant which is a symbol of him being born from fire. Thomas also notes his interest in how different chemicals burn with different colors. Arnold is cremated using fire. The second significant symbol is hair. When Arnold Joseph realized he was responsible for the deaths of Thomas’s parents, he cut his hair in mourning. When Victor reconciled his feelings towards his father, he too cut his hair in mourning. In terms of language, the Indians speak English. Indians on the Coeur d’Alene reservation spoke English but an accent can be heard from most if not all Indians on this reservation. Certain words in each sentence will change in tone. Most English speakers will end a question with the pitch of the last few words changing higher. The Coeur d’Alene Indians change the pitch of their sentence up in the middle or end and then bring it back down near the end. Victor did not exhibit this way of
Dr. Debbie Wallsmith
Anthropology 1102
November 28th, 2016
Smoke Signals Ethnography The movie Smoke Signals is a movie about the Coeur d’Alene Indians who live in on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho. The movie follows two young Indians as journey from Idaho to Arizona to take the remains of one of the boy’s fathers.
The story starts with a narration of the events that occurred on the 4th of July, 1976. Some of the Coeur d’Alene Indians were celebrating the United States independence. After the party, had died down and people were going to sleep, a fire broke out in Thomas Builds-The-Fire’s house. Thomas and his family were inside of his home when the fire broke out. Arnold Joseph, another Coeur d’Alene Indian, caught …show more content…
Some evidence of affluenza existed. Some families had a car or multiple cars. In one scene, it is announced that a local resident had won the lottery. Through about half the movie, there is evidence to suggest that Thomas comes from a wealthier family than Victor. Thomas is seen having different clothes or very nice clothes such as suit parts. Victor rarely changes clothes and can be seen to have the same clothes as he did as a child. Victors kitchen is small compared to Thomas’s. Thomas’s house is furnished with newer appliances and furniture while Victors house has more worn items. The last piece of evidence that some affluenza exists is Thomas has what seems to be a large sum of money saved up. The saved-up money is enough for the two boys to get two tickets to Arizona and for multiple purchases of diner food. Victor tells Thomas to “Listen Thomas, I can’t take your money. So why don’t you go buy a car or something.” This is evidence that Thomas contained enough money to buy a …show more content…
For the Coeur d’Alene Indians, its suggested that fire is a significant entity in their culture. One of the first few lines of the movie starts with: “Some children are pillars of flame that burn anything they touch and there are some children that are just pillars of ash that fall apart if you touch them. Me and Victor, we were children born of flame and ash.” Thomas was thrown from a burning building as an infant which is a symbol of him being born from fire. Thomas also notes his interest in how different chemicals burn with different colors. Arnold is cremated using fire. The second significant symbol is hair. When Arnold Joseph realized he was responsible for the deaths of Thomas’s parents, he cut his hair in mourning. When Victor reconciled his feelings towards his father, he too cut his hair in mourning. In terms of language, the Indians speak English. Indians on the Coeur d’Alene reservation spoke English but an accent can be heard from most if not all Indians on this reservation. Certain words in each sentence will change in tone. Most English speakers will end a question with the pitch of the last few words changing higher. The Coeur d’Alene Indians change the pitch of their sentence up in the middle or end and then bring it back down near the end. Victor did not exhibit this way of