Smoke Signals and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Hailed as the first film ever written, produced, directed, and cast entirely by Native Americans, Smoke Signals is critically acclaimed as the most realistic portrayal of contemporary Indian life since the genre's inception. Based on Sherman Alexie's collection of short stories titled, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Smoke Signals follows the journey of Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds-the Fire as the journey from their home on the Coeur d'Alenene reservation in Idaho to Victor's adoptive father's trailer in Phoenix, Arizona. A "journey story" at its heart, the film follows the boys as they move away from the reservation into the United States, facing discrimination and stereotypes head on.

For critics, the film's worth lies in its ability to carefully navigate stereotypes propagated by white Americans, and tactfully engage the audience in a deconstruction of the cliches popularized by earlier Native American cinema. Roger Ebert celebrates the Smoke Signals as the first film about Native Americans to show the culture in a way that mirrors reality without overwhelming the audience with sociological critiques. In his review of the film Ebert states, "Most films about Native Americans have had points to make and scores to settle, like all those earnest 1950s white films about blacks. Blaxploitation broke the ice and liberated unrehearsed black voices, and now here are two young Indians who speak freshly, humorously and for themselves."




While Smoke Signals is largely based on Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the film's setting and major plot points differ from the stories. The plot closely follows the story This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona, in the sense that the driving plot device, the journey from the reservation to Victor's father's trailer, remains the same. However, aspects of many other stories from Alexie's collection supplement the plot of the film.
The story from the scene shown below (title Barter) is taken almost verbatim from Alexie's story Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star Spangled Banner' At Woodstock. In the film, the story is shown as a humorous example of how the characters channel their frustrations with white oppresion into stories that mirror the "oral tradition" as well as poke fun at both white and Indian cultures.

The idea of humor as the driving mechanism to initiate social awareness is prevalent in both works. While Alexie has stated that he did not have much of a cultural critique in mind when writting The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, he agrees that his humor allows the audience to empathize with the characters, thereby aknowledging the cultural differences, yet not obligating the audience into activism. The film parallels these themes with its use of sarcastic humor based on the characters' negative interactions with mainstream American culture. For critics and audiences alike, Smoke Signals effectiveness is directly a product of its cultural realism and awareness of societal differences without the expectation of change.