Which Sends the Better Message?

After reading Alexie's composition of short stories and watching the movie that is based off of them, it is easy to see from a critical standpoint the differences between the two and what kind of ideas they are giving to the readers/viewer. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven shows a realistic and almost disturbing view of life on the reservation centered around the problems many people face and alcoholism. Smoke Signals on the other hand shows a journey between two different young men who develop a comradship and the healing Victor must accomplish to forgive his father.

Something that is is seen throughout the film are flashbacks of some of the character's lives. By using this technique, we get a very vivid idea of how certain events in their lives have affected them in the present. One example being when Victor remembered a party his parents had when he was a child that eventually led to his father leaving their family and his mother to quit drinking. In the fiction, the short stories are a gradual view of what is happening in all the character's lives.

Humor is also something that is used greatly in the novel by Alexie. The characters use it as a means of connecting with people that have nothing in common with. It serves as a way of comfort and as accepting whatever fate has handed to them. In the film, there is humor, but it is not really used in the same way as the book. While reading The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the tone or mood through most of it more dark and almost bitter as some times. In Smoke Signals, you can feel that there is more optimism and good humor present.

In an article written by Gordon E. Slethaug titled "Hurricanes and Fires: Chaotics in Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, he discusses some interesting differences between the film and fiction. He argues that Alexie is almost too critical of Native Americans in this book and he mainly beleives that the message the author is trying to send is that no matter what has happened to them, Native Americans always survive on their own and will continue to do so. Slethaug also says that in the book the chaos is centered around Victor's life, and in the movie it is around Thomas's life. We also get a very different view of specific characters which will also be discussed in this blog.