Character Analysis: Thomas Builds-the-Fire

Believe it or not Thomas has his own MYSPACE page.

The actor who plays Thomas in the film is Evan Adams. He is now a medical doctor helping indigenous tribes in Brittish Columbia. Here is an interview with Dr. Adams (aka Thomas)

In the film, Thomas is portrayed as a nerdy, eccentric, smiling young man. In the text, he seems to be more somber and stoic. There is an interesting scene in the film where Victor implores Thomas to “get stoic.” In this scene Victor is for good or ill perpetuating an American Indian stereotype. We get these stereotypes from a variety of sources, the television show “The Lone Ranger” is one. In this show Tonto is a generic representation of the Indian warrior stereotype. It is this image that Victor is trying to invoke when he tells Thomas to undo his braids and “lose the suit.” In his article “Smoke or Signals? American Popular Culture and the Challenge to Hegemonic Images of American Indians in Native American Film” John Mihelich argues that the film Smoke Signals attempts to humanize the American Indian by “developing a complex human portrayal of contemporary Indians.” Thomas is a complex character, he embodies a blend of traditional American Indian traits and contemporary American ones. This is evident when he unties his braids and puts on the “Frybread Power” T-shirt.


This shirt itself represents the nature of the contemporary American Indian as being a hybrid of old and new. The shirt also seems to be a playful statement about the difficulty associated with this hybrid identity. In both the text and the film Thomas serves as a kind of spiritual guide for Victor. His storytelling frustrates Victor more in the movie than in the text, but in both cases Thomas’ stories help Victor come to terms with his identity. In the story “The Trial of Thomas Builds-The-Fire” Thomas is described as being a threat to the BIA and white culture in general. He is described as having “A storytelling fetish accompanied by an extreme need to tell the truth. Dangerous.” We do not get this same sense of Thomas being a direct threat to the hegemony in the film. However, in the film Thomas does indirectly undermine the hegemonic images of American Indians.