Sophia Irwin

AML 3041
Paper Two: Scene Studies
20 March 2015
In recalling popular schemas for the attributes of Native American cultures and
peoples, their affinity for storytelling comes up frequently. There are countless images of
Indians guiding white men with advice derived from cultural lore, or gathering around a
campfire to reflect on myths from the past while the white man is invited as a spectator.
The dimensions of this tradition are left undeveloped and unrecognized by the white,
western observer and go no further than an act of entertainment. Theres a certain meta
quality to this that in a way interacts with our expectations of storytelling by absorbing
this material through media. We assume, through our westernized culture, that these
stories, of mystical people and fables are no more than fiction, that the roots of these
stories are not ground in fact or reality, because that is our expectations for our own
storytelling. These stories exist in a separate dimension with no repercussion in the one
we occupy.
This idea seems to be in direct conflict with the traditions and values held by
authentic Native American tribes. There seems to be more reverence for the art of
storytelling and the effects stories can have on an individual. Native Americans express a
keen understanding on the effects of cultural past on the developing future. The past
creates traditions, customs, and expectations fulfilled in the present and perpetuated by
future generations; due to this, the past is regarded with a reverence that can be seen in
various ways such as the poetic lore in Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and the
depiction of the oral tradition in scenes from Smoke Signals a movie based on a short
story called This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona by Sherman Alexie. We can

Sophia Irwin
AML 3041
Paper Two: Scene Studies
20 March 2015
see the way storytelling and oral traditions are interwoven, blurred and paralleled with
reality and current life events.
In Smoke Signals the retrospective of Arnold Josephs life and his relationships
with his son, wife, reservation citizens, and Suzy is intercut between the current plotline
of Victor and Thomas trek to Phoenix, Arizona to retrieve his ashes. It is through this
view to the past that we can understand more of the present. In one story told through the
voice of Arnold Joseph, he recounts a tale of him and Victor playing basketball with
Jesuit priests and their unlikely victory.
The scene opens with Joseph on a makeshift basketball court. He is positioned on
the far left of the screen facing the right; we see his profile backlit giving an iridescent
outline of his face. This is done purposefully to reinforce the idea that he is speaking from
beyond the phenomenal world as a spirit of the afterlife. He is slightly obscured and
illuminated in a halo like effect. The audience assumes that he is speaking to someone on
the right side of the shot, Suzy, but her image never appears and he is the sole focus of
the scene. Within this story flashbacks cut to the game he is describing with a very young
Victor and the menacing Jesuits.
The camera pans around him in a semi-circle as he is speaking and gesticulating
wildly as if he is addressing a crowd, as if he is making a declaration rather than
recounting an anecdote; the light still reflecting off of his thinning hair creating a sheen
that mimics a halo even more so. In the frames there is a sort of muted, softer lighting
that doesnt serve to contrast, but highlight the fact that this story is being told in a
retrospective that would obscure contrasting details.

Sophia Irwin
AML 3041
Paper Two: Scene Studies
20 March 2015
The camera takes on an active role, following Joseph as if the audience is at his feet
enthralled by his tale. In multiple angles that highlights the multifaceted nature of the
scene. We are watching him as spectators as he speaks from a distance, we look up at him
as if were siting around his feet, we see him at the level of the contortions of his body as
he plays basketball with his son.
He is the main focus of this scene. It is his story that he has to tell, the background
is minimal, and it is he against the natural scene behind him or him with the people in his
scene in a stark neutral gym room. It is the people he is focusing on. The only important
feature aside from the people in his tale is the basketball, a prop that carries between the
scenes connecting them across dimensions. This entire scene is incredible
multidimensional emphasizing the layered value of time within worlds and stories. The
different angles the audience takes on has its own narrative, the omniscient from afar and
above, the observer from close and below, the participant at level from the story. There is
even an emphasis on the vitality, the current nature of the story in a separate dimension in
the intentional pause seen while Arnold is encouraging his son to have faith in the game.
The scene cuts quickly to a frame that mimics exactly how we opened on Arnold; his
profile illuminated on the far left as if he is transcending and reconnecting with that
future self retelling the story, as if he in that time is himself a spectator watching himself
encourage Victor.
The story comes to be an allegorists tale of the hope of Indian victory over
western dominance. They are disadvantaged in the game against the two full-sized and
aggressive Jesuits and the twelve-year-old Victor in the same way that the Indians have

Sophia Irwin
AML 3041
Paper Two: Scene Studies
20 March 2015
found themselves in a position of subservience to the Western culture and government
that has aggressively imposed itself over them. And in it he creates Victor to be the savior
that can overcome the powerful to create a victory for their team. He describes him as
flying, as an angel of deliverance, and justice in a way, saying his wings were made of
T.V. dinner trays, an acknowledgement of the poverty that they live in and in a way
communicating that they can make greatness from scrapes, because their real power is
unalienable from their beings, their essence. In this scene, as Arnold describes Victor
launching himself above the reach of the Jesuits, we see Victors actions in slow motion,
light illuminating him from behind obscuring his face but emphasizing his demure
features, his hair flowing behind him a symbol of victory and vitality as he stretches his
figure in the frame as if he is reaching towards the heavens. Theres finally a victory for
the Indians over the white man.
There is a power behind his words, there is a movement, he is speaking so
strongly, so excitedly into the void as if he is putting out this tale towards the universe in
the hopes that it catches. That this is the version of the story, of their victory that lives on,
that it finds them in this dimension or comes to fruition in another. That this could satisfy
him, that this gives him power.
Leslie Marmon Silko acknowledge the power of storytelling in a multitude of
ways as well, even giving the prefix that the whole universe was created through thought
and the stories of the Thought-Woman. Even explicitly stating I will tell you something
about stories/ [he said]/They arent just entertainment/ You dont have anything/ if you
dont have stories (2). It is stories! They are the focus, Tayo must accept his personal

Sophia Irwin
AML 3041
Paper Two: Scene Studies
20 March 2015
narrative and the stories of his past to move on into his future, it is stories that parallel his
journeys, it is stories that ignite the emotions of rage in Emo; stories are power.
It is a story that sparks the catastrophe of the white race. They were created
through a story of evil, [A]s I tell the story/ it will begin to happen./Set in motion
now/set in motion by our witchery/to work for us (135). In the inserted poem formatted
story, the witches acknowledge that stories take on a life of their own. That a story
functions as another organism that is brought into the world and given reign over the
people who adopted it through their actions listening. You cannot call it back.
Within this text narrative as well, there is a multifaceted nature of the story,
layering the events as they are recalled to the audience. Within the story of Tayos
journey we are called back to the past, to other worlds, to various myths in such a way
that suggests that it is a story occurring in tandem with the rest of the work, forever
working and weaving together. The story of the witch describes the scenery, the people,
and their interactions, and within this interaction the witchs story is further set apart as
another layer through the italicized font as it happens in real time beyond their domain.
With such a rich and valued history of storytelling and the value of stories as akin
to prophecy, what effects do the western tropes of Native Americans have on the Indian
ideals, values, and self-image? There is an interesting interaction between media and
culture which goes on to immeasurably influence our personal schemas and expectations
for the personal narratives we go on to perpetuate in our actions, thoughts, and
interactions. To what extent has the epistemic value of these stories influenced the Native
American population? What does it communicate through storytelling traditions that we

Sophia Irwin
AML 3041
Paper Two: Scene Studies
20 March 2015
have eradicated their depictions in popular media by substituting white actors in
portrayals of Indian people, like Rooney Mara in the new Peter Pan as Princess Tiger
Lily? What does it say that traditional garb has been reduced to accessories? What does it
say that their mainstream narratives depict them as savages, as logos, as drunkards?
It creates a narrative of despondency, of endangerment, of eventual distinction, a
motion that can be cauterized and reversed through popular consensus to change media
narratives. There needs to be a push for normalcy in media depictions, for realistic
portrayals and acknowledgement. Where a culture looks towards they go, what is seen is
mimicked, a knowledge that fiction influences fact through representation can create new
stories and stories create new life.