sherman alexie's smoke signals

Promotor: Johan Callens

Academiejaar: 2012-2013

FACULTEIT DER LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE

Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals.From Composite Fiction To Road Movie

Master thesis submitted for attaining the rank of Master of Arts in Languages and Literature: English and Dutch

Jeremy Lanssiers

Abstract

This thesis researches the adaptation of the short-story composite The Lone Ranger and

Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) into the film Smoke Signals (1998). Hence, I discuss

three levels of adaptation: media-, genre- and thematic adaptations. Furthermore, I argue

that each of these levels is related to one another. Sherman Alexie is the writer of both

the literature and the screenplay. His native American heritage plays an important role in

his work. I reveal in what way Alexie's cultural legacy is represented in both the

literature and the film. Moreover, I discuss how native American themes and identity

influence each level of adaptation in this specific case.

Keywords: native Americans, Sherman Alexie, adaptation, Smoke Signals, The Lone

Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Abstract

Deze thesis onderzoekt de adaptatie van de kortverhalencomposiet The Lone Ranger

and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) in de film Smoke Signals (1998). Hierin bespreek

ik drie niveaus van adaptaties: media- genre en thematische adaptaties. Verder stel ik dat

elk van deze drie niveaus in verbinding staat met elkaar. Sherman Alexie is zowel de

schrijver van de kortverhalencomposiet en het script. Zijn oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse

erfenis speelt een belangrijke rol in zijn werk. Ik onderzoek op welke manier Alexie's

culturele erfenis wordt voorgesteld in zowel de literatuur als de film. Vervolgens

bespreek ik hoe de oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse thema's en identiteit elk adaptatie-

niveau beïnvloeden, in dit specifiek geval.

Kernwoorden: oorspronkelijke Amerikanen, Sherman Alexie, adaptatie, Smoke

Signals, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals – From Composite Fiction to Road Movie

Resume

This MA thesis investigates the adaptation of the short-story composite, The Lone

Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) into the film Smoke Signals (1998). I

present an introduction of the material, accompanied by a discussion of native

American author, Sherman Alexie, who wrote both the short-story composite and the

screenplay. After the introduction, I analyse three aspects of the adaptation. The goal of

this thesis is to use The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals as a combined case of media,

genre and thematic adaptation. Moreover, it discusses how the native American 'identity'

and 'postcolonialist' themes are represented by Sherman Alexie besides any native

American particularities concerning the triple adaptation.

Firstly, I discuss the nature and implications of the media-adaptation, namely the

adaptation of literature into film. This aspect includes changes on a narratological level

as well as a structural one. This section focusses on how the film is visualised and

structured, compared to the book. The implications and possible motivations for the

changes and similarities between both media are discussed. I draw on the theorization in

Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck's Handbook of Narrative Analysis (2005) and

Verstraten's Film Narratology (2009). Furthermore, I use several literature-to-film

adaptation handbooks: Mary H. Snyder's Analyzing Literature-To-Film Adaptations

(2011), Robert Stam and Alessandra Rango's Literature and Film (2005) and finally

Film and Literature (2012) by Timothy Corrigan. Theories from these works are called

upon to support or develop certain arguments. Yet I mainly use Robert Stam's

''Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Adaptation'' (2005) to argue that the film

draws on facial expressions and music to elicit the viewer's emotional involvement. By

contrast, the short-story composite relies more on the reader's prescience of tragic

events to trigger such emotionality.

Secondly, I analyze the implications of converting a composite story, The Lone

Ranger, into a single story, Smoke Signals. Here, Hertha D. Wong's concept of 'narrative

communities' (1995) is used to establish a link between the composite story and the

single story. In this genre-adaption analysis, I focus on which stories are integrated in

the single story, and by what means: events, characters, places etc. The genre-adaptation

first and foremost results in changes to the opening and ending of the single-story.

Furthermore, elements from the short-stories are mainly included in the single-story on

the basis of two considerations 1) support of the structure and plot of the single-story

and 2) elaboration of characters, events, thoughts etc in the single-story.


Thirdly, the thematic differences and similarities between the prose and filmic

versions are investigated. This section branches out into parallels between Sherman

Alexie's personal life and native American history. Moreover, I discuss the 'father-son

relationship' and the 'journey'-motif and its function as a structural metaphor. This

analysis reveals that the main theme is the quest for “a compromise between past and

present, between 'modern' American lifestyle and native American traditions”. The latter

is prominent in both the film and the short-story cycle. Yet the movie seems more

positive than the short-story composite, which is relatively pessimistic.

I attempt to reveal certain typical 'native American' characteristics of both the

story collection and the film as these pertain to Alexie's investigation of the native

American 'identity' and the on-going colonialism in the reservation. The persistent

presence of the colonizers and the constant threat to native American homes and

identities are central to Alexie's work and prominent in both The Lone Ranger and

Smoke Signals (Nygren, 2004: 141). Moreover, these native American elements

influence the different levels of adaptation.

In my conclusion I summarize the different sections and argue there is a

relationship between the medial, generic and thematic levels of the adaptation.

Moreover, I discuss how native American themes and identity influence each level. In

this respect, however, mainly the soundtrack (media-adaptation), embedded oral stories

(genre-adaptation) and the references to native American culture and history (thematic

adaptation) are important.


Samenvatting

Deze MA thesis onderzoekt de adaptatie van de kortverhalencomposiet, The

Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) in de film Smoke Signals (1998). Ik

geef een inleiding van deze werken, tezamen met een voorstelling van oorspronkelijke

Amerikaanse auteur, Sherman Alexie, die schreef zowel de kortverhalencomposiet als

het scenario voor de film. Na de inleiding analyseer ik drie aspecten van de adapatatie.

Het doel van deze thesis is om The Lone Ranger en Smoke Signals als een

gecombineerde casus te gebruiken voor de analyze van media-, genre- en thematische

adaptatie. Verder beschrijf ik hoe de oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse identiteit en

postcolonialistische thema's aan bod komen in het werk van Sherman Alexie, naast

enige andere oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse bijzonderheden die betrekking hebben tot de

drie vormen van adaptatie.

Ten eerste, bespreek ik de aard en de implicaties van de media-adaptatie,

namelijk de adaptatie van literatuur in film. Dit aspect bevat zowel veranderingen op

narratologisch als op structureel vlak. Deze sectie legt de nadruk op hoe de film is

gevisualiseerd en gestructureerd, in vergelijking met het boek. De gevolgen en

mogelijke aanleidingen voor de verschillende veranderingen en gelijkenissen tussen

beide media worden hier besproken. Ik gebruik theorieën van Luc Herman en Bart

Vervaecks Vertelduivels. Handboek verhaalanalyse (2005) en Verstratens Handboek

Filmnarratologie (2009). Verder gebruik ik verschillende literatuur-naar-film

handboeken: Mary H. Snyders Analyzing Literature-To-Film Adaptations (2011), Robert

Stam and Alessandra Rango's Literature and Film (2005) en uiteindelijk Film and

Literature (2012) door Timothy Corrigan. Theorieën uit deze werken worden in

relevante passages vermeld om bepaalde stellingen te ondersteunen of te ontwikkelen.

Ik baseer me voornamelijk op Robert Stams artikel ''Introduction to the Theory and

Practice of Adaptation'' (2005) om te stellen dat de film voornamelijk steunt op

gezichtsuitdrukking en muziek om een emotionaliteit in de kijker op te roepen. De

kortverhalencomposiet richt zich meer op voorkennis van tragische gebeurtenissen om

dezelfde emotionaliteit op te wekken.

Ten tweede, analyseer ik de implicaties van het transformeren van een

kortverhalencomposiet – The Lone Ranger – in een enkel verhaal – Smoke Signals.

Hievoor maak ik gebruik van Hertha D. Wongs concept van 'narratieve gemeeschappen'

(1995) om een verbinding te maken tussen enerzijds de kortverhalencomposiet en

anderzijds het enkel verhaal (Smoke Signals). In deze analyse van genre-adaptaties


vestig ik de aandacht op welke verhalen op welke wijze – gebeurtenissen, karakters,

plaatsen, citaten, … – in het enkel verhaal worden geïntegreerd. De genre-adaptatie

komt eerst en vooral neer op de verandering van de opening en het einde van het nieuwe

enkel verhaal (film). Verder worden elementen uit kortverhalen in het enkel verhaal

voornamelijk opgenomen op basis van twee overwegingen 1) de structuur en het plot

van het enkel verhaal ondersteunen en 2) de uitdieping van personages, gebeurtenissen,

gedachten enz in het enkel verhaal.

Ten derde, onderzoek ik de thematische verschillen en gelijkenissen tussen

zowel de literatuur als de film. Deze sectie vertakt in gelijkenissen en verschillen met

Sherman Alexies persoonlijke leven en algemene oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse

geschiedenis. Verder bespreek ik de band tussen vader en zoon en het motief van de reis

en hun functie als structurele metafoor. Uit deze analyse blijkt dat het hoofdthema een

zoektocht is naar “een compromis tussen verleden en heden, tussen 'moderne'

Amerikaanse tradities en oorspronkelijke Amerikanen tradities”. Dit thema is prominent

aanwezig in zowel de film als de kortverhalencomposiet. De film blijkt echter op vele

vlakken positiever dan de kortverhalencomposiet, die veel pessimistischer is.

Ik beschrijf vervolgens bepaalde typische 'oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse'

kenmerken van zowel de kortverhalencomposiet als de film, aangezien deze betrekking

hebben tot Alexies ontwikkeling van een oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse identiteit en de

aanhoudende kolonisering van het reservaat. De hardnekkige aanwezigheid van de

kolonisten en de constante dreiging voor de oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse identiteit zijn

centrale thema's in het werk van Alexie en vooraanstaande thema's in The Lone Ranger

en Smoke Signals (Nygren, 2004: 141). Deze oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse elementen

beïnvloeden de verschillende niveaus van adaptaties.

In mijn conclusie som ik de verschillende secties op en stel ik dat er een verband

is tussen de verschillende mediale, generische en thematische aspecten van de adaptatie.

Vervolgens verklaar ik hoe de oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse invloed en identiteit een

invloed uitoefent op elk aspect. In dit opzicht zijn voornamelijk de soundtrack (media-

adaptatie), de ingebedde verhalen (genre-adaptatie) en de verwijzingen aan de

oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse cultuur en geschiedenis (thematische adaptatie)

belangrijk.


Jeremy Lanssiers

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Faculteit der Letteren en Wijsbegeerte

Studiegebied Taal- en Letterkunde: tweetalencombinatie

Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals

From Composite Fiction to Road Movie

Thesis ingediend voor het behalen van de graad Master in de Taal- en Letterkunde:

Nederlands – Engels, promotor Prof. Dr. Johan Callens

2013-2014

Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals – From Composite Fiction to Road Movie 1

Table of Contents

1. Introduction...................................................................................................................42. Sherman Alexie..............................................................................................................5

2.1. Sherman Alexie's Life............................................................................................52.2. Native Americans...................................................................................................6

2.2.1. General History..............................................................................................62.2.2. Spokane and Coeur d'Alene People...............................................................7

2.3. Sherman Alexie's Work..........................................................................................83. Fiction............................................................................................................................9

3.1. Literary Medium....................................................................................................93.2. Composite Fiction..................................................................................................93.3. Native American Fiction......................................................................................113.4. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993).....................................143.5. ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona''...............................................16

3.5.1. The Story......................................................................................................163.5.2. The Characters..............................................................................................173.5.3. Formal Characteristics..................................................................................19

4. Film .............................................................................................................................194.1. Film Medium ......................................................................................................194.2. Native American Film .........................................................................................194.3. Road Movie..........................................................................................................224.4. Smoke Signals......................................................................................................24

4.4.1. The Story......................................................................................................254.4.2. The Characters .............................................................................................254.4.3. Formal Characteristics..................................................................................26

5. Media-Adaptation........................................................................................................265.1. Introduction..........................................................................................................265.2. Levels of Transtextuality......................................................................................305.3. Literary and Filmic Narratology .........................................................................33

5.3.1. Plot...............................................................................................................345.3.2. Narrative Strategies .....................................................................................385.3.3. Characters ....................................................................................................415.3.4. Space and Time............................................................................................44

5.3.1.1. Space.....................................................................................................455.3.1.2. Time .....................................................................................................47

5.3.5. Narrators, Focalizers and Point of View......................................................495.3.6. Sound ...........................................................................................................53

5.4. Screenplay ...........................................................................................................555.5 Media Conclusion ................................................................................................57

6. Genre-Adaptations. .....................................................................................................576.1. Introduction..........................................................................................................576.2. Reappearing Stories.............................................................................................586.3. ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix Arizona''................................................656.4. The Reservation Community ..............................................................................686.5. Genre Conclusion ................................................................................................70

7. Thematic Adaptations ................................................................................................717.1. Themes in The Lone Ranger, ''TIW'' and Smoke Signals....................................717.2. Structural Metaphor, The Father and Son Relationship ......................................74

8. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................80


9. Bibliography................................................................................................................86

Tables

Table 1. Forms of Intertextuality.....................................................................................30

Images

Image 1. Cover of Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

(1993)...............................................................................................................................31Image 2. Cover of Smoke Signals (1998) – Miramax 2011 edition............................... 32Image 3. Thomas, The Storyteller................................................................................... 40Image 4. Victor, The Lone Ranger.................................................................................. 42Image 5. Thomas' makeover........................................................................................... 43Image 6. The Messy Coeur d' Alene Reservation........................................................... 45Image 7. Mary, Mother of Basketball............................................................................. 47Image 8. Young Thomas facial expression..................................................................... 50Image 9. Victor and Thomas walking separately............................................................ 51Image 10. Screaming Victor at Spokane Falls................................................................ 52Image 11. Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer) scaring away young Victor............................. 75Image 12. Victor and Thomas 'dazzled' by the Beautiful Suzy....................................... 77


1. Introduction

This MA thesis investigates the adaptation of the native American short-story

composite The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) (The Lone Ranger)

into the film Smoke Signals (1998). I begin by introducing the author, the short-story

composite and finally the film. The author, Sherman Alexie, has written both the short-

story composite and the screenplay for the film. Moreover, he has played an important

part as producer and director of the film (West & West, 1998: 68). Hence, he functioned

as the major creative force behind both the written and the film products. After, the

introduction, I analyse three aspects of the adaptation. During this analysis, I prefer the

term 'native Americans' over 'Indian' or 'native American' to denote their status as

Americans and avoid any confusion or reference to India. The goal of this thesis is to

use the case of The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals as an example for media, genre and

thematic adaptations. Moreover, it discusses how the native American 'identity' and

'postcolonialist' themes are represented by Sherman Alexie besides any native American

particularities concerning the adaptations.

Firstly, I discuss the nature and implications of media-adaptations, namely the

adaptation of literature to film. This aspect includes changes on a narratological level as

well as a structural one. This section focusses on how the film is visualised and

structured, compared to the book. The implications and possible motivations for the

changes and similarities between both media are discussed. I draw on the theorization in

Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck's Handbook of Narrative Analysis (2005) and

Verstraten's Film Narratology (2009). Furthermore, I use several literature-to-film

adaptation handbooks: Mary H. Snyder's Analyzing Literature-To-Film Adaptations

(2011), Robert Stam and Alessandra Rango's Literature and Film (2005) and finally

Film and Literature (2012) by Timothy Corrigan. Theories from these works are

appropriately mentioned to support or give way to develop certain arguments. Yet I

mainly use Robert Stam's ''Introduction to The Theory and Practice of Adaptation''

(2005).

Secondly, I analyze the implications of converting a composite story, The Lone

Ranger, into a single story, Smoke Signals. Here, Hertha D. Wong's concept of 'narrative

communities' is used to establish a link between both the composite story and the single

story (Wong, 1995). In this genre-adaption analysis, I shall focus on which stories are

integrated in the single story, and by what means: events, characters, places etc.


Thirdly, the thematic differences and similarities between written and filmic

versions are investigated. This section branches out into parallels between Sherman

Alexie's personal life and native American history. Moreover, I discuss the 'father-son

relationship' and the 'journey'-motif and its function as a structural metaphor.

I attempt to reveal certain typical 'native American' characteristics of both the

literature and the film as these pertain to Alexie's investigation of the native American

'identity' and the an on-going colonialism in the reservation. The persistent presence of

the colonizers and the constant threat to native American homes and identities are

relevant to Alexie's work and prominent in both The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals

(Nygren, 2004: 141).

In my conclusion I argue there is a relationship between the different levels of

my research: media-, genre- and thematic adaptations. Moreover, I discuss how native

American themes and identity influence each level in this specific case.

2. Sherman Alexie

2.1. Sherman Alexie's Life

Sherman Alexie is a native American writer of Spokane, Colville, Flathead and

Coeur d' Alene origin (Quirk, 2003: 3). Alexie was born in Wellpinit, Washington on

October 7, 1966 (Grassian, 2005: 1). He prefers to be labeled an 'Indian' writer, and I

shall henceforth refer to him as such (Lundquist, 2004: 151). Wellpinit, Washington is a

Spokane reservation. This is an is an important locus in his works, which usually

revolve around the reservation. At birth, he was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, for

which he underwent surgery at the age of six months. Hydrocephalus is a condition

where there is excessive build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, which is usually

fatal if left untreated (Medicinet). Doctors assumed, however, he would not survive the

operation or would be severely retarded. Alexie's academic achievements proved them

wrong, although he did suffer from many seizures in his childhood. He spent his youth

in the reservation he grew up in. Indian scholars, such as Jace Weaver, consider the

reservations far from idyllic, but tough places where alcohol and drugs are responsible

for over half of the deaths, where health statistics rank near the bottom and where

average life expectancy does not reach 50 years (Weaver, 1997: 11). Statistics also

reveal that merely one-quarter of the native Americans in the reservations can still speak

a tribal language or share affiliation with a tribe (Thornton, 1998: 30). Alexie confirms

this perspective by mentioning the different social problems the reservation has,


including domestic violence, family dysfunction and many cases of substance abuse

(Teters, 2009: 54).The un-idyllic image returns in Alexie's work and and form the object

of persistent criticism from native American communities. In The Lone Ranger this

image is confirmed in ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' (TIW), as one

of the protagonists is always picked on and beaten up. In his early teens Alexie

developed a passion for literature, but also became a local star basketball player.

Furthermore, Alexie considered himself as “weird.” for being smart (Alexie qtd in

Teters, 1997: 54) Later, he attended Gonzaga Unversity, where his study results

deteriorated due to a heavy drinking habit (Grassian, 2005: 3).

He quit his turbulent lifestyle after being robbed and held at knifepoint and went

to Washington State University, where he graduated cum laude in American Studies

(Lundquist, 2004: 152). Originally, however, his plan had been to become a doctor.

With the help from his former poetry professor Alex Kuo, Alexie published his first

poetry books. These works were praised by WASP communities, but also criticized by

native American ones. Such were the comments from Gloria Bird and Elizabeth Cook-

Lynn, who felt that Alexie did not represent the reservation in a favorable fashion

(Lundquist, 2004: 161). Alexie responded by saying he was an artist and not a

propagandist or politician. Presently, Alexie is the author of nine poetry collections,

three short-story composites, two novels and two screenplays. Intratexual poetics reveal

his conception of writing but in ''Imagining the Reservation'', featured in The Lone

Ranger, Alexie sums it up as follows: “Survival = Anger x Imagination” (150). Hence,

one can conclude Alexie writes out of a necessity and attempt to survive in the world

and specifically the white American world.

Alexie has attained a modest visibility in the USA through many public

appearances, lectures at universities, and television programs such as The Oprah

Winfrey Show. Although he may not have become an iconic national writer for the

majority, he has assumed the role of prominent native American Writer (Lewis, 2012:

6). Empirical proof is perhaps is submission into the seventh edition of the Norton

Anthology of American Literature (Baym, 2008)

2.2. Native Americans

2.2.1. General History

Native American history predates US history, so for lack of space I will focus on

their situation from 1960 until now. By 1960, segregation laws concerning the native


Americans had been lifted or changed by the federal government. However, this proved

to be the very beginning of the native American revolution, rather than a final

achievement. The native American movement started gaining a lot of power. Its

foremost concern was the deprivation of native Americans inside their reservations and

their socio-economically disadvantaged position. Their usual lack of a good education

due to insufficient money had trapped them in a vicious circle. On top of that, many

non-native Americans held racist prejudices against them, so that several goods, such as

beer, were denied to native Americans. The native American movement tried to make

the pessimist native American people proud again, they revalorized their heritage and

traditions. Their cause was definitely supported by the Kiowan N Scott Momaday, who

won a Pulitzer price for his House Made of Dawn (1968). It was also around the 1960's

that the discriminatory stereotype of the “Wildman Indian”, changed into the more

positive “Spiritual Indian” who is in harmony with nature (Hirschfelder, 2000: 162).

The national character of the pan-native American movement is symbolized

through the establishment of the NIYC (National Indian Youth Council) in 1961. These

roguish subversives illegally organised fish-ins to promote native American culture and

native American rights. Later, in 1968, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was

founded. They organized numerous rallies and protest marches throughout the USA.

The native American movement had by then been baptized “The Red Power

Movement” and became increasingly political. The result was that many sanctuary

places were reclaimed by native American communities (Hirschfelder, 2000: 163).

Since the 1990's, local native American languages are once more taught in

schools. Also several Powows have been reorganized on an annual basis. Native

American culture has been given a profound boost in all areas. In literature, several

great writers have emerged, the most notable ones being: James Welch, Leslie Marmon

Silko, Gerald Vizenor, N Scott Momaday and Sherman Alexie (Velie, 1982: 1). In film,

several relatively famous titles have been released: Powwow Highway (1989), Smoke

Signals (1998), Winter in the Blood (2012) (IMDB). In music, a form of Jazz-fusion

with native American elements was popularized by Jim Pepper (Siegel, 2012).

2.2.2. Spokane and Coeur d'Alene People

The Spokane people are native American community living in the Northeast of

Washington state. Like many other native American people, they suffered from

smallpox and measles epidemics in the nineteenth century. They allied themselves with


several other native American peoples to battle the USA troops under the command of

Colonel Steptoe. Among their allies were the Coeur d'Alene. In 1887, they moved to the

Colville Flathead Reservation, Washington and though they used to be a nomadic

people, they became sedentary after their relocation (Coeur d' Alene Tribe, 2012; Klein,

2009: 10).

The Coeur d'Alene where a sedentary people who lived in North-Idaho, East-

Washington and West-Montana. Their nation where wealthy from a native American

perspective and were baptized “the greatest traders in the world” by French pioneers.

The name “Coeur d'Alene” or “Heart of an Awl” was given to them by these same

French pioneers. An awl is a tool for piercing leather, and refers to their ability at

handling fur, which was one of their main trading goods. Hence, the name “Coeur

d'Alene” is a tribute to their skills as traders (Coeur d'Alene Tribe, 2012). The Coeur

d'Allene were assigned to the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in 1873, located in North-

Idaho. At present, the tribe makes good money by means of gaming, as they own a

Casino, a Hotel and Golf Course facilities. However, they also generate money by

farming, a manufacturing plant and an industrial bakery (Coeur d' Alene Tribe, 2012).

2.3. Sherman Alexie's Work

Sherman Alexie is a multi-talented artist, who has produced poetry, fiction,

screenplays and lyrics for Jim Boyd and Vaughn EagleBear (Lundquist, 2004: 151). In

his work, Alexie mainly tackles the themes of identity, stereotypes, the influence of

popular culture, the oral native American tradition and the significance of humor

(Wahpeconiah, 2012: 87). When asked what the greatest challenges facing native

American societies are today, Alexie responded: “The challenges to our sovereignty –

artistically, politically, socially, economically.” (West & West, 1998: 69). Here, then, the

theme of identity receives a partly political and ideological inflection.

Alexie debuted in 1992 with his poetry collections, The Business of

Fancydancing (1992) and I Would Steal Horses (1992). Both were produced with the

help of his former poetry teacher at Washington State University. His early success

motivated his subsequent writing and caused Alexie to stop pursuing an MD title. A year

later, in 1993, Alexie released his first short-story collection The Lone Ranger (1993) ,

one of whose stories was turned into the film Smoke Signals, the first movie to be

directed, written and acted in by native Americans. This pioneering work in native

American film history at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival won awards for best


Dramatic Film, the Filmmakers trophy and the Grand Jury Prize. Moreover, The Lone

Ranger (1993), Reservation Blues (1995) and Indian Killer (1996) are taught at

university level on a regular basis (Lundquist, 2004, 152). Proof of his status as a

canonical native American writers is his presence in anthologies of native American

poetry and fiction, notably those sold at the Smithsonian National Museum Shop

(Swann, 1996: 28-29).

“I want books that challenge, anger, and possibly offend” (Alexie in Cline, 2012)

3. Fiction

3.1. Literary Medium

The art of literature is often considered to be indirect, in contrast to the visual

arts, music, cooking or even bodily massage, which are of a considerably more direct

nature. However, music and the visual arts may be said to contain narrative structures as

well, just as literature shares various elements of direct art. Such are book covers, maps

of the fictive world, images to support the text etc. One can conclude, then, that

literature is both a form of direct and indirect art.

In my literary analysis, I focus on literature as a form of indirect art and given its

long history of theorization, from Aristotle's through Horace's poetics all the way to

postmodernism theories. I limit myself to structuralist models and terms, as collected by

Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck (2005). In analysing the ideology and themes (in both

the written and filmed works) I discuss the content by means Mikhail Bakhtin's notion

of dialogicity literature essentially being “a plurality of unmerged consciousnesses.”

(1990: 26). Next to this, I rely on W.E.B. Du Bois's “Double Consciousnesses”, which

is not a postmodern concept (1996: 5), though Bahktin's “double voiceness” is a

postmodern perspective (Hale, 1994: 457). I also draw on Vincent Jouve's notion that

any work of fiction inevitably contains ideological preferences on the level of the plot

and narrator (Herman & Vervaeck, 124). Yet, I refrain from using his entire paradigm,

considering Jouve uses the vague and often contested concept of 'the implicit author'

(Jouve, 2001: 91). Furthermore, Jouve's level of reader's ideology does not seem seem

relevant to my analyses.

3.2. Composite Fiction

Composite fiction is the result of “the combining of stories to make a linked


series” (Kennedy, 2010: vii). Sometimes, it is also labelled a short-story composite, a

short-story composite, a frame story or a rovelle. The latter term was coined by Dallas

M. Lemmon (Lemmon, 1970: 1). In an attempt to be as clear as possible I use the label

'short-story cycle' or 'short-story composite'. This genre is quite popular in modern and

postmodern literature, where juxtaposed stories are commonly used. Examples hereof

include La Vie mode d'emploi by Georges Perec, Dubliners by James Joyce and many

more. Yet, it is a genre that has existed for over seven hundred years, manifesting itself

as early as Chaucer's Canterubury Tales or Boccaccio's The Decameron (Kennedy,

2010: vii). One can further distinguish a “short-story composite” from a “short-story

composite”. The first is a mere collection of unintertwined stories, whereas the “short-

story composite” is a collection of intercommunicating stories. A collection of stories

that features a mutual development towards a certain resolve or pointe (Wong: 2010,

171)

In North American literature several composite fictions have been published,

such as Getrude Stein's Three Lives, Hemingway's Men Without Women or Steinbeck's

Pastures of Heaven. Among the North American composite fictions is also Henry

James's The Finer Grain, which Ezra Pound considered his best work. However, it is

unclear whether this has anything to do with its composite nature, or rather with the

individual quality of the stories (Hocks, 2010: 2). North American poetry holds perhaps

the most famous example of the composite trend, namely T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland.

The link between the individual stories of composite fictions is not fixed and

thus assumes many guises. Firstly, there can be a fixed recurring element in the form of

a character or a set of characters. Secondly, the linking element can also be a specific

place, such as Dublin in James Joyce's Dubliners. Thirdly, similarities in theme can

establish a link between separate fragments. Fourthly, the language itself, the tone or

vocabulary can provide a relation between individual stories as well. Finally, there is

also the concept of narrative or fictive communities. Although the characters in fictive

communities do not need to reoccur in any other individual stories, there is usually an

obvious connection between the characters from the different fragments (Kennedy,

2010: xiv). This connection can be established by similarities in gender, nationality,

culture, family, name, age etc. Examples of a composite fictions using the community as

a link are Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine or Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger. The

fictive community here is one of culture and native American descandance, further

supported by a link through name and family. Moreover, in several cases this


community acts as a narrator, which is typical for native American storytelling and

culture (Wong, 2010: 173).

There are several ways in which the stories of a composite fiction can be

organized. On the one hand, they can be juxtaposed or paratactically connected, as

different accounts of the same event, such as in Exercices de Style by Raymond

Queneau, James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake or Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. These examples

are often considered experimental novels, and may therefore not always be categorized

as 'composite fictions'. On the other hand, the individual stories can be part of a

sequence. Moreover there are various possibilities for the underlying logic of the

sequence, it may be a chronological one, a thematic one etc. Furthermore, the sequence

and its underlying logic can be either linear or cyclic (Kennedy, 2010: ix).

The genesis of a composite fiction is perhaps not so important, if we consider the

work from an autonomous and New Critical point of view. However, there are three

distinctions to be made. First of all there is the composed composition, where, the

author wrote all the individual stories with the intention of putting them in a specific

sequence or collection. Secondly, the completed composition is one where the author

retrospectively adapts several short stories so they would fit together, and then puts

them in a certain sequence. Finally, an arranged composition is a collection of stories in

a random sequence, or in an order that does not imply a meaning (Ingram, 1971: 19-19).

I use these terms. The use of the term 'arranged' does not make sense, considering the

random character of the composition. In my analysis, I distinguish two kinds of short-

story composite fictions: the short-story composite and the short-story cycle. The latter

is characterized by its random collection of stories, much like the 'arranged

composition'. The short-story composite, however, is a collection of short-stories where

the order in which the stories are put matters, or where the stories relate or refer to one

another.

3.3. Native American Fiction

The history of native American literature is divided into two parts, the pre-native

American Renaissance part and the post-native American Renaissance part (Lundquist,

2004: 38). The watershed is N. Scott Momaday's 1969 Pulitzer prize for his novel,

House Made of Dawn (1968). Prominent native American writers and works are

produced by representatives of many different peoples. Hence, I refer to native

American literatures, to avoid a fallacy of homogenization. The native American


movement was fueled by the famous countercultural spirit of the sixties, along with the

Black Movement and many alternative lifestyle movements. As the name suggests, the

native American Renaissance is not limited to literature. It is a general reappreciation of

native American cultures in all their forms: dancing, literature, religion, language,

painting, film and other art forms. It tried to make native Americans proud of their

heritage and to renew their interest in their culture. With regard to literature, it attempted

to renew the interest in finding and reevaluating older native American works

(Lundquist, 2004: 38). The publication of House Made of Dawn (1968) coincided with

the occupation of the Alcatraz prison by native Americans (Eagle, 1992: 1-151). The

growing native American movement became more popular and more concrete and was

baptized the “Red Power Movement” by Vine Deloria Jr (Josephy, 1999: 23-31).

Pre-native American Renaissance narratives are characterized by their strong

oral character. Its main genres were: rituals, ceremonies, myths, love songs, …

(Lundquist, 2004, 38). Hence, not that many native American written works exist, the

more so since the majority of native Americans were either analphabetics or badly

educated hence poor readers and writers. This was due to a system of boarding schools

that removed native American children from their parents in an attempt to indoctrinate

them with dominating American culture (Popick, 2006: 1). Despite the poor conditions

native Americans often found themselves in, they produced various notable works. First

of all, there is Black Elk Speaks (1932), a series of interviews with chief Black Elk

combined and put into a book (Lundquist, 2004: 50). It is in many ways a modernist-

postmodern work due to its patched nature. Secondly, many novels have been written as

well: Jack Rollin Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murietta (1854), S. Alice

Callahan's Wynema: A Child of the Forest (1891), Mourning Dove's Cogewea: The

Half-Blood (1927), John Milton Oskinson's Sundown (1934) or D'Arcy McNickle's

Runner in the Sun (1954). This may well prove that native Americans were just waiting

for the right moment to give a fresh new voice to their culture.

Post-native American Renaissance literatures are mainly defined by “Four

American Indian literary masters: N. Scott Momaday, James Welch, Leslie Marmon

Silko, and Gerald Vizenor.” (Velie, 1982: 1). These are all principally writers of fiction,

however, they also produced poetry, such as James Welch's Riding the Earthboy 40

(1971). Aside from these prominent figures, many new native American writers have

emerged. Hence, several poetry and story collections, several of them developing more

private fictional mythologies have expanded the native American literary heritage.


Among the newly emerged writers is Sherman Alexie, famous for both his poems and

works of fiction. Louis Owens's claim that the native American novel has no prototype

definitely does not reflect the situation after 1969 (Owens, 1992: 10-11).

Despite the major distinction between pre- and post-native American literature

there are several characteristics that bind them. First of all, there are often dreamy or

magical realist elements in those works. These also occur in non-fiction stories like

those found in Black Elk Speaks (1932),insisting on their truthfulness. Typical are

talking animals, prophetic visions or dreams where characters are visited by (animal)

spirits or divinities. In general there is no clear-cut line between reality and fiction or

dreams. Moreover, these works tend to use poetic imagery or achieve a lyricism trough

ethnic ways of describing and naming things. For instance, a buffalo is referred to as a

“Blackhorn” in James Welch's Fools Crow (Welch, 2011: 117). Most people, animals

and utensils undergo this process of metonymic name change. Furthermore, native

American literature focuses more on tribal rather than individual history or acts (Bevis,

1987: 608). A recurring motif is the figure of the trickster, who plays tricks but is also

subject to tricks and who has “strong appetites, particularly for food and sex; he is

footloose, irresponsible and callous, but somehow always sympathetic and lovable”

(Velie, 1993: 122). Moreover, because their culture is based on myths, which tend to be

ahistorical, native Americans attribute more importance to spatial organization than to

temporal organization, which is supposedly more typical for Western cultures. The

implication is that landscape and space are more prominent in native American culture,

hence, in their literature as well (Grassain, 2005: 12). Furthermore, the relation to their

surroundings is one of connection, in contrast to Western or Christian-Semitic

domination (DeMallie, 1999: 306).

Native American beliefs concerning literature and language strongly resemble

(post-)modern Western perspectives. Both share the idea that poems, novels, literature

and words in general possess a power independent of the author, or the idea that the

author is not the master of his 'work' and cannot oversee all the possible interpretations

to his words (Grassain, 2005: 12). Furtermore, Wong argues that composite fiction is

inherent to native American story-telling: “In numerous native American oral traditions,

the spider's web is a common image to convey the interconnectedness of all aspects of

life. […] One story […] cannot be fully comprehended without considering its

connection to the others.” (Wong: 2010, 172). Thus, one can conclude native American

literature often features several voices and hence several protagonists which relates to


Bakhtin's theory. Opposed to this, are Western perspectives of individual genius and

general individuality. Treuer's claim that native American literature should be studied on

the level of language and style may imply extra focus on the aspects of multiple voices

(Treuers, 2006: 4). However, native American themes such as the ongoing colonization

of their reservations should not be omitted.

3.4. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993)

The Lone Ranger is a collection of short-stories first published in 1993. Alexie,

then aged 27, by his own admission had written it in no more than three months

(Grassian, 2005:4), though it was a finalist for the Pen/Hemningway Award. In a review

by Denise Low, the collection is descirbed as “a casebook of postmodernist theory –

beyond surrealism and absurdity […] Irony, pastiche, and mingling of popular cultures

occur throughout the book” (1996: 123). Despite the straightforward parody and play,

Alexie, as Denise argues also infused his stories with the native American ethical

imperative to counteract white American oppression. The most explicit example hereof

is the title. The infusion of ethics can be considered a move away from postmodern

irony and its non-commitment.

The Lone Ranger refers to a fictional character from a 1933 radio show (Smith,

2012). This masked American hero fights crime in the Wild West, and is famous for the

phrase “Hi-yo Silver, away!” with which he spurred on his horse. The former Texas

Ranger's companion is Tonto, a member of the Potowatomie tribe, whose name may

well mean 'Dumb' in Spanish, yet in Potowatomie it means 'Wild One'. Tonto, too, has

also been embedded in American culture by means of the catchphrase “Kemosabe'',

which means 'Faithful Friend', with which he designated the Lone Ranger (Striker,

2008). The radio show has later been turned in a television show and films, the most

recent one being the Disney production The Lone Ranger (2013); starring Johnny Depp.

Alexie's title suggests that Tonto struggles against the white coloniser, for which

The Lone Ranger is a symbol. Moreover, the native Americans in the story struggle

against oppression, in an attempt to redefinetheir traditional representation from a

'conquered' position (Cox, 2005: 56). The cover of the short-story collection provides an

image of Tonto hitting The Lone Ranger on his cheek. On the one hand, it could imply

native American supremacy in Tonto's supposedly knocking out The Lone Ranger. On

the other hand, the image may simply stress the confrontation between white and native

Americans without any suggestion of supremacy on either side.


The Lone Ranger presents a negative outlook on the native American future,

because its population is being self-destructive instead of proactive. In the story ''Every

Little Hurricane'', a fistfight triggers a metaphoric hurricane that wrecks havoc. These

hurricanes occur both between and inside the native Americans: “the storm […] moved

from Indian to Indian at the party giving each a […] painful memory” (Alexie, 1993: 8).

The title of another short-story, ''A Drug called Tradition'', suggests that drugs have

replaced the old traditions. However, it could also imply that Tradition is like a drug.

Yet, the drugs in the story do not provide the native Americans with any grand visions

or ecstasy, but rather with illusions of grandeur. Hence, the first interpretation of the title

seems more plausible, although it remains negative. Furthermore, ''A Train Is an Order

of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result'' suggests that native Americans who

want to improve the deplorable situation of their people will encounter apathy and an

unwillingness to cooperate. The romantic protagonists fail to do any good through

storytelling, as there seems to be no audience for the ancient traditions and stories

(Grassian, 2005: 58-60).

Aside from its negative outlook, The Lone Ranger attempts to put the atrocities

in perspective. By means of humour, negative native American stereotypes of are

challenged in several stories (Grassian, 2005: 62). These atrocities and negative

stereotypes include the 'drunken Indian', the 'unemployed Indian', the corrupt tribes

council and the single mother. In ''Somebody Kept Saying Powwow'', the protagonist, a

female native American girl who seems moderately successful at helping her fellow

native Americans. Moreover, she has become a compromise between the white and

native American world: “She could dance Indian or White. And that's a mean feat, since

the two methods of dancing are mutually exclusive.” (Alexie, 1993: 202). In ''Because

My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star-

Spangled Banner' at Woodstock”, the stereotype of the native American as a born

soldier and archetypical hippie is mocked: “my father was a perfect hippie since all

hippies were trying to be Indians.” (Alexie, 1993: 24) and “Indians are born soldiers

anyway” (Alexie, 1993: 29). The stereotype of native Americans as born warriors is also

present in ''TIW”. The protagonist, Thomas, tells a story about two young ''Indians'' who

want to be warriors and therefore steal a car. The story is satirical and serious at the

same time. On the one hand, it is ironic because someone steals and does something bad

in order to be considered brave. On the other hand, native American youngsters used to

steal horses from other tribes in order to gain status and to be considered brave.


Alexie's stories clearly focus on the poor situation native Americans find

themselves in at present. The original cause of this situation is clearly attributed to

oppression by White people (and colonizers): “Imagina Crazy Horse invented the atom

bomb […] and detonated it over Washington, D.C. Would the urban Indians still be

sprawled around the one-room apartment […] Imagine Columbus landed […] and some

tribe […] drowned him in the ocean. Would Lester FallsApart still be shoplifting in the

7-11?” (Alexie, 1993: 140-150). The postcolonial discourse continues when Alexie

wonders “How can we imagine a new language, when the language of the enemy keeps

our dismembered tongues tied to his belt? […] How do we imagine a new life when a

pocketful of quarters weighs our possibilities down?” (Alexie, 1993: 152). At the same

time, as mentioned, it is suggested that the apathy of the native Americans in the

reservations impairs any progress, which is the cause of the ongoing deplorable

situation.

3.5. ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona''

The short-story ''TIW'' contains the major storyline or Smoke Signals. The story

deals with the troubles of Victor, who has been informed of his father's death and travels

to Phoenix, Arizona to claim his inheritance.

3.5.1. The Story

The story begins in the Spokane reservation, where Victor is informed that his

father has died in Phoenix, Arizona. Victor decides he has to go and collect whatever

inheritance is left for him. However, he finds himself unable to do so due to a lack of

money. Hence, Victor goes to see the tribal council. They decide to give him the

maximum allowance of 100$, which proves insufficient for a plane ticket. Victor goes to

collect the 100$ in the Post Office, where he meets Thomas Builds-the-Fire. The latter

proposes to lend Victor the money he needs, on the condition that he can accompany

Victor to Phoenix. As Victor returns home he remembers the days when he and Thomas

were only ten and watching the Fourth of July fireworks. This prods him to accept the

offer of Thomas who appears to have been waiting on the porch. The next day, both are

on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona. Upon their arrival, both share a cab to the trailer of

Victor's dad. Here, Victor salvages a stereo, a photo album and a pick-up truck. Victor

then starts thinking about the time his foot got stuck in an underground wasp hive and

how Thomas had saved his life. He further reminisces about the incident where Thomas


jumped off the school roof. Victor and Thomas then go the bank, where they pick up the

rest of the belongings of Victor dad.

Victor and Thomas then put everything in two neat cardboard boxes and drive

the pick-up truck all the way to the Spokane reservation. In Nevada, Thomas takes over

the wheel and accidentally runs over a jackrabbit so that Victor takes over again until

they get home. Thomas recounts his life and concludes its value ought to be measured in

stories. Victor then drops Thomas off at his house. Here, he concludes he is not going to

treat him any better, or consider him a better friend. Yet, Victor believes he owes

Thomas something and gives him half of his father's ashes. Thomas then recounts the

story of how he promised Victor's father he would look out for Victor. Before Victor

leaves, Thomas has one final request, that Victor listens to one of his stories. Victor

agrees and leaves.

3.5.2. The Characters

The two main characters in ''TIW'' are Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire. The latter

is supposedly a prototype of how native Americans used to be, whereas Victor is more

the archetype of the contemporary native American (Grassian, 2005: 63). Victor and

Thomas are also principal characters in The Lone Ranger, considering they appear in 18

of the 22 stories (DeNuccio, 2002: 86). Moreover, Thomas is one of Alexie's best

known characters, appearing in The Lone Ranger, Reservation Blues (1995) and Smoke

Signals (Berglund, 2010: xvii).

Victor is a full-blood native American who lives in the Spokane Indian

Reservation (66). He grows up motherless and when his father dies, he “hadn't seen

[him] in a few years” (59). The fact that Victor does not have any money further adds to

his schlemiel-figure. However, when Victor was ten, he had the best marks in his class

and had the aspirations to become a person with a high status, namely a warrior (62-63).

It seems the Victor's future has turned out quite differently, for reasons unknown. Alexie

may suggest that although a native American person may have all the necessary

qualities to become somebody respectable, the fact that he is native American will

predispose him to end up as a schlemiel. As if native Americans cannot survive in the

world of white Americans and when keeping to their reservations, 'drown' in their

misery.

Thomas Builds-the-Fire is the second protagonist, who helps Victor to collect his

inheritance. He is an equally unfortunate native American whose mother died while


giving birth to him and whose father died in Okinawa during World War II (73).

Furthermore, Thomas is described as a weak person who gets beaten and is always

picked on (65). Victor describes him as “Thomas, that crazy Indian storyteller with

ratty old braids and broken teeth” (66). The stories Thomas tells prolong the oral

culture of native Americans in earlier times. In the film version of The Business of

Fancydancing (2002) Thomas is equally ostracized because of his imaginative nature

and his tendency to tell “the same damn stories over and over again” (62). Thomas

believes his stories are all he has left, and that he is measured by his stories. If Thomas

is a likely a symbol for the 'old' native Americans, then Alexie may well suggest that

these are measured by their stories and stereotypes, and not by the deeds they have

actually performed. One could consider the notion of (heroic) deeds to be problematized

in The Lone Ranger, considering Arnold's heroism and saving of Thomas is countered

by the fact he lit the fire himself. This may very well suggest Alexie's opinion that

native Americans were not as 'heroic' and 'noble' as may be suggested, but that it is only

stories that made them so. Finally, Thomas is admired only once. As a child, he dreamt

he could fly, and accordingly jumped off the school roof. Although he fell, “one of his

dreams came true for just a second, just enough to make it real” (Alexie, 1993: 70-71).

Thomas represents the 'old' native American who is respected for his courage but

disrespected for his repetitiveness and archaicness. Alexie's decision to promote Thomas

into a more developped protagonist may suggest that despite the prejudices of boredom

and outdatedness against the 'old' native Americans, there is much to be learned from

them: “Victor was ashamed of himself. […] The only thing he shared with anybody was

a bottle and broken dreams. He owed Thomas something, anything” (74). This quote

suggests Alexie's relative valorization of the old ways and traditions and his

denunciation of the contemporary native American who is a bum, drunk and drug-addict

etc. There is hope, though, for improvement since at the end, Victor agrees to listen to

Thomas' stories, which marks a kind of catharsis (Grassian, 2005: 63). However, Victor

has agreed with Thomas he is not going to treat him more kindly or respect him more.

There is another argument pro catharsis. The journey Victor and Thomas made together

vaguely resembles the journey of the two Indians who wanted to be warriors. One could

conclude that both protagonists end up as warriors, as people who have regained a sense

of honour, whether or not they belong to the 'old' or the 'new' culture.


3.5.3. Formal Characteristics

''TIW'' is narrated by a extra-heterodiegetic narrator. This panchronic narrator

remains invisible during the entire story. Furthermore, focalization is internal and

variable. Both Victor and Thomas' perspective and feelings are portrayed. By using an

extra-heterodiegetic narrator, Alexie can make the narrator tell his story without picking

sides either for the 'new' or the 'old' representative of native American culture. Athough

there are instances of internal focalization, most focalization is external. Therefore,

focalization does not really contribute to sympathy for either character, thus tilting the

balance. Most of the protagonist's feelings and thoughts are conveyed through

descriptions of their actions or their reported speech, which is always direct speech.

4. Film

4.1. Film Medium

Film, unlike literature, is often considered a direct form of art. As Iser, points

out, film is more or less obliged to visually 'show' everything (Iser, 2001: 231).

However, Iser oversimplifies this tendency and uses it as an argument to patronize the

medium. Like literature, the film medium consists of both direct and indirect elements.

The direct art in film consists of the images and the sound. The indirect side to it is the

narrative or scenic structure the film may have, along with any symbol or structural

metaphor. The importance of the latter is illustrated by the film Memento (2000), in

which the scenic composition is probably the most important and interesting aspect to

consider (IMDB).

In order to analyse Smoke Signals, I focus on film's direct and indirect sides. The

tools for my approach are provided by Verstraten's Film Narratology (2009). However,

the starting point for my analysis of the medium-crossing is constituted by the short-

story ''TIW'' and literary models. The orientation of my adaptation analysis is based on a

mixture of literary and film narratology, as proposed by Robert Stam in his introduction

to the theory and practice of adaptation (Stam, 2005: 1).

4.2. Native American Film

Native American films are movies by and about native Americans. This

distinction between theme and origin of the producers is quite relevant, considering the

major differences they can bring forth. To further exemplify the differences, I will

contrast films about native Americans, produced by white Americans, with films mainly


written and produced by native Americans.

The first differences between films by and about native Americans, is the

portrayal of the native American itself. In white-produced films, native Americans are

often portrayed as stereotypes: either they are proud warriors or mystic storytellers.

These stereotypes often result in the use of cliché props: “buckskin clothes, beaded

moccasins, feathers, warbonnets, medicine bundles, peace pipes” (Cox, 2010: 74).

These stereotypes can be found in productions like Pocahontas (1995) Dances with

Wolves (1990), Centennial (1978), Peter Pan (1953), Broken Arrow (1950), Northwest

Passage (1940) and many others (IMDB). The films prior to the Red Power movement

(1969), usually feature native Americans as villains. After 1970, the native American

image becomes relatively benign, but remains stereotypical. In Natural Born Killers

(1994) Tarantino uses the common native American stereotype for satirical purposes,

which indicates that he may well be one of the few white producers appearing to be

aware of the stereotypes concerning native Americans. Furthermore, if white people are

depicted as an evil colonizing force, white-produced films will often present the viewer

with one exception to the rule. One white man or woman will be different from the rest,

and easily blend into the new tribe, as if she had always been a part of it. Such is the

case with Kevin Costner's film or the Centennial series. The contemporary Pocahontas-

adaptation, Avatar (2009), features a similar plot-twist. In James Cammeron's modern

epic, humans colonize a paradisical planet, inhabited by alien who live in harmony with

their planet's nature. The human army plots to destroy the inhabitants in order to exploit

the planet's resources, but one of the humans is 'different', becomes part of the

indigenous tribe and eventually becomes an alien as well. In Dancing with Wolves,

Kevin Costner similarly befriends with the 'in-touch-with-nature Sioux' to become a part

of their tribe.

In films by native Americans, the stereotype are often used for comic effect,

while their relative truth is questioned. In Smoke Signals, Sherman Alexie's protagonists

represent two major stereotypes: the stoic warrior and the wise storyteller (West & West,

1998: 60). However, they are rendered increasingly complex, considering both are bad

stereotypes: Victor is often nervous instead of stoic and nobody listens to Thomas' half-

made up stories. Furthermore, the stoic warrior stereotype is openly mocked when

Victor asks Thomas: “How many times have you seen Dances with Wolves? […] Don't

you know how to be an Indian?” (Smoke Signals, 1998). As if Dances with Wolves

(1990) is a certified guide on how to behave correctly as an 'Indian'. Moreover, Victor


explains the truth about his native American ancestors, how they were fishermen instead

of buffalo hunters. Hence, he reasons, the film title should have been 'Dances with

Salmon', a further mockery of the Kevin Costner film that pretended to be historically

correct. Finally, Smoke Signals attacks the white, heroic cowboy stereotype of John

Wayne. Victor wonders why John Wayne's teeth are never shown on film, and reasons it

must be because he has ugly teeth. This initiates the song 'John Wayne's teeth' by the

Eaglebear Singers.

Secondly, there are several differences between white-produced and native-

American produced films on the level of setting. White-produced films often tend to be

situated in pre-reservation era native-American camps. Hence, they use sublime

landscape imagery to reinforce the powerful feeling of freedom and connection to

nature. This adds up to the concept of native Americans as a free and proud people, and

neglects the present and realistic notions for the sake of the feeling the film ought to

convey. Examples once more include Dances with Wolves (1990) and Centennial

(1978). By contrast, native American produced films tend to focus on the present

situation of their people, and the locus is often the reservation. This is the case for

contemporary films such as Smoke Signals, Skins (2002), Skinwalkers (2002), The

Business of Fancydancing (2002), A Thief of Time (2004), Winter in the Blood (2012)

etc. An exception is Bruce McDonald's Dance me Outside (1994), which is also set on a

reservation, and attempt to provide a realistic image of contemporary reservation-native

Americans. However, equally one-sided, it portrays all white people as either arrogant

or evil.

A third difference is the use of humor. Native American produced films tend to

feature jokes directed against white-man's evil ways, native American abuse,

stereotypes or the deplorable native American situation. In Smoke Signals, an example is

Thomas story: “Arnold got arrested, you know. But he got lucky. They charged him

with attempted murder. Then they plea-bargained that down to assault with a deadly

weapon. Then they plea-bargained that down to being an Indian in the Twentieth

Century. Then he got two years in Walla Walla.” (Smoke Signals, 1998). Here, Thomas

jokes about the negative connotation 'being an Indian' has in the present. In white-

produced films, humor is often restricted to situational humor or a common ground for

joking. In Dances With Wolves, an example is thesituation where Costner attempts to

imitate a buffalo, which results in laughter on both white and native American sides.

A fourth distinction is the portrayal of women. American culture is


predominantly patriarchal, and this is evident in its filmic portrayal of women. In white-

produced native American films women are often side characters. They are subordinate

people, who have no say in the great matters but who support their men in every (bad)

decision. Anthropological studies are slightly contradictory in describing the role of

women in native American societies and there is no consensus that women were

subordinated. Hence, there is no reason for depicting them so, except to reinforce

certain cultural role-models. In native-American produced films, women are often more

respected or assume an important role as advisors (Lawson, 2010: 99). In Smoke

Signals, both protagonists take after their mothers in terms of clothing and style.

Furthermore, they listen to their mothers' advice concerning the trip to Phoenix. A

flashback by Thomas depicts Arlene, Victor's mom, as a Jesus-figure who feeds a great

number of people with a limited amount of bread. The reason for the native American

women's importance may be the role they used to fulfil in keeping the household and

the camp up and running in pre-reservation times. The irony is that this revalorization

confirms the women as housebound and the men as warriors, who failed to help the

women move the camps, since they only felt responsible for the horses.

Several different characteristics can thus reveal if a film was likely to be made

by white or non-native American producers. However, these distinctions are not

absolute and several exceptions exist, such as Jonathan Wacks's Powwow Highway

(1998), Michael Apted's Thunderheart (1992) or Yves Simoneau's Bury My Heart at

Wounded Knee (2007).

4.3. Road Movie

The road-genre is an classic genre in literature featuring canonical works such as

The Odyssey or The Aenid. Moreover, the genre is prominent in (contemporary)

American literature: Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), John

Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939) or Kerouac's On the Road (1957). The typical

set-up is a person going on a journey in a new environment to find something of great

materialistic or spiritual value. An exception to this main rule is Kerouac's novel, where

the goal is the journey itself. A native American equivalent is the vision quest, where a

person, usually male, takes a journey in order to get a great vision or dream.

The prominence of the genre in American literature may be due to the nation's

history. The first settles went on a great journey when they departed for America, from

the first native American tribes from Asia to the Vikings, Columbus and the Pilgrim


Fathers. Furthermore, the native Americans made several great journeys as well, flights

from their homelands to new reservations. The most infamous one being the 'Trail of

Tears' (Riche-Heape Films, 2009). However, many others have taken place and they

have often led to skirmishes or massacres, such as the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 or

the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890.

Aside from the genre's importance in literature, it has developed into a

conspicuous film-genre as well. The most iconic example is probably the film Easy

Rider (1969). Afterwards, the road-genre has become mixed with other genres, like the

action movie (Mad Max, 1979); the comedy The Blues Brothers, 1980, Pee Wee's Big

Adventure,1985, or Dumb and Dumber, 1994; and even the dystopian or post-

apocalyptic-genre The Road, 2009). The standard typical set-up remains that of a person

taking a journey to find something of great materialistic or spiritual value. An exception

might be Natural Born Killers (1994), where the goal seems to be perpetual killing and

living on the road. As in Kerouac's novel, the journey itself seems to be the goal, rather

than the end of the journey. Another classic road-movie is Thelma and Louise (1991). It

is referred to in Smoke Signals (1998), when 'Velma' and 'Lucy' drive Victor and

Thomas to the bus station. Most of these road movies seem to be set in the desert.

Furthermore, most journeys take their protagonists westward, and are in that sense a

nostalgic reference to the 'Wild West' days. One may assume that the reference to the

Wild West has now more or less subsided, but that going westward is still a symbol for

seeking freedom and going on an adventure.

One can conclude that the road-genre has been important and prominent for

literature and film; America and native Americans have, however, a special bond with

the genre, considering it recalls the 'Wild West' days, when America arguably was still a

'free' and unsoiled land. Jean-Luc Goddard even calls the road movie principally

American (Orgeron, 2002: 32). For native Americans there is a triple meaning. Firstly,

it is a bitter memory to their heydays, before their land was taken from them. However,

one must consider the native American tribes were taking land from each other as well.

In this respect, white colonisers were not much different from being 'just another

rivalling tribe', one which all native Americans lost to. Secondly, the journey westward

is a reference to the flight and enforced relocation of native American tribes to the

reservations. Smoke Signals turns this latter journey around, by making it a trip away

from the reservation. However, it remains a reference to the search for their inheritance

and legacy, i.e. their land. This focus on negative episodes in native American history


creates a political dimension in both the literature and the film. One can conclude

Sherman Alexie wants these mistreatments of the native Americans to become general

knowledge –or in the very least, ensure they are not forgotten-. Thirdly, the road-genre

puts the native Americans in a new environment, namely the white man's world. In

Smoke Signals, Victor and Thomas leave the rez, and ought to “get [their] passports

out”, because they're going to America.

4.4. Smoke Signals

''Smoke Signals'' is a reference to the signals-system native Americans used to

communicate, making it a strong reference to native Americanness. Moreover, the fire-

motif in the film is a symbol that unites the past and present, the one being symbolized

by Thomas, who is like a pile of ash and whose name ironically is Builds-the-Fire, the

other by Victor, who is drinking his life away and well on his way to a 'burn-out'.

Furthermore, the 'Smoke' motif may well be a metafictional reference to 'story-smoke'

(Nygren, 2004: 145), the surreptitious but pervasive manner in which Thomas' stories

infiltrate people's dreams, like smoke one's hair and clothes. Hence the smoke signals

could be metaphors for 'story-signals' of stories in general. This latter interpretation

would suit the genre-adaptation well, considering multiple stories are merged into one.

Both the original story and the screenplay for the film were written by Alexie

himself, and he co-directed it with Chris Eyre. The latter is a prolific native American

filmmaker of Cheyenne-Arapaho descent. His filmography includes Smoke Signals

(1998), Skins (2002), A Thief of Time (2004) and other films featuring native Americans

(IMDB). Moreover, both Alexie and Eyre were producers, which means that Alexie had

an input in: casting, costumes, sets, editing, etc (Alexie paraphrased in West & West,

1998: 68). Later, Alexie reminisced about his lack of control over the film: “In writing

books, I am the Fidel Castro of my world. I determine everything. In the filmmaking

project, I'm more like the senator from Wyoming” (Alexie in Grassain, 2005:4). This

quote illustrates Alexie's perception of the movie-making business as a collaborative

venture, rather than a solitary challenge. Smoke Signals was released in 1998 and won

an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival that same year, the Grand Jury Prize

went to Slam (1998) instead. Despite the positive result, Alexie considers himself “first

and foremost a poet and short-story writer, then a novelist, screenwriter, and

filmmaker.” (Grassain, 2005: 7).


4.4.1. The Story

The plot in Smoke Signals is similar to the one in ''TIW''. Victor and Thomas are

two native Americans boys, living in the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation. One day,

Victor gets a message saying his father has passed away in Phoenix, Arizona. However,

he does not have the money to get there. In the local convenience store, Victor

encounters Thomas. The latter proposes to lend Victor the money on the condition that

he may accompany Victor. Slightly reluctant, Victor agrees to this proposition. Hence,

Victor and Thomas then team up to go to Phoenix and come back with the remains of

Victor's father, Arnold. Two native American girls drop them of at the bus station. On

the bus, the two encounter a gymnast and two racist cowboys who take their seats and

are constantly squabbling. At one of the stops, Thomas gets a brief makeover by Victor.

After arriving in Phoenix, the two walk the stretch to the trailer park where Arnold died.

Here, Suzy welcomes them and invites them to have a drink and meal in her trailer.

Victor, Thomas and Suzy exchange stories, from which it is clear Suzy knew his father

well. Victor then investigates his father's trailer and salvages an old family picture.

Meanwhile, Suzy's possible affair with his father angers Victor so much that he leaves

with Thomas without saying goodbye. The two take Arnold's old pick-up truck for their

return to the Coeur d'Alene Indian reservation. On the way, they are involved in a car

crash. Victor decides to run to the nearest town for help, but he faints along the 20 mile

road. After recovering in the hospital, Thomas and Victor decide to make a quick

getaway, considering someone accused Victor of being drunk while driving. At the

police station, however, the charges are dropped and the two head back to the

reservation. Here, Victor repays Thomas by giving him half of his father's ashes. The

film ends with Victor throwing his father's ashes down the river, as Thomas had

suggested.

The plot is an alteration of the odyssey-motif. Instead of a father searching for

his way back home, it features a father searching a way out of there. Furthermore, it is

the children searching for their father (Alexie paraphrased in West & West, 1998:

59,61). Hence, the father-son relationship is a crucial theme in the story. It is a metaphor

for (cultural) inheritance and more specifially, native American identity.

4.4.2. The Characters

In Smoke Signals, Victor and Thomas are the main protagonists. Other important

characters include Suzy, Victor's mom and Thomas' grandmother. Victor is a presumably


full-blood Coeur d'Alene, whose father left his mother when he was young. After

Thomas proposal to go and collect his fathers' ashes, Victor is convinced by his mother

to go on the journey with him. Like Victor, Thomas is a presumably full-blood Coeur

d'Alene. Thomas' parents died in a fire, accidentally started by Victor's dad. He is a

storyteller who uses his coin savings to go on a journey with Victor, to collect the ashes

and belongings of his dad.

Suzy is a woman who might have had an intimate relationship with Victor's dad.

She knows several of his secrets and convinces Victor to go and take the former

belongings of his dad. Victor's mom seems a regular and friendly woman, who is gifted

at baking frybread. Finally, there is Thomas grandmother, who has been taking care of

him since his parents died in the fire. Furthermore, she is dressed very old-fashioned.

4.4.3. Formal Characteristics

Smoke Signals has a duration of 90 minutes. It is a colour-film, filmed by

Panavision cameras with an aspect ratio of 1.85 : 1. The latter is considered a standard

ratio although it differs from the 1.37:1 academy ratio . Furthermore, it has a sound-

track. The film consists of 15 scenes (Alexie, 1998). On the level of narration, the film

features a visual-narrator or monstrator and one audio-narrator or voice-over: Thomas.

The latter narrates embedded stories, the opening and ending of the film. Alexie

explains his preference of the monstrator “[a film is] more like poetry, about images.”

(Alexie qtd in Teters, 2009: 56). Yet his literary background led to an interesting

dialogue and structural composition, which becomes clear in the following sections.

5. Media-Adaptation

5.1. Introduction

Media-adaptations are transformations of the medium, such as film into

literature, paintings into literature, music into literature etc. Usually, these medium-

adaptations are combined with a kind of genre-adaptation: paintings can be transformed

into poems, and poetry is a specific genre of literature. One may wonder if there is such

a thing as a corresponding genre between two different media. One of the possible

examples hereof could be the short-film and short-story.

Adaptations have an elaborate history, starting with the transposition of oral

stories and songs into written stories or poems. Yet, the only kind of medium adaptation


relevant to this analysis is the transformation of literature into film. The latter

transformation's history begins with the rise of film, around the beginning of the

twentieth century (Hendricks, 1966: 2), though the medium’s invention dates from the

nineteenth century. Ever since, there have been many kinds of literature-to-film

adaptations. Firstly, there are novel-to-film adaptations, such as Mary Shelley's

Frankenstein (1823) into James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) or the contemporary

adaptation of Yann Martel's Life of Pi (2001) into Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012).

Secondly, there are famous adaptations of poetry into film, like Beowulf into Robert

Zemeckis's Beowulf (2007) or Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky (1871) into Monty Python's

Jabberwocky (1977). Thirdly, there is drama into film, featuring many Shakespeare

adaptations. Moreover, every screenplay is a kind of drama text. Hence numerous films

are screenplay adaptations. Fourthly, numerous films have been based on short-stories,

an eminent example being Arthur C. Clarke's short-story The Sentinel (1951) which

was turned into Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Despite these many

instances of literature-to-film adaptations, not too many composite fictions have been

adapted into films. The best example may be Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen , i.e.

fairy fales (1812) into Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm (2005), which is an

adaptation of various stories into one longer narrative. Furthermore, four instalments

from Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novel series (1991) have been adapted into the

neo-noir movie of the same title (2005, dir. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez).

However, the storyline of the film remained of a composite nature.

Despite the great number of adaptations of all sorts, requiring more careful

categorization and subcategorization, Thomas Leitch wonders whether or not “there is

such a thing as contemporary adaptation theory” (150). Simone Murray further added

that “Even a casual observer of the field of adaptation studies would perceive that the

discipline is clearly suffering from intellectual dolours” (2008, 1). In spite of the

scepticism, several different models have in fact been posited. Among the most

authoritative texts is Robert Stam's ''Introduction to The Theory and Practice of

Adaptation'' from his and Alessandro Raengo’s collection of essays, Literature and

Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation (2005). George

Bluestone's Novels Into Films: The Metamorphosis of Fiction into Cinema (1957) used

to be one of the most quoted sources in film adaptation theory, however, it has lost its

present relevance due to its limiting focus on fidelity. Originally, the most frequently

discussed aspect of adaptation was the notion of 'fidelity' (Andrew, 1985: 100 &


Murray, 2008, 7). Contemporary adaptation theories seem to have moved away from the

focus on fidelity, Robert Stam's ''Beyond Fidelity: The Dialogics of Adaptation'' (2000,

1) and Lawrence Venutti's ''Adaptation, Translation, Critique'' (2007, 25) focus on new

issues and argue that the focus should not be on fidelity, because every adaptation is

essentially a new, original product. Furthermore, Jean-Paul Sartre has argued that

fidelity-research reveals nothing about the mutational process (1949, 245). Bluestone

adds that change is inevitable in adaptations (1957, 3). Hutcheon argues that it is this

tension between repetition and difference that appeals to audiences in the first place

(2006, 2). Simone Murray historically organised these different starting points of

adaptation theorists in three waves. The first wave is the text-fidelity wave. The second

wave is structuralist-inspired and researches narratology, filmic techniques and the two-

way dynamic between literature and film, as several modernist writers incorporated

montage-techniques in their novels. She argues the third wave is influenced by post-

structuralist theories concerning culture, politics and audience reception. She continues

by saying that production context and financial contexts have so far been neglected

(Murray, 2008, 8), which is true, but only to some extent, given exceptions like Yannis

Tzioumakis. In any case, I limit my investigation of fidelity, considering it tends to

downplay the creative aspect of adaptation, even if ''This Is What It Means to Say

Phoenix, Arizona'' is a mere seventeen pages long and 'loyalty' to them might just seem

possible.

Next to the text, adapters are important factors to be considered in

transformations. Their background can reveal why certain adaptations did or did not

take place, why they work or don’t work. Sometimes they are also subjects of great

controversy. The most famous example is Homer's Illiad and Odyssey, consisting as

they do of orally transmitted stories, “recorded” in writing. The identity of Homer, the

bard to whom the adaptation is attributed, has often been debated. The question remains

whether or not Homer is a man or a group of people or even a school. Martin West

argues Homer is a fictional construction, which implies that the Illiad and Odyssey can

not be credited to one person (1999, 364). In several cases, adapters have become a

label for a genre or quality of the adaptation. Director Tim Burton seems to be

considered a guarantee for a kind of R-rated, qualitative dark-fantasy film.

The background of both adaptors, Alexie and Eyre, has to be taken into

account in order to fully understand the adaptation. Alexie credits his love for movies to

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) (1998: vii). Furthermore, the movie credits thank


L.M. 'Kit' Carson, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986). Carson was

also a jury member at the 1987 Sundance Film Festival. His role in Smoke Signals,

however, is unclear. Yet it is likely he had an influence on either the film or the script.

The most prominent aspect to consider in this analysis is Alexie and Eyre's native

Americanness. Yet, Alexie's background as a writer should not be neglected. It may

seem rather discriminatory to consider someone's 'ethnicity' or 'race' as his or her most

prominent quality, but in this case this aspect is quite relevant. The native American

heritage of Alexie and Eyre is translated into the theme of the film, but also shows in

their representation of white people and unstereotypical portrayal of the Spokane

people. Furthermore, the ending credits thank the Sundance Film Institute, which may

have provided support to the screenplay, test audiences or the budget.

In my analysis I investigate the notion of fidelity and the implications or possible

reasons for any alterations or similarities. I do not devote a separate section to fidelity,

but it is discussed throughout the other sections. Furthermore, I use structuralist

adaptation-theories based on Robert Stam's ''Introduction: The Theory and Practice of

Adaptation'' (2005) to analyze the mise-en-scene. Firstly, there is the application of

Genette's levels-of-transtextuality theory to film, the investigation of inter-, para-, meta-

and archi- and hypertexts (2005: 26-31). Secondly, the relationship between literary and

filmic narratology is discussed, which includes the aspects of 'narrator', 'focalization',

'time', 'space', 'character', 'plot' and narrative strategies (Stam, 2005: 32-41; 2000: 72).

The notions of time and space are further investigated by Bakhtin's concept of

chronotropes (MacCannel, 1985: 969). Hence, the mise-en-scene is prismatically

discussed throughout each of these sections which all focus on one particular aspect. I

opt for a structuralist approach because of its transparency. Structuralist models allow

for a clear portrayal of aspect X in literature into aspect Y in film. The latter may be

especially useful in the case of adaptation, as it attempts to reveal how different media

attempt to attain the same effect using different media-specific tehcniques. The genre-

adaptation and thematic analysis-section provide a more poststructuralist point of view,

focussing on how a theme in literature is transformed into the same theme in film.

Hence, the figure of Brian Capener is crucial. The latter is the director of photography

and 'controls' by a large extent under what conditions – angle, distance, zoom...- the

shots are taken.


5.2. Levels of Transtextuality

Genette identifies five different levels of textuality in literature (1992, 1997).

Firstly, there is the intertextual level, which is described as “the copresence of two

products in the form of quotation, plagiarism, and allusion.” (Stam, 2005: 27). Paul

Claes’s additional differentiation between different forms of intertextuality can be

represented by the following table.

Transformation

\

Levels

ADDITION DELETION SUBSTITUTION REPETITION

Form amplification paraphrase alteration structural quote*

Meaning extension condensation distortion allusion

Combination annex compression modification Combined

quote**

Table 1. Forms of Intertextuality (De Strycker, 2012)

*In Paul Claes's Echo's Echo's (2011), the 'structural quote' is a 'letter or phone quote'. However, Claes's

investigation concerns poetry and in films or other media this limited concept loses much of its

relevance. Hence, the term 'structural quote'.

** To avoid confusion, the original term 'quote' (citaat) is renamed 'combined quote'.

The second level is paratextuality. This level contains all the content 'around' the

textual product, which includes book covers, forewords, tables of content, commercial

advertising etc. Thirdly, there is the level of metatextuality. The latter includes all

content that refers to the original content, such as reviews, essays, criticism and

rewritings etc. The work itself can contain metatextual elements, as I point out later on.

Alternatively, the paratext consits of the peritext and epitext. The peritext includes

elements on the cover and inside the work, apart from the 'story body (or text)'. The

epitext contains elements that refer to the work, such as interviews etc. The fourth level

of the architext refers to the titles and subtitles of a text. However, it is common to

include their analysis in the paratext, as title-depiction may be related to the cover or

paratext. The fifth level is the 'hypertext, which is a hypothetical construct that functions

as the abstract original of every textual production and reproduction (Stam, 2005: 29-

31). The Odyssey and Le Mépris (dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) have the same hypertext.

It must be specified that Genette uses the concept of 'text' (or story body) in a narrow


sense, as titles, covers etc are not 'really' part of the text whereas one could argue they

do belong to the text. Yet I use Genette's terminology for sake of convenience.

Furthermore, it allows me to efficiently point out (differences in) the location, nature or

relevance of several elements.

On the level of intertextuality, there are several transformations of “This Is What

It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”' into Smoke Signals. These transformations are

discussed in the narratology, space, time, plot and character sections. The extensiveness

of these transformations indeed prevents me from listing them in one section. Here

Paul Claes's terminology as sketched above is used.

Image 1. Cover of Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

(1993)

The paratext of The Lone Ranger differs considerably from the paratext of

Smoke Signals. Firstly, the cover of the Grove Press edition of The Lone Ranger shows

two men, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, who 'fistfight'. On the other hand, the cover of the


Miramax edition of Smoke Signals depicts three people, laughing and standing close to

each other which implies a kind of affection. The latter is rather deceiving, considering

these three people on the cover are not friends. Suzy, who stands in the middle, has been

left behind without a 'goodbye'. Yet the original movie script did include an elaborate

leave-taking featuring Thomas getting kissed by Suzy. The film cover's divergence from

Image 2. Cover of Smoke Signals (1998) – Miramax 2011 edition

the film may be due to the fact that promotional material is often shot on set,

independently of the movie footage (Photopreneur, 2008). Furthermore, Victor and

Thomas constantly fight, and much like the ending of ''TIW'', nothing indicates a lasting

friendship. Also, Thomas is shown with his modern outfit and t-shirt that says “frybread

power”. Yet Thomas only wears this for a short period in the film and quickly returns to

wearing ratty old braids and a geeky outfit with matching glasses. If the cover of Smoke

Signals does not reflect the character and their relationships in the film, the choice of a

picture of three friends seems more appealing from a commercial point of view.


Moreover, the smiling native Americans may have been a way to correct Alexie's

criticism of portraying native Americans too pessimistic. That Miramax did not opt for a

more artistic cover could also imply they their target audience was not necessarily

artistic, either. Moreover, the lack of an interesting cover may indicate that the film's

budget was not? big enough for a 'decent' cover artist. The cover of The Lone Ranger

depicts a 'flying' salmon and a basketball ring, a pick-up truck and a grand fire, even a

lighting. The salmon and basketball ring are running motifs in the short-story composite

and the salmon may refer to the father of Victor's “rise like a salmon” (74).

Remarkably, the grand fire and pick-up truck do not feature in any of the stories of The

Lone Ranger, yet they are crucial motifs in Smoke Signals. In contrast, the cover of

Smoke Signals does not reveal any central themes or motifs. The backcover of the dvd,

however, does feature a screenshot of Victor (Adam Beach) playing basketball (Smoke

Signals, 2011). Secondly, Sherman Alexie's name has been traded for the Miramax

label. Moreover, Alexie is not credited as a director, although he performed directors'

duties. This confirms the common assumption that film-making is a collaborative

venture, rather than the work of an 'individual genius', which is the common belief

concerning authors and their books (Snyder, 2011; 172).

The Lone Ranger cover contains several metatextual quotes: “poetic and

unremittingly honest”, “startles and dazzles”, “living, loving, above all, laughing”

(1993). By comparison, the quotes from Smoke Signals seem to rank or rate the movie

and foreground the comic aspect: “One Of The Best Films Of The Year”, “Two Big

Thumbs Up”, “Very Funny”. These film quotes feature a more simple choice of words.

Furthermore, the quotes seem shorter than their literary counterparts. One could argue

this reveals literature more verbose and perhaps elite connotation. The architextual

references, or title-references, are explained in sections 3.4. and 4.4. The level of

hypertext is not investigated in this analysis, considering the contested relevance and

existence of so-called depth-structures and depth-texts.

5.3. Literary and Filmic Narratology

Literary and filmic narratology is investigated on seven levels: plot, narrative

strategies, characters, space, time, narrator and focalization or point of view. In each of

these sections, Robert Stam's theories and methodology are used as a basis for the

analysis, though I add various aspects Stam neglects. These include transitions,


narrative interest and the screenplay.

5.3.1. Plot

In order to investigate the plot, I use a combination of two theories. Firstly, there

is a fidelity-analysis, in order to analyse what plot-elements from the original text, The

Lone Ranger, are kept. Secondly, the development of the stories is researched by means

of both literary and filmic transitions. The literary terminology is based on Herman and

Vervack (2005) and the filmic concepts on Verstraeten (2009). The montage of Smoke

Signals is investigated in both this section and the following one concerning narrative

strategies. Several differences are not due to the media-adaptation but to the genre-

adaptation. Hence, any elements that relate to The Lone Ranger are discussed under

'genre-adaptations', any elements that relate to ''TIW'' are discussed in this section. I

consider the transposition from composite novel to screenplay, or singular story, a

genre-adaptation. The section focusses on the media-adaptation, transforming prose to

image and sound.

Smoke Signals bears many resemblances to ''TIW''. That story’s plot ' could be

considered the structural narrative support for the film. Victor and Thomas Builds-the-

Fire both live in the Coeur d'Alene reservation. As in ''TIW'', Victor's father dies in

Smoke Signals which is the reason both go on a trip to Phoenix, Arizona. Along the way

they encounter Cathy the Gymnast. In both works the companions succeed in retrieving

the belongings and ashes of Victor’s father and in bringing them back to the reservation.

Next to the similarities, there are many differences as well. In Smoke Signals,

Victor's father is responsible for the death of Thomas' parents, whereas in ''TIW'', they

died during the war and while giving birth. This change allows for Arnold Joseph's

involvement in killing Thomas' parents. Hence, the bond between Victor and Thomas is

strengthened, or rather the rivalry and tension are enhanced. Furthermore, the structural

implication is that Arnold, a modern drunk Coeur d'Alene, has killed the Coeur d'Alenes

of the old tradition (cf. Thomas). Moreover, when Arnold leaves in Smokes Signals he

does not leave one son but two, as he feels responsible for Thomas after the accident.

This alteration can be considered essential to the film, considering a film needs to

feature a minimum of character-development, whereas a short-story can continue using

stereotypes or flat characters. Another remarkable change is that Victor and Thomas

take a bus to Phoenix instead of an airplane. There are two main reasons for this


alteration. The first reason is one of tone. A greyhound bus conveys more of road-like

feeling in contrast to an airplane. Moreover, a bus ride prolongs the journey and thus the

film, which was necessary because the central story, ''TIW'', is relatively short.

Moreover, several scenes are added to the film, including a conversation in the

gym, dinner at Thomas' and Victor's house, a ride in Velma and Lucy's car, dinner at

Suzy's trailer, a car crash, a visit to the hospital and the questioning at the police station.

Several of these differences do not relate to scenes, locations or elements in other stories

of The Lone Ranger. This is the case for the dinner at Thomas' and Victor's house,

hence its importance from the filmic perspective. The dinner scene allows the viewer to

sympathize with both characters for it shows their vulnerable and human sides: taking

good advice from their mother. Once more, a film alteration serves the purpose of

establishing a round character. The ride in Velma and Lucy's car is a structural quote, an

intertextual reference to Thelma and Louise (dir. Riddley Scott, 1991). Yet this scene is

not obsolete and has a distinct plot-purpose. Next to the intertextual reference, this

scene serves to develop an on-the-road feeling. Moreover, it is an allusion to native

Americans and their rickety cars, houses etc.

The scenes with Suzy are once more used to develop the characters. She brings

about a change in Victor, as she confides to him that his father killed Thomas' parents.

Remarkably, she brings Victor and Thomas closer to each other. After learning the

secret, Victor decides not to tell Thomas, lest he loses another 'father', as Victor's dad

looked after Thomas after the incident. In a way, this proves Victor's emotional

involvement with Thomas. In contrast, women in road movies tend to worsen the

relationship between the male protagonists, such as in The Warriors (dir. Walter Hill,

1979), Dumb and Dumber (dir. Peter Farrelly, 1994), Bandits (dir. Barry Levinson,

2001) etc. The car crash scene is an alteration and annex of the jackrabbit-road kill

passage (72). The complications of the car crash imply both the hospital and police

station scenes. Moreover it reveals Victor's heroic nature as he runs back several miles

to get help. There is also a white woman who takes Victor's side against another white

man. This is a significant moment, considering that in The Lone Ranger there are but

few white people present and those rare characters are always portrayed in a pejorative

way. This may have something to with the film's target audience. The latter focusses on

as broad as possible group of people, considering it needs to appeal to a lot of people to

make profit. By comparison, a novel does not have such expensive production costs,

hence it needs to sell less to make profit, which presumably allows more extreme and


artistic experiments. If Smoke Signals had portrayed every white character in a

pejorative manner, white people may have been offended, which might have resulted in

bad criticism and low sell rates. However, Alexie and Eyre may have come to the

conclusion that depicting all white people negatively would be one-sided. The latter

impression may be reinforced by the fact that a few white actors were very eager to

work on the film and the criticism on The Lone Ranger.

Herman and Vervaeck do not comment on transitions between literary scenes

(2005). Hence, one can conlude there is no commonly accepted model for this aspect of

literature. I define a literary scene as “a paragraph or set of paragraphs that is not

separated by an ellipse” (once an ellipse occurs, the scene automatically changes) and

use my own model based on Verstraten's model of narrative logic : the logic of filmic

scene transitions (2009: 22-30). I drop the distinction between metonymic and

metaphorical relations. Often, both relations can co-occur, which makes this hard to

differentiate between the two. In other novels, however, the distinction may be relevant

but it does not seem to apply to The Lone Ranger very much. Yet, one should be aware

of the metaphorical level of relations between certain scenes. An example in ''TIW'' is

the flashback of Thomas jumping off the school roof (70), a single instant where

Thomas can fly and presumably is as happy as can be. In the previous paragraphs,

Victor and Thomas' relationship seems to be getting better. Hence, the implication is

that Thomas is so considerably happy because Victor has become his friend. The

flashback, indeed, in no other way seems to be connected to the present storyline. The

metaphorical relation between these scenes can also be perceived as a transition of

theme. Hence, I drop the category of metaphorical relations.

I distinguish six categories of relations between literary scenes: Space, Time,

Object (motif), Character, Action and Theme. These categories indicate what the

constant or link between two scenes is. In ''TIW'', an example of a metonymic space-

relation is the jump-cut transition between the scene where Victor calls the tribal council

for money and his arrival at the Trading Post to claim it (60). There is an ellipse

between both scenes, but due to the metonymic relation of space the reader can

reconstruct a meaningful link between both scenes. Moreover, there are examples of

metonymic object (the bicycle) (62), character (the relationship Victor-Thomas) (60,

65), action (the airplane flight) (67) and theme-relationships in ''TIW''.

Verstraten's theory of filmic scene-transitions distinguishes five categories :

causal, spatial, temporal, metaphoric and metonymic relations (2009: 22-30). Yet I


continue to use my own paradigm because it allows for the extra differentiation between

action, theme and character-relations. Although every medium may call for its own

distinct approach, this model seems to work in film as well. In Smoke Signals, there are

no metaphorical transitions, which for some may prove the film's lack of experiment. As

for the other transitions, the film contains at least one example for each sub-category

except for object-transitions. Firstly, the transition from Victor's house to the Trading

Post is one of space. The ending of one scene is set in the Joseph Housing and Urban

Development residence. The first shot of the next scene shows Victor entering the

Trading Post store to collect money. The ellipse here is the way Victor walked (or

drove) between his house and the store. Hence, the transition is one of space, where the

constant element is Victor. Apart from the ellipse, time remains relatively constant or at

least the shift in time is not important here. Victor presumably left his house at noon and

supposedly gets to the store at noon as well. Secondly, a transition in time is situated in

the beginning of the film. The first three scenes of the film are set in 1976. The fourth

scene opens with a “1998”, denoting the story is now taking place in 1998, which was

the present when the film was released. The transition between the third scene and the

fourth scene is the clearest example of a time-transition, ending in 1976 and opening

with 1998. Another example is the transition between the 1998 Trading Post scene and

Victor's flashback to the same Trading Post in his childhood. One scene ends with

Victor walking out the 1998 Trading Post and the next scene opens with young Victor

walking out the Trading Post in 1988 (1998: 7). Thirdly, the shift between the gym

scene and the flashback is a clear character-related transition. The first scene

exemplifies the tense relationship between Thomas and Victor. Hence, the flashback

elaborates on how these characters became rivals. In a character-transition the link is

provided by the thoughts of the character. These can be stories or memories. In various

cases, these character-related-transitions are supported by certain motifs, such as

Thomas' story about frybread or Suzy's about basketball. Yet these transitions are

mainly ascribed to the thoughts or imagination of certain characters.

There is an extra kind of transition in Smoke Signals that is only possible in the

film-medium. Voice-over can be used to link certain scenes. The clearest example of

this is the transition between Thomas's house and the first road-scene. Here, Victor is

heard saying : “Okay, Thomas, I need the money and you can come with me, but I have

a few rules. First of all, you can't wear that stupid suit.” In the first shot of the next

scene, Victor continues: “Secondly, I don't want you to tell me a million of your stories.


And third we're going right there and coming right back.”. Moreover, the element of

sound, as music or voice-over, can be used as a means of connecting various shots in

one and the same scene. In Smoke Signals the song “Million Miles Away” by Jim Boyd

functions as a connecting element between three different, lengthy shots.

In both The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals the same kind of transitions are

used. This may be due to the fact that Sherman Alexie wrote the composite novel and

screenplay, which is a kind of literature as well. The only exception pertains to the

sound, a dimension remaining virtual or verbal in literature. In both The Lone Ranger

and Smoke Signals flashbacks tend to end with a return to the main story without any

linking-element. An exception in Smoke Signals is the return from the basketball-

flashback to Suzy's trailer at night. Here, a basketball rolls from the flashback into the

present. This technique is used several times in the film. At one point, Victor leaves out

of the 1998 Trading Post door and walks outside as 1988 Victor. Moreover, in one scene

the viewer sees 1988 Victor alongside the bus running, this shot then zooms out to the

interior of the bus, showing the present Victor and Thomas. One can conclude the film

is more original in its use of transitions, even if similar scenes in The Lone Ranger tend

to feature similar transitions in Smoke Signals. Thomas' walk from his house to the

Trading Post is “edited” by a space-transition in both stories. The same principle can be

applied to the flight, allowing for a jump-cut to the arrival in Phoenix.

One can conclude Smoke Signals attempts to portray round and multifaceted

characters, whereas ''TIW'' features more flat characters. Moreover, literary scene-

transitions in ''TIW'' can be analysed in the same way as filmic-transitions. In several

cases, Smoke Signals features similar transitions as ''TIW'' between similar scenes.

5.3.2. Narrative Strategies

In literature and film different narrative strategies can be used. This section

investigates which strategies are used in both media, and how they relate to one another.

The analysis researches three different levels. Firstly, there is the plot structure, which

uses concepts such as onset, rising action, conflict, complication, climax, falling action

and resolution. This conventional order of the occurrences for each of these levels is not

imposed on the literature under discussion because it may prove too arbitrary,

considering a number of phases have already been left out. Secondly, there is the

element of narrative interest. Thirdly, there are narrative strategies which are medium-


specific. Such strategies are investigated in both media.

The plot structure of The Lone Ranger is a rather complex one. There seems to

be neither a chronological organisation nor a thematic one. I am not certain if a supra-

structure can be applied to this composite in particular, nor if it would be meaningful to

do so, but one could consider ''The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire'' as a climax. The

fact that two new stories were simply added at the end of the 2005-edition further

supports the idea that there is no supra-structural organisation in The Lone Ranger. In

contrast to the short-story composite, the story ''TIW'' features a plot-structure.

Using the conventional terms, it can be described as follows: Onset – rising action –

climax – falling action. The story starts with a the death of Victor's dad and the need to

retrieve his ashes in Phoenix, which is the onset. One could consider the retrieval the

rising action. The climax is the retrieval of the ashes and the flashback where Thomas

believes he can fly. On the way back, the tension drops, which could be considered the

falling action. Eventually, the story ends quite serenely, although there is no resolution

of any kind.

In Smoke Signals, the plot structure has drastically changed. The story starts with

a contextualization in the past and present. The death of Victor’s father and the need to

retrieve his ashes and the trip to Phoenix could be considered as the onset and rising

action, as in ''TIW''. Yet, when the companions retrieve the ashes, there is an emerging

conflict with Suzy, who supposedly was Arnold's lover and who seems to have known

him better than Victor. To a lesser degree, the same conflict is repeated between Victor

and Thomas, because the latter keeps telling stories about Arnold that Victor did not

know. On returning to Phoenix, there is a complication when Victor and Thomas are

involved in a car crash. The final climax is Victor's dispersing of the ashes in the

Spokane River. It is perhaps remarkable that it is the film that ends with a climax, rather

than the short-story which ends serenely. Based on their generic distinctivness and

relative potential for development, one would expect the opposite. , The film's need for

contextualization, conflict and complication tends to give the story more 'body'. But

such narrative fleshing out is very much a matter of genre-adaptation, in the sense that

the story of Smoke Signals combines numerous stories from The Lone Ranger.

Narrative interest in The Lone Ranger is conveyed by means of emotional

involvement. The latter is triggered by the reader's knowledge or prescience of certain

events combined with the character's ignorance of these same events (Bal, 1990: 129).

Firstly, the stories in The Lone Ranger are not chronologically organised, which means


the reader sometimes has knowledge of events situated prior to or later than the

narrative present of the story the reader is reading. It is this knowledge of usually tragic

events that evokes the emotional involvement. Hence, the emotional involvement is not

contained within the story, but rather something that the short-story composite as a

whole evokes.

In Smoke Signals narrative interest is the result of emotional involvement as

well. Several techniques are used to loosen an emotion in the viewer. First of all, Smoke

Signals features meanness among children, which tends to increase its impact because

of the contrast with children's conventional innocence. The scenes in The Lone

Ranger featuring children fighting are not quite as confronting as those in Smoke

Signals. Moreover, the film avoids pathos as it does not portray any crying characters.

The end features Victor screaming, yet there is no close-up of his tears, which makes the

movie considerably more realistic. One could argue this further adds to the emotional

involvement, albeit one that is mainly retrospective, reserved for the aftermath of the

movie. All the same, the emotional involvement is also aimed for by facial expressions

of the actors and when Thomas is portrayed as a geeky, naïve and harmless kind of

person, Victor’s meanness to him induces feelings of pity in the viewer.

Image 3. Thomas, The Storyteller.

Media-specific strategies for The Lone Ranger cannot be separated from the

genre-specific strategies. In this case, by showing glimpses of each character's life, a


larger community-story is conveyed metonymically?. Furthermore, literature allows

these stories to be as numerous and long as 'necessary', as a reader can always stop

reading after one story. In the case of the film, however, such a pause is not possible and

thus the available length is limited. Also, the human attention span is limited. Smoke

Signals transposes the viewer's (fore)knowledge of tragic events in the form of

flashbacks where children are mean to each other, or find themselves in deplorable

situations such as drinking parties.

Smoke Signals features crosscutting to portray the similar households of Thomas

and Victor, as well as their similarities and relationship. Their present fighting becomes

all the more tragic because they are both so alike. Moreover, there is a second instance

of crosscutting. When Victor and Thomas leave for the reservation, Suzy can be seen

burning Arnold's trailer. Hence, this scene enhances the similarities between all three

characters through their potential for a 'new beginning'. In Smoke Signals, there is also

an instance of overlapping. In the beginning of the film, various shots of the burning

house are repeatedly shown from a different perspective for an intensifying effect. As

mentioned, sound-cuts or voice-over transitions are frequently used throughout Smoke

Signals. Moreover, the film features several scenes with long shots and rapid cuts,

which have been a distinct feature of road movies since Easy Rider (1969) (Orgeron,

2002: 43).

5.3.3. Characters

Several characters from The Lone Ranger in one way or another reappear in

Smoke Signals, the section on genre-adaptations has charted this aspect in an elaborate

list. The present section focusses mainly on Victor and Thomas, for the simple reason

that the other characters in Smoke Signals are either new characters or combinations of

several different characters from The Lone Ranger. Victor and Thomas' portrayal is

discussed, yet, I do not focus on their background, considering that this is almost

identical in both the composite novel and movie adaptation. Nevertheless, I do mention

the actors’ real-life background, considering “spectatorial impressions are […] shaped

by what we already know about the actor's performances” (Stam, 2005: 23). The

characters' performances are made more genuinely native American by letting them use

'colloquial' discourse. A simple greeting is turned from 'hey' or 'hello' into 'ya-hey'.

Victor's appearance is barely described. The few descriptions one can find


include information on his hair, which he wears long and loose (14, 85). Yet as a child

his hair was short (171). Moreover, as a child, Victor wore “horn-rimmed, ugly glasses”

(171), which implies he looked a bit like Thomas. In Smoke Signals, Victor is portrayed

with long hair, wearing a lumberjack shirt and boots. There is, however, a remarkable

shift in his clothing. After Victor saved the woman in the car crash, he wears a cowboy-

style shirt. One could consider this a reference to the figure of the The Lone Ranger, as

Image 4. Victor, The Lone Ranger.

presented in the popular TV and film versions. Victor rescues the woman in the car

crash while wearing this shirt, suggesting cars have replaced horses as in Powwow

Highway (1989). As a child he is supposed to look like Thomas. Yet in Smoke Signals,

the young Victor looks a lot like the older Victor, and never shows any resemblances

with Thomas. Their similar heritage, however, is stressed by the crosscut scenes. The

adult Victor is usually drunk in The Lone Ranger, yet in Smoke Signals he is never

shown drinking and he even claims “I don't drink, I never had a drop of alcohol in my

life”, although that may seem unlikely. Victor's love of basketball is conveyed by the

gym scenes. In addition, Victor is played by Adam Beach, who has acted the role of

native American in many film and became popular by acting in Disney's Squanto: A

Warrior's Tale (1994) and in Dance me Outside (1994). Hence, the choice for Adam

Beach immediately enhances Victor's native Americanness. Furthermore, Victor's

warrior-stereotype is well transposed to the screen by means of Adam Beach's height, in


relation to Evan Adams (Thomas). The latter is a mere 1.57m tall, whereas Adam Beach

is about 1.82m (IMDB). The film’s casting thus tends to enhance the contrast between

Victor and Thomas. Moreover, it provides a more optimist version of Victor's character,

which is further proof of Alexie’s considering the criticism on The Lone Ranger.

Thomas' appearance is described merely twice in The Lone Ranger : “that crazy

Indian storyteller with ratty old braids and broken teeth” (66) and “Thomas, who wore

his best ribbon shirt [...]” (95). A ribbon shirt is a traditional piece of native American

clothing. In Smoke Signals, the adult Thomas is portrayed with braids, glasses and an

out-of fashion three-piece suit. In this respect, the adult Thomas does not differ all that

much from the young Thomas, who also wears glasses, braids and a waistcoat. On

Victor's advice, Thomas briefly trades his uniform for a more 'modern' outfit, consisting

of a shirt that says 'frybread power' and casual black jeans. Furthermore, Thomas

loosens his hair, but keeps his glasses. After the car crash, Thomas shifts back to his old

Image 5. Thomas' makeover.

style of clothing. The actor who plays the role of Thomas is the relatively unknown

Evan Adams, who featured in a handful of TV-movies and series. Hence, Adams was

ideally suited to play Thomas, who is a shady and unpopular figure. The film depicts

Thomas in his out-of fashion and a-modern look by means of his three-piece suit. Yet

the film modernized Thomas by not depicting him with a ribbon shirt. In many ways,

the film adapted Thomas’ character from a traditional native American to that of a

geeky, out-of-touch native American. Furthermore, Thomas confesses he does not know


“how to be an Indian”, which is something the Thomas in The Lone Ranger is unlikely

to say. Perhaps Eyre feared that putting a traditionally clothed native American on

screen would have been comic, which is not the effect Alexie might have wanted to

convey. Hence, the choice for a sightly more modern Thomas in the movie. Thomas is

also mainly responsible for the humor in the film. The comic effect is conceived by

gags, such as: The makeover-scene, Thomas mocking Victor with “Jeez, Victor, I guess

your warrior look doesn't work every time” or Even Adams' improvised joke “Look,

Victor, I'm an auxiliary for the Olympics” while doing a cartwheel.

Thomas' storytelling in Smoke Signals is much more ambiguous than in The

Lone Ranger. In the latter, Thomas supposedly always tells the truth, whereas the filmic

Thomas presumably lies as well. There are various indications to his variations on the

truth: “What. You want me to tell the truth? Or do you want lies?” (Suzy), “I want both”

(Thomas”); “You've told me that Denny's story a few hundred times, Thomas. Except

sometimes, it's a Taco Bell. Sometimes, it's a KFC. And once, just once, it was Pizza

Hut.” (Victor). The latter proves the relevance of the énonciation-theory, which puts one

should make a distinction between the filmic histoire and discours -as in literary

theories-. The histoire denotes the events as they happened, and the discours refers to

the way in which the narrators – visual and audio-narrator – describe it. In Smoke

Signals, the viewer is left wondering what exactly really happened and what is

exaggerated or even invented. This becomes even more relevant in relation to the

ending, as Thomas narrates the ending, the viewer cannot know whether or no the end is

'real' or if it is a mental shot of Thomas' story. The same doubt can be applied to the

beginning of the film -the burning house scenes- although the latter is partially

confirmed later in the film when young Victor says “What colour do you think your

mom and dad were when they burned up?”.

5.3.4. Space and Time

Space and Time are inseparable. Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of the chronotrope

binds both time and space in 'time space'. Remarkably, Einstein's relativity theory drew

on this litearary-theoretical concept (Brandão, 2006: 133). The point is that ideally, time

and space ought to be discussed in relation to one another. This idea is further supported

by George Bluestone (1957: 61). Although I discuss both aspects in different sections, I

discuss parts of both concepts in each section.


5.3.1.1. Space

In The Lone Ranger the usual locus is the Coeur d'Alene reservation. Hence, few

locations are mentioned and even less described. The mentioned places include the

Trading Post (60), Spokane Falls (74), Tshimikain Creek (76), Benjamin Lake (13),

Mother's Restaurant (5) and the Pow Wow Tavern. Remarkably, all these places exist,

which adds to the autobiographical aspect of The Lone Ranger. Furthermore, several

HUD houses (1) are mentioned, along with Winnebago trailers (40). HUD houses are

facilities provided by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

for people with financial difficulties. Moreover, The Lone Ranger adds an acoustic

dimension to the spatial setting by elements such as “the sound of drums” (19). The

latter reinforces the native American character of the film and the different portrayed

places: the Coeur d' Alene reservation and the American plains or land. The usual

season in The Lone Ranger is “winter” (1), as implied by motifs like the “frozen grass”

(113).

The few visual descriptions in The Lone Ranger all imply the deplorable

situation of the Coeur d'Alenes. This is translated into the movie by depicting the

reservation as a messy place. A major difference is the change of locus from the

“Spokane Indian Reservation” to the “The Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation” in Smoke

Signals.

Image 6. The Messy Coeur d' Alene Reservation.

Firstly, the residences consist of trailers or wooden houses. Outside these homes, there


is usually rubbish , such as old microwaves, televisions etc. As might be expected, the

trailer park in Phoenix is equally untidy. The reservation Trading Post is

also present in Smoke Signals and its exterior sign ( “Warpath Trading Post”) is

featured in the background. The name of the store could be an element of irony as well,

referring to the role of trading posts in America's history or to native American

stereotypes. Remarkably, there is no verbal evidence of Victor’s waiting, although it is

mentioned in both The Lone Ranger (61) and the screenplay (21). Secondly, there is the

equally messy interior of these houses and trailers. Arnold's trailer features several props

that relate to his home, the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, such as a map of Washington

state, an Uncle Sam-style poster of a native American and a picture of him, Victor and

Arlene in his wallet that says “Home” on the back side. Thomas' house is an exception,

as it is a very tidy and considerably modern place. This conveys the idea that Thomas

differs from the other Coeur d'Alenes. Moreover, it supports Thomas’ riches in The

Lone Ranger. However, the glass container full of pennies Thomas offers Victor, again

undermines the image of a rich Thomas.

The cold temperatures are conveyed by shots with cloudy skies and puddles.

Furthermore, it seems likely several shots were filmed with a blue filter, to make the

images slightly darker. In Smoke Signals the typical openness of road movies is evoked

by means of long shots, where a car, bus or pick-up truck can be seen driving in the

background. These shots imply the grandness of the scenery and the contrast with the

small object-of-focus further enhances this openness. Interestingly, the establishing shot

of the Phoenix trailer park at night shows a Mother Mary statue in the foreground,

looking at the basketball ring in the background, where both Victor and Suzy are

standing. One could argue this is a biblical scene, Mary looking at Jesus, as if the

basketball ring was similar to a Christian cross. This detail further enhances the

importance of the basketball-theme and subtly mocks Catholicism. The tracking and

establishing shot at the end shows Victor at Spokane Falls, which definitely fixes the

locus as the Coeur d'Alene Reservation and at the same time enhances the reality-level

of the film.

In his 2005 article, Robert Stam stresses the importance of the décor in relation

to the filmic time and space (27). Alexie similarly emphasizes that “You can let the

landscape tell a lot of the story” (Alexie quoted in West & West, 1998: 63). In Smoke

Signals, the lack of any change in décor between 1976 and 1998 implies nothing has

changed on the reservation. This impression is further emphasized by the presence of


Lester FallsApart, who is still sitting in the same place, on his broken down car. The

idea is that the reservation does not progress and that people there will forever remain

trapped in their deplorable situation.

Image 7. Mary, Mother of Basketball.

5.3.1.2. Time

Modern linguistics differentiate nine different tenses to denote events in the past,

present and future. Hence, there are nine different ways to denote time in prose. In film,

however, temporality features differently, though things are not quite as simple as when

George Bluestone claimed “the novel has three tenses: the film only one” (5). Despite

film's present-nature, it definitely has the ability to portray the past, present or the

future, further proving the outdated status of Bluestone's text. Moreover, film can

intermingle temporalities. A flashback can be considered a form of historical presence,

yet it nonetheless concerns past events. If one takes into account the use of black and

white images in colour films to imply past events, one can state film has its own past

tense. In order to analyse temporal aspects in films, critics have adopted Genette's

narratological model for prose. It focusses on three aspects: order, duration and

frequency (Stam, 2005: 32).

Thomas is a symbol for the traditional and the past in The Lone Ranger. Yet in

Smoke Signals, Thomas does not seem to be very much in touch with the past of his

tribe. However, he still functions as a communicative bridge between the past and the


present as he narrates most of the flashbacks. The exceptions feature no narrator at all.

Hence, Thomas seems to be in control of the past in many ways.

Time is never fixed in Smoke Signals. However, there is one occasion where it

seems decelerated. There is a shot of Thomas coming out of a road side Walmart,

wearing a T-shirt, loose hair and jeans. This shot is slowed down, in order to emphasize

Thomas' new appearance. It has a slightly comic effect. Yet the characters acknowledge

Thomas' over-the-top appearance with laughter which prevents the shot from being

ridiculous.

The story-composition of The Lone Ranger progresses in a chronological

manner. Although its stories often contain flashbacks, the main storyline always moves

in a linear way. The order in Smoke Signals, is much like that of the singular stories: a

linerat progression with many flashbacks. The latter can all be categorized as external

analepses, flashbacks that take place outside the main storyline. On this level, it is

identical to ''TIW''. The Lone Ranger spans a period of at least twenty years, considering

there are stories that take place when Victor is still a child, and others when he is an

adult. This large time-span is conveyed in Smoke Signals by means of the opening

scenes, which are set in 1976. Separate flashbacks are meant to fill in the gap between

those 1976 opening scenes and the main storyline, which takes place in 1998.

Furthermore, the road trip in ''TIW'' takes about two days, whereas in Smoke Signals it

takes six days. The day of Victor and Thomas' arrival is thus the seventh, which is a

biblical reference to Sunday or the day of rest. Other elements of Christian symbolism

are the Mary statue outside Arnold's trailer and Arlene's comparison to Jesus. Hence,

this could prove Alexie and Eyre have come up with more than a film that reminisces

about native Americans, but rather a film that blends aspects of both American and

native American culture. Moreover, all events in The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals

are “singulative,” a category by which Genette denotes that “the event occurs just as

often in the story as it does in the narrative” (Herman and Vervaeck: 66). An exception

in The Lone Ranger, however, is Victor beating up Thomas, which is mentioned twice.

In Smoke Signals, most time-progression is evoked by means of meaningful transitions.

There are two exceptions. Firstly, a 22-year leap forward is announced by means of an

intertitle : “1998, Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation”. Secondly, there is a series of rapid

shots of the scenery as seen from the bus. This evokes the idea that the bus trip is taking

a long time, across a long road, hence, the many different backdrops: plains, towns,

woods, etc. There seems to be no Temps Mort, as all scenes portray a significant story


event. All these effects aim to make the film dynamic and prevent tediousness. By

comparison, The Lone Ranger portrays life on the reservation as tedious and alcohol-

oriented. Smoke Signals depicts a much more positive image, one of a poor but bruising

environment.

“Your past is a skeleton walking one step behind you, and your future is a a

skeleton walking one step in front of you. Maybe you don't wear a watch, but

your skeletons do, and they always know what time it is.” (Alexie, 1993: 22)

5.3.5. Narrators, Focalizers and Point of View

On the one hand, The Lone Ranger features several narrators. Firstly, there is an

extra-heterodiegetic narrator who narrates most of the stories. Secondly, there are intra-

autodiegetic narrators such as Victor in ''A Drug Called Tradition'' etc, an unknown

narrator in ''Distances'' etc, James Many Horses in ''The Approximate Size of My

Favourite Tumor'' and Junior Polatkin in ''Somebody Kept Saying Powwow''. On the

other hand, Smoke Signals features two narrators. Firstly, there is the voice-over, which

is an intra-autodiegetic narrator because it is Thomas' voice. Hence, one could argue

Thomas narrates the whole film on an auditory level, if we consider that his voice

narrates the opening and ending scenes of the film. Thomas is an understandable choice

as the film’s narrator, as he is the “storyteller” in The Lone Ranger. Secondly, the

monstrator or visual narrator is a combination of the literary narrator and focalizers. In

The Lone Ranger, one can find various focalizers, ranging from Thomas and Victor to

minor characters such as the aunt in ''The Fun House''. In Smoke Signals, one can

differentiate between two types of monstrators. Firstly, there is the an extra-

heterodiegetic monstrator. The latter is the visual narrator of all shots not from any

character's perspective, these include establishing shots and tracking shots etc.

Secondly, there are intra-autodiegetic visual narrators. These include all the shots from a

Victor's or Thomas' point of view. The latter generate emotional involvement with the

characters. In several scenes, the viewer is presented with a shot of Victor saying

something mean to Thomas. This shot is is then succeeded by a reverse-shot of Thomas

with a sad facial expression. A notable example is young Thomas' expression after

Victor wonders “What colour do you think your mom and dad were when they burned

up?”. These intra-autodiegetic narrators’ sole function is to evoke an emotional


involvement, as each reverse-shot features the reaction of one character to what the first

said.

Image 8. Young Thomas' facial expression.

The extra-heterodiegetic narrator attempts to convey emotional involvement.

Firstly, a specific angle is used to render Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer) more

intimidating. In the burning house scene, the Trade Post flashback and at the 4th of July

party, Arnold is filmed from below, a perspective that stresses his length and broad

posture. In Suzy's basketball flashback, Arnold is shot from a neutral angle, which

brings about a change. Moreover, the viewer is presented with a more sympathetic and

remorseful Arnold. Secondly, the monstrator consistently focusses on Victor, Thomas

and Suzy. In the trailer scene, the monstrator portrays a close-up of Suzy, combined

with shallow focus. Hence, the background is blurred, leaving the viewer only with

Suzy's face to sympathize with. The same technique is used on Victor and Thomas.

After Victor's dad has left, a shot depicts a shallow focus close-up of Victor at the door,

while Arlene becomes blurry. Once more the viewer has no other choice than to focus

on Victor. This limited focus steers the viewer's empathy in the direction of the

protagonists. Occasionally, the monstrator insignificantly uses deep focus inside rooms,

to focus on props or as a consequence of shooting with a wide-angle lenses.

In Smoke Signals, shots filmed from above are always long shots. Hence, these

are establishing shots. In each of theses shots, the viewer is presented with a small


object-of-focus combined with open scenery in the background. The main purpose is to

convey the feeling of a vast space. One could consider this typical for road films and

native American films. The openness can also be negative, considering it also stresses

desolateness. Next to the establishing shots, long shots are also used to convey the

distance between various characters. At the beginning of their journey, a long shot

shows Victor and Thomas walking on separate sides of the same street, granted that

such a distance simply cannot be filmed with a medium shot.

Image 9. Victor and Thomas walking separately.

When characters are involved in a conversation, the cinematographer, Brian

Capener, uses the eyeline matching technique to imply each character's response to what

is being said. It is through this technique, combined with close-ups, that the viewer is

emotionally involved. In the beginning of the film, the focus is on Thomas. In the gym

scene, Thomas calls for Victor, but the latter ignores him and the viewer is presented

with a close-up of Thomas' disappointed face. The same technique is used when Victor

asks Thomas what colour he thinks his parents had when they burnt to death. Yet, after

Thomas' sad reaction, the viewer is presented with a close-up of Victor, who seems to

regret his mean remark. Later, the film twice closes up on Victor’s sad facial

expressions. Once in the roadside restaurant, when Victor reflects on the day his father

left him, and once when Suzy tells Victor his father started the fire that killed Thomas'

parents. Moreover, the film features close-ups of minor characters as well, including

Suzy, Arlene and Thomas' grandmother. A variation on the close-up is the dolly forward,


as gets illustrated in the last scene. There the viewers are confronted with Victor’s

screaming face to foreground the pain he feels when he belatedly accepts he loved his

father, now gone. This dolly forward shot is followed by a long shot and a pan down

and left, to reveal a jumping salmon, as Victor has predicted. A close-up zooms in on a

target, whereas a dolly moves toward the target. Alternatively, a dolly may be combined

with a zoom. Hence, the angle is adapted while panning forward (or backward). The

result is that a dolly forward focusses on a target and blurs the background, which

emphasizes the target even more. Therefore, a dolly forward is sometimes perceived as

somewhat more unsettling, yet this makes it ideal for the 'touching' climax.

Image 10. Screaming Victor at Spokane Falls.

The movie features few tracking shots. The few tracked objects include the bus,

Velma and Lucy's car, and Arnold's pick-up truck to enhance the road feeling. Perhaps,

the absence of regular tracking shots is a matter of budget, considering one needs rails

and dolly to 'track' a character. Yet the camera often moves towards the characters to

imply sympathy (Verstraten, 2009: 76-78). This includes many close-ups and (regular)

dolly's. In a dolly, both the target and the background remains relatively sharp, yet when

a camera zooms, the background is altered. Hence, a zoom is becomes more interesting

in scenes that attempt to convey intimacy or an empathy with the characters. When

Victor and Thomas are sitting in the yellow pick-up truck, the camera dolly zooms in on

their faces by means of two jump cuts, hence blurring the background and leaving the


viewer no other option but to focus on the characters. A few scenes, such as the walk to

the trailer, however, make use of dollys, attempting to capture the desert 'feeling'. In the

scene where Victor brings Thomas back home, the viewer first gets a shot from a

medium distance, followed by several other shots, each time moving closer to the

characters. In contrast to the prior tendency, characters may also move away from the

camera. In the gym scene, Victor moves away from the camera, which implies his

arrogance. Moreover, Victor angrily walks away in the roadside restaurant. Yet, this

time it does not evoke any arrogance but stresses Victor’s anger and discontent with

Thomas' recollections of Arnold. In Smoke Signals a movement towards the camera

tends to imply sympathy or openness on the side of the character. Suzy, Thomas and

several other characters often walk towards the camera, which may be an attempt to

raise the impression of friendliness.

5.3.6. Sound

Despite Alexie's personal remark that “In going from book to screenplay, I found

that to be an easy process because it's more like poetry, about images.” (Teters, 2009:

56), sound plays an important role in Smoke Signals. The audio narrator, or voice-over,

has been identified as Thomas' voice. Yet, all kinds of sounds can be considered audio-

narrators. In this respect, the element of music is not to be overlooked. In Smoke

Signals, music plays a relatively important role. Firstly, music is used to set the mood,

which more or less indicate the state of mind or feelings of the characters. Major keys

are often perceived as happy and can indicate the characters are cheerful. In contrast,

minor keys are often sad. In several scenes a such sad tunes are used to stress the

tragedy of the situation (Weber, 2013). These scenes include Arnold's leaving, Victor

getting the news of Arnold's death and the 4th of July party etc. Music, however, is also

used to raise excitement. One can hear the beating of drums when Arnold and Arlene are

fighting and when Victor decides to enter his father's trailer. The latter is further

accompanied by ghastly and wind-blowing sounds to evoke an anxious feeling.

Secondly, music is used to stress the end of something. Andre Picard and John Sirois's

''Her Song'' is playing in the gym when Victor and Junior are playing. Yet when Victor

starts arguing with Junior, the music suddenly stops, to stress the tension of the moment.

The same technique is used at the end of Thomas' stories, which are thus accompanied

with a solemn silence. Thirdly, specific music or sound sequences are consistently used


for the same themes. Whenever a character does something heroic, the same musical

motif is sounded, as when Arnold jumps to catch baby Thomas and when Victor runs to

get help after the car crash. Hence, this sound pattern strengthens the relationship

between Victor and Arnold. This scene is further crosscut with images of Arnold to

emphasize that bond even more. Thirdly, music supports the emotions or facial

expressions of the characters. In the final scene the screaming women in ''Wah Jhi Le

Yihm'' (I Carry You) by Ulali, reinforce Victor’s screaming. Fourthly, the lyrics of songs

are used to support the plot. The opening scene’s song ('On Fire') includes the line “I'm

on fire”, soon after which the viewer can see the house burning. In a similar anticipatory

move, ''Reservation Blues'' by Jim Boyd is played before Arnold ironically starts

complaining to Victor about the reservation drunks. During the long bus ride to

Phoenix, another Jim Boyd song is played, ''Million Miles Away'', which features the

lines “Let’s rent a car and drive it / A million miles away”. The most important example

may well be 'John Wayne's Teeth'', performed by the EagleBear Singers. Victor and

Thomas start singing the lyrics in the bus, and the song is being played throughout the

final leg of their journey to Phoenix. This song is a definite stab at the popular white

actor, who arguably never showed his teeth, unlike Adam Beach while mentioning the

fact. Jim Boyd's ''Father and Farther'' further stresses the difficult relationship between

Victor and his dad. One could conclude sound and especially song lyrics are used an

emotional subtext. The use of musical motifs proves that sound can also be used for

character development. Also, these musical cues – the songs, lyrics and music itself –

support the native American theme of the film. The following quote illustrates this.

“And if it's a road/buddy movie, you're going to have a lot of music, and I

always knew music was going to be a part of this. There are specific music cues

in the screenplay about traditional music or rock and roll music [...]” (Alexie

quoted in West & West, 1998: 63).

Furthermore, the choice for traditional music and rock and roll, once more stresses the

compromise between native American and white American elements.

Sound is further used to capture the viewer's attention at moments when little is

happening visually. When Thomas is telling his stories, with his eyes closed, we get a

protracted close-up of his face. All the while supportive sounds are heard, like those

used by Disney Enterprises to evoke magic,during the magic frybread sequence.


5.4. Screenplay

The screenplay of Smoke Signals can be considered as an intermediate stage

between the composite novel and movie . In a way, it is an adaptation in itself. Yet, for

lack of space, I limit the analysis of the screenplay to this section. The differences

between the screenplay and the film as produced are extensive but not as radical as the

differences between The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals. In the opening scenes a

female Disc Jockey voice-over was replaced with Randy Peone as played by John

Trudell (1). The apparent reason is that the test audiences liked Randy (and Lester) a

lot. A more symbolic reason may be that Trudell is identified with Radio Free Alcatraz,

broadcasting during the 1969 occupation of the prison by the United Indians of All

Tribes, whose leader he was. Hence, Alexie and Eyre decided to keep Randy and Lester

in the film wherever it was possible (151). The light humor in these scenes also proved

the right tone for the film, funny and dramatic at the same time (151), given the

burning house. Yet several of the script’s scenes at the burning house were left out from

the finished movie because the set burned too quickly for the crew to get all scenes on

tape (152-153). Practical issues do have an influence on the final appearance of the film.

Furthermore, in the scene where young Victor and Thomas stand around a barrel, the

line “What does Phoenix, Arizona, mean?” was left out. Unfortunately, there seems no

straightforward reason why this important intertextual element was omitted.

The screenplay introduces Suzy Song at the start of the film, as she finds the

dead Arnold in his trailer. This sequence was moved to the middle of the film. The

reason behind this shift would seem to be a narrative strategy. The audience now is

introduced to Suzy together with Victor and Thomas, which reinforces the empathy

with the latter by means of mutual surprise (155). Furthermore, Suzy’s scenes were

crosscut with the gym scene (10-21). They also featured extra information on her

character as they portrayed her in a business suit, a trailer full of books (10), etc. Suzy

also found Victor's wallet and the picture inside with the family photo blank on the

back side (21). Later, when Victor finds this picture, the words “Home” have been

written on the back (101). These scenes might have conveyed sympathy for Suzy,

whereas the final editing partially leaves the audience with Victor's anger towards Suzy

(165). At the same time the final editing rendered Suzy more 'mysterious'. The

screenplay mentions red as a colour of remembering, yet admits the film has not been

consistent in its use. An important instance where red is used as a memory-trigger is


the Trading Post scene (23). When Victor leaves, red leaflets are seen hanging in front

of the door, stating “Last Goodbye Powwow”. These hint at Arnold's death and are a

prelude to the impending flashback.

Velma and Lucy ask no money in the final edit and trade the ride for one of

Thomas' stories. Hence, this conveys the idea that Coeur d'Alenes look after each other.

Yet in the screenplay, Victor has to pay the women for the ride. As a bonus, Thomas still

tells his story. In Smoke Signals, Victor and Thomas start singing “John Wayne's Teeth”

as a stab at the archetypical white cowboy who always wins, implying the song is their

victory over him and thus disproves the stereotype. However, the screenplay adds three

lines after the song:

“Thomas: […] Man, those cowboys were tough […] tougher than John Wayne,

that's for sure.

Victor: Thomas, they weren't that tough.

Thomas: Then how come we're sitting here?” (66).

These lines are much more bitter and do away with the comic effect of the previous

song. The decision to omit these lines have likely been motivated by a preference for

comedy. Alternatively, one could argue these lines are a non sequitur, considering that

such tough cowboys would have exterminated all native Americans, rendering it

impossible for Victor and Thomas to 'sit there'. When Victor and Thomas arrive at

Suzy's trailer, the screenplay informs us that Victor's facial expressions should make

clear that he realizes Suzy's information about his dad to have been true (78). Yet the

film holds in suspense the question whether or not Suzy's stories are true and is also

more ambiguous about the relationship between Suzy and Arnold. Victor further falls to

his knees in the screenplay, after hearing his father started the fire that killed Thomas'

parents (98). Once more, the screenplay proposes a more dramatic scene than the one

realized in the final edit. Moreover, the screenplay features a scene where Victor and

Thomas say goodbye to Suzy (102-103). The reason for omitting this goodbye scene is

that it felt too much like the premature end of the film (165). When Victor and Thomas

re-enter the Coeur d'Alene reservation, the screenplay depicts them as loudly joining

the rock song on the car radio (135). In the film, Thomas and Victor's mood is more

solemn than exuberant.

One could argue the film opts for a more solemn mood at the end than the

screenplay. This view is supported by the different endings. In the screenplay Arnold

Joseph rises from the water and walks towards his family, who are standing on the river


bank (148-149), whereas the film has a close-up of Victor, screaming on a bridge over

Spokane Falls. Furthermore, Victor is alone and his father does not rise again. Hence,

the film ends much more ambiguously, whereas the screenplay is more joyful and

conclusive. Moreover, the screenplay repeatedly mentions rock songs. in the film these

are replaced by folk songs, such as Dar Williams' “Road Buddy”. Perhaps Alexie and

Eyre wanted to features more folklorist music in an attempt to make the move more

'authentically' (native) American. A running joke was omitted. In the screenplay Thomas

offers his canteen to Velma and Lucy and Cathy the gymnast. Perhaps this joke

rendered Thomas too goofy or stupid, and the film wanted to portray a more serious

Thomas.

5.5 Media Conclusion

In this section I discuss the different levels of transtextuality, based on Genette's

models. Furthemore, the narratological aspects of both the film and literature are

discussed. Herefore, I discuss seven subcategories. The conclusion is that there are

several differences, these are due to the nature of the medium, Alexie taking into

account criticism of The Lone Ranger and due to practical issues in the film-making

process (such as budget, time and unreliability of actors). Moreover, I investigate

different techniques to convey emotional involvement in both media. Emotional

involvement in The Lone Ranger is mainly conveyed by means of prescience of tragic

events, whereas in Smoke Signals it is evoked through facial expressions and music.

“I've never been one of those people who compared the book and the movie of

the book. That's never interested me because I've always separated them as two

very distinct art forms, so I never got mad if the movie wasn't the book, or vice

versa. I knew from a very young age it was impossible to do that […] It's

impossible to convey in a movie the entire experience of a novel, and I always

knew that.” (Alexie quoted in West & West, 1998: 62).

6. Genre-Adaptations.

6.1. Introduction

A genre-adaptation is to be distinguished from a media adaptation. I consider a

medium to be a basic form for communicating a story, notably film, literature, sculpture


and painting etc. Hence, a genre is a form or style that a medium takes, e.g. the western,

road movie, sci-fi, a comedy, pointillism, cubism and so forth. For literature, I consider

the main genres to be poetry, prose and drama. Subgenres for prose are fiction, essays

and nonfictional prose. In fiction I distinguish composite stories from single stories. One

can further differentiate genres, but the point of this division is that composite stories or

novels and single stories are different genres, and not different media, both belonging to

the larger generic category of prose fiction. Hence, genre-adaptations are about the

transformation of one genre into another, and not about the transition of literature into

film. However, because The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals use different media, this

transition process may be further complicated. For my analysis, I do draw on Robert

Stam's adaptation-theories. Furthermore, I focus on what seems relevant to the case of

The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals. I must point out, however, that Smoke Signals is

not a straightforward single story either. Thomas's stories and the protagonist's

flashbacks are stories embedded within the main story. Yet, a single story does

dominate, which is not the case for The Lone Ranger.

In the first section I focus on two issues. Firstly, I investigate what stories of the

short-story cycle reappear in the single story on screen. Secondly, I specify in what way

the stories reappear in the single story. Elements of several stories from the composite

story, The Lone Ranger, feature quite openly in Smoke Signals, other elements appear

more subtly. My focus is on how the different elements are incorporated into one

coherent whole. Furthermore, ''This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona'' is

discussed separately, as it is clearly the basis for the script of Smoke Signals. Also, I

draw on Wong's concept of 'narrative communities'. The Lone Ranger features an

elaborate narrative community and to a certain level, Smoke Signals conveys this same

feeling. In the second section, I discuss what stories are left out and for what possible

reason and with what implications. The third section focusses on ''TIW'' in particular

and in the fourth section I elaborate on the role of 'narrative communities'. Throughout

these different sections I use De Stryckers's model of intertextuality to depict the nature

of each transition.

6.2. Reappearing Stories

Several stories from The Lone Ranger reappear in Smoke Signals. However, they

do not all reappear as events in the main storyline. Various elements reappear through


the theme, others through motif, event, conversation or place. This section focusses on

these aspects. The use of characters is investigated in the following section.

Firstly, there are the stories that reappear through similar events. In ''Every Little

Hurricane'' there is a fight between two drunk Coeur d'Alenes, namely Adolph and

Arnold; the latter being Thomas' father (2). In Smoke Signals, however, these names are

reversed, as Arnold is Victor's father. The recurring event in Smoke Signals is the fight

between two Coeur d'Alenes, this time between Arlene and Arnold. Moreover, this also

an allusion to the short-story ''The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven'', where

two unnamed Coeur d'Alene lovers are fighting in their Seattle apartment. The fighting

bouts from the composite story thus fit in the single story by way of repetition.

However, there is a slight change concerning the reason and setting of the fight. The

very basic event of two Coeur d'Alenes fighting is thus the only constant element.

Remarkably, both The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals start with 'chaos'. The opening

story of the short-story composite, ''Every Little Hurricane'', starts with “a hurricane

dropped from the sky” (1). Similarly, Smoke Signals, after specifying the reservation as

the locus, opens with the burning of a house (Slethaug, 2003: 136). One could consider

the flames an alteration of the hurricane in the short-story composite.

Moreover, in ''Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who

Saw Jimi Hendrix Play “The Star-Sprangled Banner” At Woodstock'', Victor's father

takes off to Phoenix, Arizona on a motorcycle (34). This resonates in Smoke Signals,

where Arnold takes off to Phoenix, Arizona as well. However, he leaves in his yellow

pick-up truck, rather than on a motorcycle. This makes it less heroic, for the motorcycle

is loaded with the epic 'Easy-Rider'-'Motorcycle Diaries' road-motif. Hence, the event

of Victor's father leaving him for Phoenix, Arizona becomes a structural quote of

''TIW''.

Furthermore, the event of a baby being thrown out of a burning house is another

structural quote in Smoke Signals. In ''Jesus Christ's Half-brother is Alive and Well on

the Spokane Indian Reservation'', Frank Many Horses throws his son James out of a

burning house to save him from the flames. Outside, an adult Coeur d'Alene man jumps

to catch James, but he slips out of his hand. James Many Horses, however, survives the

fall but his head is henceforth permanently dented. Smoke Signals opens with the sight

of a burning house, out of which John Builds-the-Fire throws his son Thomas, in a

similar attempt to save him. Here, Arnold jumps and Thomas equally slips through his

hands. Meanwhile, Arnold's own son, Victor, is also in the house, but the latter is


rescued by someone else. The constant element here is the event of the baby being

thrown out of the burning house.

Another structural quote is the burning of the house. In ''Distances'' (105),

Spokanes burn the houses and possessions of white people in an attempt to do away

with their influences. Smoke Signals second scene features a burning house as well. Yet

there seems to be no motivation for burning the house, as it is projected as an accident.

A minor event, Victor beating up Thomas Builds-the-Fire, occurs in both The

Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals. In Smoke Signals, Victor beats up Thomas when the

latter asks him why his father has left: “Hey Victor, 'heard your dad left, what

happened? Why did he leave? Does he hate you?”. In ''Somebody Kept Saying

Powwow'' (59) and ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' (65), Victor beats

up Thomas until Norma intervenes and tells Victor to stop. This event is a structural

quote as well.

Secondly, several stories of The Lone Ranger reappear in Smoke Signals in the

guise of motifs. I consider a motif to be an explicitly mentioned object or sentence. This

differs from a theme, which is implicitly present. Yet I discuss them next to each other,

as every motif implicitly bears a theme, and it is hard t distinguish one from another.

The motif of' the ''basketball'' appears in several stories in The Lone Ranger, e.g.

''The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore'' (45), ''Indian

Education'' (177) and ''Somebody kept saying Powwow'' (199). The motif of basketball

is incorporated in Smoke Signals through a scene in the local gym. Here, Victor, Junior,

Thomas and Victor's pals can be seen with a basketball. Moreover, Suzy Song recalls

Arnold telling her a story about Victor beating a bunch of 'evil' Jesuits in a basketball-

game. Furthermore, Suzy makes a bet with Victor, depending on his basketball-skills.

The constant element here is a visualisation of the story-cycle motif.

The motif of 'frybread' is perhaps the most prominent one in both The Lone

Ranger and Smoke Signals. Frybread is a flat piece of dough that has been deep-fried in

oil. Moreover, it is considered typically native American. In the film, Thomas wears a T-

shirt that says ''Frybread Power'' in a kind of superman-logo. Furthermore, Thomas tells

Suzy a story about how Victor's mother by breaking the few frybreads she had, managed

to feed a whole crowd . This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Gospels.

Exaggerating the scene makes for comic relief albeit at the expense of the original

Gospel story. Both Suzy and Arlene seem to be skilled at making frybread, and Arlene

uses her skill to explain to Victor how everyone needs advice and help. In his case he


needs Thomas' help to get to Phoenix. In ''Every Little Huricane'' (5) and ''The

Approximate Size of My Favourite Tumor'' (170), Norma and Victor's mother both

seemed to be skilled at making frybread. The constant element is thus the frybread

motif, which enters the movie several times, once in an internal story and once in the

main story. In Smoke Signals, the motif is thus 1) visualised in the background and 2)

focussed on in the internal story by Thomas.

The film also incorporates a quote by Franz Kafka. ''The Trial of Thomas Builds-

the-Fire'' (93) is introduced by the opening quote of Kafka's The Trial (1925). This

element reappears in Smoke Signals by means of an alteration, namely a character's

name. Arnold Joseph's dog is named Kafka. He barks right before Suzy's absurd

basketball story. Remarkably, the last lines of the novel read:

“But the hands of one of the gentleman were laid on K.'s throat, while the other

pushed the knife deep into his heart and twisted it there, twice. As his eyesight

failed, K. saw the two gentlemen cheek by cheek, close in front of his face,

watching the result."Like a dog!" he said, it was as if the shame of it should

outlive him.” (Kafka, 1925: 140).

Hence, one could argue this implies Arnold Joseph somehow outlives his death, through

this dog, his influence, his name and other people's memories.

In ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' Thomas questions whether

or not native Americans should celebrate the 4th of July (63), which is a structural quote

of The Lone Ranger. The same motif recurs in Smoke Signals, when Arnold says

“Happy independence day, Victor. You feeling independent? I'm feeling indepentent

[...]”. He continues by referring to the Ghost Dance and how all white people would

disappear, all of which leads to concluding Arnold dislikes white people and their

celebrations and customs as well. The question of whether native Americans should

celebrate the 4th of July is thus implicitly repeated in Smoke Signals. Moreover, the

burning of the house took place on the 4th of July. Here, Thomas parents, two Coeur

d'Alenes, died. One must also take into account the famous first lines of the Declaration

of Independece (1776) :

“[...] We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that

they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among

these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights,

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the

consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes


destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and

to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and

organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect

their Safety and Happiness”.

These lines imply that native Americans are equal to Americans and have the right to be

free and live accordingly on their land. Yet, after the independence of the colonies, the

latter ventured westward only to destroy the inhabitants of the American continent.

Furthermore, native Americans were not recognized as independent or equal. Also, at

the road side restaurant, Victor has a flashback of the 4th of July. Here, Victor is quite

young, and the viewer is presented with children running around with fireworks,

Victor's drunken parents and shouting people. Hence, the burning of the house and the

decadent party on the 4th of July bitterly resonate the destructive implications this

'hypocritical' text had on native Americans and its celebration is a travesty for them.

The hippie-theme is prominent in ''Because My Father Always Said He Was The

Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play “The Star-Sprangled Banner” At Woodstock''.

Here, Victor's father is ludicrously described as “the perfect hippie, since all the hippies

were trying to be indians.” (24). Moreover, the whole story deals with Victor's dad, who

is a Jimi Hendrix-disciple, which once more brings up the “hippie” theme. When in

Smoke Signals Thomas and Victor are trying to hitch a ride the former tells a story

about Victor's father. Thomas recapitulation of the story ''Because My Father Always

Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play “The Star-Sprangled

Banner” At Woodstock'' is a paraphrase, combined with a few alterations. The “hippie”

theme is thus integrated in the single story by means of an internal story.

Next to the “hippie” theme, there is the theme of the “Ghost Dance”. In The

Lone Ranger it is prominent in ''A Drug Called Tradition'' and also in ''Distances''. The

first example features a passage where three boys are taking a drug and imagining they

are dancing and their tribe is standing behind them (17). Furthermore, “Wovoka, The

Paiute Ghost Dance Messiah” famous message is quoted:

“"All Indians must dance, everywhere, keep on dancing. Pretty soon in next

spring Big Man [or the Great Spirit] come. He bring back all game of every

kind. The game be thick everywhere. All dead Indians come back and live again.

They all be strong just like young man, be young again. Old blind Indian

[perhaps a reference to the effects of the Sun Dance] see again and get young

and have fine time. When Old Man [God or Great Spirit, equivalent to Big Man]


comes this way, then all Indians go to mountains, high up away from whites.

Whites can't hurt Indians then. Then while Indians way high up, big flood comes

like water and all white people die, get drowned. After that water go way and

then nobody but Indians everywhere and game all kinds thick.” (104)

Hence, the movie script incorporates these elements through a few lines Victor's dad

says:

“I'm feeling extra magical today, like I culd make anything dissappear. […]

Wave my hand and the white people are gone, back to where they belong. Wave

my hand and the reservation is gone. The Trading Post, and the Post Office,

Tribal School and the pine trees, and the drunks, and the Catholics and the drunk

Catholics. […] I'm so good, I make myself disappear. I'm gone.”.

The Ghost dance thus reappears in the single story by means of a structural quote, hence

integrating the theme.

In contrast to the uniting connoted by the 'Ghost Dance', the theme of the

'divided native Americans' has disunited the native American peoples. In The Lone

Ranger it is common for native Americans to fight other native Americans, such as in

''Every Little Hurricane'' (2),''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' (65) and

''The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven'' (185). Furthermore, in ''Distances''

there is a huge distance and rivalry between reservation Spokanes, dubbed Skins, or city

Spokanes, dubbed Urbans. In Smoke Signals, this theme is illustrated in the scene where

Arlene and Arnold are fighting over the latter's alcohol addiction. Moreover, Victor and

Thomas are constantly arguing on the road to Phoenix. In the movie the theme of

'divided native Americans' is embodied through the fights between Coeur d'Alenes but

the division is never openly admitted or mentioned. This lack of unity and negative

portrayal of reservation Coeur d'Alenes led to criticism by more positively inclined

native Americans. Furthermore, it implies rather pessimistic prospects for the future of

the native Americans. The specific tension between Skins and Urbans is depicted by the

tension between Victor, a Skin, and Suzy, an Urban.

In conversations the range of the central story of Smoke Signals is further

extended into the composite novel. In the movie Arnold asks Suzy “What is the worst

thing you have ever done?”. Norma asks Junior the same thing in the story ''Somebody

Kept Saying Powwow'' (208). Hence, this is a quote of The Lone Ranger. This also

disproves Slethaug's claim that Smoke Signals is based on the first third of the stories in

The Lone Ranger (2003: 131).


Finally, the locus of virtually all the short-stories in The Lone Ranger, the Coeur

d'Alene Reservation, recurs in Smoke Signals. It is the home of Victor and Thomas, and

the place where the film starts. Furthermore, the central story line of Smoke Signals

incorporates the short-story ''Witnesses, Secret and not'' by means of the policeprecinct

where Victor and Thomas end up after being in a car crash. Also, the party-

environment of ''Every Little Hurricane'' reappears in Smoke Signals in two scenes, the

burning house scene and one of Victor's flashbacks (Slethaug, 2003: 132).

One could raise the question: “Why were these stories kept over other ones?”.

The most logic answer would be that these were the stories, themes and motifs the

author found most relevant. Another possibility is that several stories, motifs were more

prone to be used than others from a structural point of view. For example, Smoke

Signals opens dramatically with a baby being thrown out of the window, thereby raising

the expectation that the protagonist's life from early childhood into maturity will be

depicted. So, any passage from The Lone Ranger featuring a baby might have

functioned equally well in this situation, like the one in ''Junior Polatkin's Wild West

Show'' (239). However, the burning house from “Jesus Christ's Half-brother is Alive and

Well on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation'' is more spectacular and presumably

more interesting to film than Junior Polatkin and Lynn Casey's accidental pregnancy.

Thus, a narrative passage's spectacularity —its visual and dramatic potential— plays a

definite role as selection principle for the filmic adaptation. However, this is less a

concern for genre-adaptations than for media adaptations. Granted that in this case it is

perhaps impossible to keep these apart, media limitations potentially led to a different

story composition in Smoke Signals. The length (90 minutes) and 'visualizability'

definitely have an influence.

So far, idiosyncratic and structural reasons have been proposed for recycling

events, motifs, themes and locations. But various stories may have been incorporated to

elaborate on the main story of Smoke Signals. ''Every Little Hurricane'' contains

contextualizing information about Victor's past, namely his parents, parental house and

family situation. Hence, that may be the reason for putting bits of that information into

the storyline of Smoke Signals. The implications of choosing those stories and focussing

on Victor and Thomas' life is that important community figures like Norma and James

Many Horses are neglected. There may not be a central story in the composite fiction,

The Lone Ranger, and the stories may seem exchangeable in their paratactic

organisation. Still, they do possess a relative emphasis and identity distinguishing them


from each other. Hence there are at least minimal consequences for selecting one over

another in the transposition from page to screen. Thus the content of many stories is

lost in Smoke Signals. The development of the central story around which Smoke

Signals is built, also differs from the overall story-development in Smoke Signals.

However, apart from Thomas' increasing isolation, there seem to be few overall

developments in The Lone Ranger. Smoke Signals seems to focus on Thomas' increased

contact with Victor, and implicitly on the Coeur d'Alene community. The message of

Smoke Signals is therefore more positive than the message in The Lone Ranger.

A conclusion is that idiosyncratic (author-related), structural and content-related

arguments support the decision to incorporate various stories rather than others in the

single storyline of Smoke Signals. And the story selection has definite implications on

the level of content, structure and the interpretation of the adapted product, Smoke

Signals. Furthermore, it seems as if the entire collection The Lone Ranger has in one

way or another recycled into the movie Smoke Signals. Furthermore, considering these

genre-adaptation mechanisms are not unique to the film of novel-medium; this analysis-

methodology can be used for the adaptation of a composite work of any medium into a

single-story work. Although Smoke Signals is contains several embedded stories, there

is a definite main storyline that does disproves any argument in favor of its composite

nature.

6.3. ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix Arizona''

The short-story ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' deserves

special attention, considering it is the main narrative support for Smoke Signals. In

terms of genre-adaptations, this story is, however, the least interesting. An adaptation of

a written story story like this one into a film is first and foremost a media-adaptation.

Yet, the film obviously incorporates many elements from various stories in The Lone

Ranger. Thus this aspect must not be neglected. Perhaps Alexie sought a way to make

up for the loss of so many stories, considering Smoke Signals pretends to be solely

based on ''TIW''. Yet, as a corollary of the media-adaptation, this particular story has

been modified as well. It is remarkable that this relatively short tale has been altered so

much to incorporate other stories and that several modifications were not absolutely

necessary. Hence, it is safe to conclude that Smoke Signals is indeed an adaptation of the

whole cycle and not merely of one story in particular.


Both works, Smoke Signals and ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix,

Arizona'', belong to the road-genre as they revolve around the journey to Phoenix,

Arizona. The major difference between both is their length. Whereas ''This Is What It

Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' is a short-story, Smoke Signals is a full-length film.

Hence, the beginning of both stories differs greatly. Smoke Signals starts with a

contextualization, shots of the reservation in the past and the present. ''TIW'' begins in

medias res with “Just after Victor had lost his job at the BIA, he also found out that his

father had died of a heart attack in Phoenix, Arizona.” (59). The same goes for the end

of both stories. Smoke Signals ends with a resolve, as Victor throws his father's ashes in

the river and cries for his lost father and legacy. Hence, the insinuation is he can move

on. In ''TIW'' it remains unclear what will happen with the remains of Victor's father. It

does end with Victor's promise to Thomas that he will listen to one of his stories (75).

The implication is that Victor somewhat (re-)embraces his past and legacy in order to

move on and (re)discover his 'identity'. Yet, the end of ''TIW'' is much more ambiguous

and it is an open end. One could consider such a beginning and ending inherent to a

short-story or short-film, whereas the feature film is a more developed entity with a

clear beginning and offering at least the possibility of a concluded ending, as in the

ending of a part of someone's life, i.e. childhood, a marriage. In the case of Smoke

Signals, the conclusion concerns the end of the 'Arnold Joseph'-part for Victor.

Moreover, characters seem to undergo an evolution in Smoke Signals, whereas they

remain flat characters in ''TIW''. In Smoke Signals, Thomas briefly changes his

appearance, he wears different clothing and wears his hair loose. Next to Thomas'

evolution, Victor changes as well. Firstly, Victor is convinced by his mother to take help

from others, a change in his obstinate personality. In ''TIW'' Victor himself realizes he

needs Thomas . The change is thus less apparent here. Moreover, in Smoke Signals

Victor drops the ashes into the river, which is the outcome of his final evolution and a

way of coming to terms with the past. In ''TIW'' what Victor will do remains unclear,

and the following short-stories in The Lone Ranger suggest that Victor has not changed

at all. Slethaugh shares this opinion: “I believe that Smoke Signals overcomes most of

these stereotypes and more fully humanizes Native Americans [...]” (2003: 131). One

could argue Alexie partially took into account the criticism on The Lone Ranger and

presented the viewers of Smoke Signals with a different portrait than the readers of The

Lone Ranger. Next to native American humanization, white people are depicted less

negative in Smoke Signals. Such are the police, who are kind enough to bring Victor and


Thomas to the pound where there car is located. In a 2009 interview, Alexie confirms

his anger more or less subsided by growing older (Alexie in Butler, 2009). In his

introduction to the 2005 edition of The Lone Ranger, Alexie reveals that “when the

book was first published, I […] was vilified in certain circles for my alcohol-soaked

stories. Rereading the book, I suppose my critics have a point.” Yet this reveals little on

his views in 1997, when Smoke Signals was filmed and produced.

''TIW'' and Smoke Signals differ from each other through the fact that one is a

short narrative and the other a long narrative which calls for story structures adapted to

each respective genre. In the short-story ''TIW'', the conventional in medias res and open

ending are combined with flat characters. By contrast Smoke Signals features clear

character development, a delineated beginning and a concluded ending. The most

important resemblance between the short-story composite and the film is perhaps the

plot-structure which turns Smoke Signals into a structural quote of ''TIW''.

The most striking deletion or compression in Smoke Signals, in relation to

''TIW'', includes Thomas' argument that his life is to be measured in stories.

Furthermore, Thomas does not ask Victor to promise him he is going to listen to one of

his stories. The film does not feature Thomas' line either : “[...] I know you ain't going

to hang around me no more [...]”, despite it being featured in ''TIW'' (74) and the

screenplay (137). Hence, the implication is that Victor and Thomas have become

'genuine' friends.

A remarkable addition or annex to Smoke Signals is Suzy's character. Although

The Lone Ranger features a character named Suzy, she is not nearly as important as

Suzy in the film. Her character in the film becomes a kind of mysterious figure that

helps the characters along. In many ways, Suzy is responsible for Victor's coming-to-

terms with his past.

The ending of Smoke Signals has a degree of uncertainty to it. There are two

possibilities. On one hand, the ending can be an action happening in the actual story-

world ( actual textual world (Ronen, 1994). On the other hand, the ending can be a≃

mental shot of Thomas' story to his grandmother. This leaves the doubt whether or not

Victor does as Thomas suggests – and hence embraces the original – or if Thomas tells

another story with a happy end – to make Victor seem better than he is, as he had done

with Arnold-. For sake of convenience, in my further analysis I go by the assumption

the ending scene is not a mental shot, but a happening in the actual story world.

However, there are sufficient evidence to doubt this. The implication of the shot being a


mental shot is that no change has occurred whatsoever. The latter would be a rather

pessimistic view of the ending, however, it would be in tune with the tone of the short-

story composite.

6.4. The Reservation Community

Wong argues that in native American literature “one individual filament cannot

be touched without sending vibrations through the entire network” and “native

American oral traditions have long reflected [an] inherent polyvocality” (Wong, 2010:

172, 173). Many native American writers have been trying to incorporate that oral

tradition in their writing. Hence, it seems plausible that as a native American writer,

Alexie draws on his cultural heritage and attempts to present a variety of voices and

protagonists, whose lives are inescapably intertwined. Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine

(1984), for instance, has a “common setting […] and a set of narrators” (Wong, 2010:

175).

Alexie's The Lone Ranger contains the same characteristics Wong ascribes to

Erdrich's fiction. The Lone Ranger features a common setting, the Coeur d'Alene

Reservation, various narrators and the same protagonists and characters keep

reappearing. Many stories are openly intertwined, as mentioned, for various stories

integrate the same events: Victor beats up Thomas in both ''Somebody Kept Saying

Powwow'' (59) and ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' (65). Victors'

father residence in Phoenix, Arizona is mentioned in both ''Because My Father Always

Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play “The Star-Sprangled

Banner” At Woodstock'' (34) and ''TIW'' (59). Next to the protagonists, several minor

characters, keep reappearing in the stories: Norma Many Horses, James Many Horses,

Junior Polatkin, Lester FallsApart etc. Together these characters form a narrative

community, because they all reside in the same fictional space of the Coeur d'Alene

reservation and their lives are intertwined. Hence, this community can be described as

Mikhail Bhaktin's “plurality of unmerged consciousnesses.” (1990: 26). However, in

this case the ''consciousnesses'' do merge, which transforms the narrative community

into “a singular protagonist with many faces and according traits”.

The impression is raised that all characters know each other. In ''Somebody Kept

Saying Powwow'', Junior Polatkin talks to Norma about his brother Victor (208) and

jokes about Lester FallsApart (204). In a similar fashion, most characters tell stories


about each other or actually go on 'adventures' together. An example of the latter is the

lake-trip Victor, Thomas and Junior take in ''A Drug Called Tradition'' (16) and the

journey to Phoenix in ''TIW'' (65). Two stories take place in 'white men's America',

''The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven'' (182) and ''Junior Polatkin's Wild

West Show'' (232). Both stories end with a flight back to the reservation, which stresses

how the Spokanes and Coeur d'Alenes need to be amongst their own people, despite the

taxing situation they find themselves in. This community is thus one of the major forces

of cohesion between the stories and its characters. Hence, if one was to merge these

stories into one, the narrative community should be represented in a way to preserve the

composite story's tone. A short-story composite is suited for representing the plurivocal

community. A 90-minutes movie, however, does not have the time to evoke such a

feeling. A solution would be lengthening the film or turning it into a series.

In Smoke Signals the narrative community of The Lone Ranger is definitely

present as several characters reappear in the film: Victor Joseph (as played by Adam

Beach) (59, …), Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Even Adams) (60, ...), Suzy Song (Irene

Bedard) (117), Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer) (2, 24, ...), Arlene Joseph (Tantoo

Cardinal) (2,...), Junior Polatkin (Michael Greyeyes) (12,...), Lester FallsApart (Leonard

Geore) (10,...), Cathy the Gymnast (Cynthia Geary) (67) and Randy Peone (John

Trudell) (175) (IMDB). Furthermore, two characters featured in The Lone Ranger are

mentioned in the course of the film: James Many Horses (199, ...), Frenchy SiJohn

(172). Several characters in Smoke Signals seem contractions of multiple characters in

The Lone Ranger. Hence they are mainly structural quotes and alterations of The Lone

Ranger. Victor Joseph is called Victor Polatkin in The Lone Ranger, the surname

'Joseph' may refer to the character 'Joseph' who dies during the war in ''Flight'' (226). In

The Lone Ranger (9), Arnold Polatkin is Victor's uncle and not his father. Arlene Joseph

is simply referred to as 'Victor's mom' in The Lone Ranger (2, 60). One can conclude

several characters are mentioned by means of contracting names, while various

characters fulfil the same role but are named differently. Had Arlene been named

'Tremble Dancer' in Smoke Signals, she had functioned as both Victor's mother and a

reference to the character in ''Distances''. Characters' names and functions can all be

means of incorporating a series of stories into one.

Aside from the characters from The Lone Ranger, Smoke Signals features new

characters as well: Thomas' Grandma (Monique Mojica) who allows for a cross-

reference to John Builds-the-Fire. Remarkably, these characters do not appear in The


Lone Ranger but their appearance in Smoke Signals by no means contradicts any

information in The Lone Ranger. Hence, their presence is fitting not only in Smoke

Signals, but their creation can serve as an addition to The Lone Ranger. Yet, various

character aspects do contradict the content of The Lone Ranger: In ''TIW'', Thomas'

father dies during World War II and his mother while giving birth to him (73), whereas

in Smoke Signals Thomas' parents die in a fire lit by Arnold Polatkin.

6.5. Genre Conclusion

The previous sections analyse genre-adaptations, namely the adaptation of the

composite genre into a single story, the film. The composite genre found in The Lone

Ranger is adapted into a single story by condensing elements from different stories of

the composite novel. These elements pertain to different categories: events, motifs and

themes, places and characters. Moreover, the original characters can be referred to by

name or function. Furthermore, Smoke Signals features several new characters who

easily fit into The Lone Ranger's narrative community. The preference for several

elements and stories over others seems to be based on two criteria: considerations for

the structure and plot of the new single-story and finally the elaboration of characters,

conversations, events, thoughts or places. Numerous elements of Smoke Signals are

transformations from The Lone Ranger. The most frequent kind of transformations are

structural quotes and alterations. Hence repetition and substitution are the most

prominent and relevant techniques of adaptation. Next to these two types of

transformations, there are understandably numerous deletions. I consider these less

relevant because it is mainly the media-adaptation that forces numerous deletions rather

than them being conscious editorial choices. Furthermore, there is the criterion of the

author's idiosyncratic or emotional preferences. Yet these motivations are hard to retrace

and perhaps not relevant to the general adaptation processes.

Adapting the short-story into a full length film has implications on three

different story-levels: the opening, the middle and the ending. Smoke Signals presents a

coherent entity with a resolved ending. Furthermore, the characters evolve as the story

progresses. In contrast to the film, ''TIW'' begins in medias res, has an open ending and

features flat characters that do not develop during the course of the story.


7. Thematic Adaptations

The analysis of the generic adaptations revealed that several motifs and themes

recur in The Lone Ranger, ''This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona'' and Smoke

Signals. This section analyses the the most relevant themes in both the short-story

composite and the film. Firstly, I analyse the themes in this work in relation to Alexie's

personal life and to the history of his people, the Spokanes, Coeur d'Alenes and native

Americans in general. The title of the short-story composite already proves the

relevance of this theme. I also focus on other recurring themes and motifs. Secondly, I

discuss the structural metaphor of the father-son relationship in a separate section

because it is more elaborate and important than the other themes. The main focus is the

effect on the thematization of the manner in which issues are adapted from one medium

to another one. Insofar as the section on genre-adaptations already does that for the

bigger part, I aim to add what the relevance and expressivity of these themes is in

relation to each medium. Furthermore, I discuss how they support similar or different

purposes.

7.1. Themes in The Lone Ranger, ''TIW'' and Smoke Signals

One of the major issues in The Lone Ranger is the difficult relationship between

Victor and Thomas. Victor represents the new native American, a young, macho,

alcoholic jock. Thomas is a symbol for the traditional native American storyteller-

medicine man. Hence, Victor comes to stand for the out-of-touch present native

Americans and Thomas for the traditional past. At the end of ''TIW'', Victor promises

Thomas he will listen to one of his stories someday. The latter signifies a kind of truce

or reconciliation between the two. By comparison, in Smoke Signals, Victor and Thomas

become less stereotypical but more complex and ''human''. Thomas is as estranged from

his native American heritage as Victor, considering the first does not know "how to be

an Indian". The counsel he gets from Victor, however, ironically proves the latter's

alienation from his cultural heritage as well. In the film they end up becoming friends

as well. This would suggest the characters finally come to terms with their shared

(troubling) past and can move on. This idea is further reinforced by the final ritual

dispersal of the ashes into the foaming river. The film, however, presents the

reconciliation between past and present differently. Rather than making explicit in the

dialogue that Victor is going to listen to one of his stories, the film shows Victor


following up Thomas' suggestion to disperse Arnold's ashes in the Spokane River.

Moreover, the film is more optimistic concerning the future. In ''TIW'', Thomas doubts

whether Victor is going to be more friendly to him in the future, whereas the film

features no such consideration and leaves the viewer with the idea that the two have

become genuine friends. For Alexie Smoke Signals "is also about the struggle with

myself of being this storytelling geek like Thomas, as well as this big jock masculine

like Victor […].” (qtd in West & West, 2009: 68). In this case, both Victor and Thomas

represent parts of Alexie. The reconciliation between the two is therefore the

materialization of Alexie's coming-to-terms with himself. In adaptation terms, one can

conclude the film visually and dramatically embodies the reconciliation theme rather

than relying on the dialogue as in The Lone Ranger.

Native American history is conspicuously present throughout The Lone Ranger

in virtually every story, but especially in ''Distances'', ''Imagining the Reservation'' and

''A Drug Called Tradition''. In Smoke Signals there are several more explicit references

as well. There are two songs Victor sings, one in the gym and ''John Wayne's Teeth'' in

the bus:

“Oh, I took the ball to the hoop and what did I see? Oh, I took the ball to the

hoop and what did I see? General Armstrong Custer was a-guarding me! Way,

ya, hi, ye! Way, ya, hi, ye!” (1998: 18)

Moreover, Arlene's “You know how Indians feel about signing papers” (1998: 30) refers

to the many fraudulent treatises that had been 'signed', resulting in the loss of native

American land. Arnold Joseph imagines he can make white people and the reservation

disappear, which recalls the Ghost Dance religion. The journey Victor and Thomas

embark on, bitterly resonates with the many relocations that took place. The onset was

the Indian Removal Act in 1830, signed by president Andrew Jackson. In 1956, the

Indian Relocation Act attempted to lure native Americans back to cities, away from

their reservations. The most infamous native American relocations are the Trail of Tears

(1838) and the Long Walk (of the Navajo) (1864). Although every native American

people has been relocated, many of these forced migrations seem to have been

'forgotten', such as the Pomo Death Marches (1856). On most of these journeys, a great

number of native Americans perished. During the Trail of Tears approximately 25% of

the entire Cherokee population died and there were many more casualties after their

arrival at the reservation. The main causes were smallpox and hunger, induced by

smallpox-infested blankets and little food supplies. The tragic connotation of the


journey in Smoke Signals as a forced relocation, is subtly reinforced by the bus scenes.

Upon their first boarding Victor and Thomas see a group of diverse white people, all

staring at them. This -- along with Velma and Lucy's joke that Victor and Thomas

should get their vaccinations when leaving the rez and entering the US -- shows how

native Americans have become strangers in their "own" country. Furthermore, the

decrepit car can only drive in reverse, which is a poke at 1) native Americans and their

rickety cars and 2) the inability to go forward of move on, the inevitable going back (to

their traditional past). A postcolonial interpretation of this passage therefore imposes

itself. White Americans may no longer be present in the reservation itself, but their

influence remains prominent. Although the film aims for a balanced assessment by

featuring both kind and unkind white Americans, there are still many references to their

abuse of the native Americans. The camera's subsequent shot from Victor and Thomas

point-of-view makes the viewer emphasize further with the protagonists. As they are

being stared at, the goal is to make the viewer feel Victor and Thomas' anxiety and sense

of not belonging.

American grandness and hypocrisy are mocked through Cathy the Gymnast. She

is supposedly a great athlete whose career and participation in the Olympics was barred

by President Carter. However, as Victor points out, she was a mere alternate on the team

and as no athletes were injured, she would not have participated anyway. Cathy's

boasting is thus put in perspective by the truth, yet when Victor forces her to own up to

it, she is so offended she moves to another seat away from Victor and Thomas.

Furthermore, after the stop at a road-side gas station, during which Thomas changes his

clothes, two white men have taken their place. As they refuse to move , Victor and

Thomas are forced to 'relocate' to the back of the bus. Here the bus becomes a metaphor

of "America" at large, whose plausibility is reinforced by the passage through different

states and sceneries. Moreover, the bus belongs to the Greyhound line, which drives

great distances throughout America. By comparison, the short-story composite does not

feature such an appropriate metaphor for America. Yet Cathy the Gymnast appears in

''TIW'' as well. DeNuccio further points out that the line from The Lone Ranger “real

Indians got blisters on their feet, not on their ass” is also a reference to the long

relocation journeys or Trail of Tears (2002: 91).

A more humorous motif is constituted by repetition of the lines “Sometimes it's a

good day to die” in “Sometimes it's a good day to die, sometimes it's a good day to play

basketball” or its variation, “Sometimes it's a good day to die, sometimes it's a good


day to have breakfast”. This a reference to Crazy Horse and the famous native American

shout 'Hoka-hey' (pronounced /hawka heI/), which is used to denote fearlessness (in

relation to the future). Hence, in battle it means “bring it on”, “let's go!” and in everyday

speech it is translated as “the best is yet to come” (Hoka Hey Farm, 2010). Yet, the

phrase was wrongly paraphrased as “it's a good day to die”. This common error is

continuously mocked in both The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals. Next to the

references to the native American past and the many casualties suffered in the course of

confrontations with the whites, there are many references to the present situation, too.

The alcoholism, boredom and poverty are probably the most common. The film,

however, depicts this situation with a lot of humor, so that the reservation seems to be

thriving and life in it much fun.

7.2. Structural Metaphor, The Father and Son Relationship

The plot of ''TIW'' is structured by the father-son relationship of Victor and his

dad. This bond represents the relation between the past and the present, much like the

relationship between Victor and Thomas. Hence, the most important theme in both

''TIW'' and Smoke Signals may well be the reconciliation of the native Americans with

their past, in order to move on to a new future, free from the burdens of their past.

The structural metaphor is a metaphor conveyed by the structure of the work, in a way

similar to the morale of a story. In return, a structural metaphor can also structure the

work itself. In this case the father-son relationship is conveyed by the plot structure.

The father and son could be considered the source domain(s) of the past and present,

the latter being is the target domain(s). Hence, the father becomes a (metaphorical)

symbol for the past, and the son a symbol for the present. In The Lone Ranger, Victor

does not seem to have a very loving relationship with his dad. There are no instances

where his father is kind or supportive to him. The few descriptions, scenes or stories

that feature his character portray Victor's father as a common drunk who leaves his

family. Yet Victor seems to have loved his dad anyway, considering Victor missed his

dad and cried over his leaving in ''Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only

Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star-Sprangled Banner' at Woodstock'' (35). In

Smoke Signals, Arnold Joseph seems a relatively unkind and aggressive person. Firstly,

Gary Farmer's posture is quite imposing. Secondly, in the Trading Post scene he scares

away the young Thomas and later slaps young Victor when the latter accidentally drops


his beer. Furthermore, his status as a drunk is confirmed by the 1988 Fourth of July

scene and Suzy's flashback where Arnold accidentally burns the house.

Image 11. Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer) scaring away young Thomas.

In ''TIW'', Victor in no way actively remembers his dad. Thomas only tells the

story of how Victor's father found him in Spokane. However, in Smoke Signals, Thomas

and Suzy tell stories about Arnold, angering Victor:

“You know Thomas, I am sick and tired of you telling all these stories about my

dad, like you know him or something […] He left us, he left me ten years ago.

Ten years ago, Thomas! And we, I, haven't heard from him since. And I don't

know him. And you don't know him, either. […] Did you know he was a drunk?

Did you know he left his family? Did you know he beat up my mom? Did you

know he beat me up?” (1998: 109)

Furthermore, every time a good story is told about Arnold, Victor counters it with either

an angry reaction, cynicism or a bad memory. As if Victor cannot cope with the

possibility his father was both good and bad at the same time. The latter may well

reflect Alexie's personal domestic situation :

“My friend and I took a trip to Phoenix, Arizona, to pick up his father's remains.

[…] The basic creative spark for Smoke Signals came from the trip I took with

my friend. […] It's more about my relationship with my father than about my

friend's relationship with his father. My father is still alive” (West & West, 2009:

64).


In the film and screenplay, Victor becomes furious when the beautiful Suzy tells him

Arnold was like a father to her, as Arnold was never there for his "real" son. In ''TIW'',

Victor and Thomas both decide to ritually disperse the ashesin the same way. This

proves to be another reconciliation between the traditional native American and his

modern counterpart. A conclusion would be that both have a common, basic need for

tradition infusing key-moments in life with significance. By comparison, Smoke Signals

depicts only Victor dispersing the ashes in the Spokane River, in a cathartic act giving

full expression to his pain.

This ritual signifies both the letting go of the troublesome private and public past and its

full embrace.

The paradoxical gesture of letting go and embracing is further present in the

phoenix motif. On one hand, the city of Phoenix is an autobiographical element as

Alexie's personal road trip literally took him there. On the other hand, Phoenix refers to

the mythological bird that burns up and resurrects from its ashes. In the opening scenes,

Thomas makes an important distinction:

“you know, there are some children who aren't really children at all. They're just

pillars of flame who burn everything they touch. And there are some children,

who are just pillars of ash, that fall apart if you touch them. Me and Victor, we

were children born of flame, and ash”

Victor and Thomas are such 'Phoenix' figures, who have the potential to be revived. The

latter sense is reinforced by the scenes showing Thomas 'fly' from the burning house

and his parents' ashes. As if he is the reincarnation of his parents, thereby conveying

the sense that life does not ends for those lucky enough to have children. When Victor

tells Thomas in ''TIW'' that he is going to disperse the ashes to 'let go of something that

has no more use', Thomas corrects him since “Nothing ends, cousin.” (1994: 74). In the

original screenplay, Arnold was supposed to rise again from the Spokane River with his

family waiting for him on the river bank (1998: 168). Furthermore, Arnold's old trailer

is ritually burned by Suzy. Finally, the revival theme again recalls the Ghost Dance

which is essentially a revival-religion. One could consider the original screenplay's

proposal to resurrect Arnold, a victory of the Ghost Dance religion, bringing back the

dead native American spirits (and their way of life).


Image 12. Victor and Thomas 'dazzled' by the Beautiful Suzy.

The title of the short-story, ''This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona'',

raises the question of the first word's referent'. Supposedly, the answer is the very story

itself. Given the pessimistic tone of The Lone Ranger, the story spells ' death, and in

the best case remembrance by the family. Yet, through Victor's dispersing of the ashes,

he embraces the traditional past, which amounts to its revival. In the film, the Phoenix-

theme is elaborated by Thomas' voice-over speech in the beginning. The film ends with

Victor accepting his father and presumably honouring him by remembering him for

better or worse. The screenplay originally featured a visual revival of Arnold. Hence,

the film is much more “poetic and open-ended” than the screenplay (1998, 168). The

film, however, slightly adapts the original screenplay voice-over with the following:

“How do we forgive our father, maybe in a dream. Do we forgive our fathers for

leaving us too often or forever when we were little? Maybe for scaring us with

unexpected rage or making us nervous because there never seemed to be any

rage at all? Do we forgive our fathers for marrying or not marrying our mothers?

For divorcing or not divorcing our mothers? And shall we forgive them for their

excesses of warmth or coldness? Shall we forgive them for pushing or leaning?

For shutting doors? For speaking through walls, or never speaking, or never

being silent. Do we forgive our fathers in our age or in theirs? Or in their deaths?

Saying it to them or not saying it? If we forgive our fathers, what is left?”

This final voice-over by Thomas ends the film. It poses the question how one can and if


one should forgive his fathers, or come to terms with the past. The final line “If we

forgive our fathers, what is left?” points out the possibility of not forgiving. Yet, the

second part “what is left?” is remarkable. The tone of this question suggests that if one

does forgive his fathers nothing is left. This only makes sense if one considers the

fathers to be a metaphor to the past. Hence, the question becomes “If one comes to

terms with the past, what is left?”. For if the native Americans accept the past, in order

to move on, they lose their native Americanness and become regular Americans. If they

move on, they lose a whole part of their past. Yet, they do gain a whole new non-native

American past as well, which makes this a final question a tricky one. Moreover, Victor

's character was supposedly shaped by the absence of his father. In this way, forgiving

his father would mean losing some part of him (possibly his anger, hatred or sorrow).

The same theme of forgiving reappears in The Business of Fancydancing (2002),

Alexie's second film. Here, forgiving is a metaphor to a similar compromise between

native American and American. It seems safe to suggest Smoke Signals intends to

promote the compromise and the forgiving. The underlying message is that native

Americans can only move forward if they accept a partial assimilation into the

American culture.

The obverse of the Phoenix-theme is the fire motif. The film starts with fire and

ends with water. Fire and water are opposites, denoting the contrast between the

opening and ending. The opening features death whereas the ending reveals life, or at

least a resurrection. Yet fire ought not to be considered exclusively negative, as a good

'fire' can heal or bring new life, as is conveyed by the concept of the Phoenix and the

ritual burning of Arnold's trailer, a possible attempt to 'free' his soul. Alexie supports

this idea when granting that “A bad fire destroyed Arnold's life. A good fire redeems

him.” (1998: 167). Hence, the Phoenix figure, a composite like and within the short

story cycle, reveals that the journey is actually a quest for Arnold's redemption, next to

the search for a resolution of the psychodramatic conflict within oneself (Victor vs

Thomas).

It could be argued that ''TIW'' and Smoke Signals dramatize attempts at

reconciliation with the past and oneself, in order to move on. DeNuccio claims that this

is indeed the cause of all of Arnold's troubles: “Victor's dad lives in the past: when Jimi

played ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' for him at Woodstock” (2002: 86). Although this

quote refers to The Lone Ranger, it is also relevant for the film. Mikhail Bakhtin argues

that “ [The contemporary] re-evaluates the past, and it thereby re-evaluates the present,


for the emphasis in the present is no longer on full, immediate reality, but on

disintegration-dissolving epic wholeness.” (qtd in MacCannel, 1985: 970). This notion

re-appears in the Phoenix-figure, which combines both the past and the future in its

combined incineration/resurrection. Bakhtin's dialogic notion of the past and present in

history affecting each other also reappears in Thomas' conception that “the past and

future are 'wrapped up in the now.'” (DeNuccio, 2002: 94). Hence, there is a contrast in

The Lone Ranger between Arnold and Victor on one side and Thomas on the other. The

latter is very traditional, whereas Arnold is the modern native American drunk, as is

Victor. Yet, in Smoke Signals, Thomas does not seem to be in touch with the past that

much. Hence, the message seems to be the same in both The Lone Ranger and Smoke

Signals. The difference is that Thomas in the film loses his role of "messiah".

Bakhtin's dialogic notion is relevant to the themes Smoke Signals in the sense

that past and present are constantly influencing each other. On one hand, the past

frequently returns to remind the present protagonists of their troubled legacy. On the

other hand, the present way of remembering and retelling the past, changes the (gravity)

of the past. Thomas chooses to euphemize the past and persists in recounting the heroic

tales of Arnold. By contrast, Victor focusses on the negative aspects an hereby further

dramatizes his past.

The notion that past and present interact is even more present in Smoke Signals

due to two events. On the one hand, Thomas (a symbol for the past) takes Victor's (a

symbol for the present) advice on how to dress. Repeatedly, Thomas does what Victor

says, such as leaving behind the canteen. On the other hand, Victor also takes Thomas'

advice as the latter proposes to disperse Arnold's ashes in the Spokane river, which is

what Victor finally does. This dynamic between past and present serves the

construction of an acceptable or more realistic "native American identity". Moreover,

this is a message of hope, which contrasts with the pessimism and despair in The Lone

Ranger. This message also is similar to W.E. Du Bois's notion of the double

consciousness, considering native Americans are both 'native American' and 'American'

(1996: 5). In both the film and prose collection, the American present – symbolized by

Victor – struggles with the native American past – symbolized by Thomas, or Arnold.

The “double voice” seems to be limited to the native American side (Hale, 1994: 457).

Yet implicitly the white American side rings through in technology (cars, phones, …),

biblical references and white American characters. The final message seems to be a

personal as well as intercultural one, that of establishing a compromise between the


traditional and progress, as well as between the native American and the contemporary

American.

8. Conclusion

This thesis began with an introduction to the material under scrutiny: the short-

story composite The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), the film Smoke

Signals (1998) and the writer Sherman Alexie. My analysis of the adaptation is divided

into three kinds: media-, genre- and thematic adaptations.

In the section on the media-adaptation or the move from the printed page to the

screened product, I discuss different sublevels: the levels of transtextuality, literary and

filmic narratology, and the screenplay. One can conclude that the paratext of Smoke

Signals seems to be focused more on audience appeal than that of The Lone Ranger,

which seems to emphasize the content rather than trying to evoke a positive reception.

Moreover, the metatextual elements of the film's paratext are more flattering than that of

the short-story composite. One can conclude the film is even more concerned with

reception than the book as printed. This could make sense, considering the film-

production is pricier than the book-production, thus a positive reception is more crucial

to making a profit.

The filmic and literary narratological analysis is further divided into six

subcategories: plot, narrative strategies, characters, space and time; narrators, focalizers

and point of view and sound. The investigation of the plot mainly revealed that the

filmic adaptation elaborates the characters, and in the process portrays white people

more friendly than the short-story composite does. Moreover, the adaptation renders the

narrative longer and more complex, by integrating other stories into ''TIW'' to arrive at a

feature length movie. For the analysis of the scene transitions the absence of any

apposite literary theory was compensated for by my development of a model to suit

both literary and filmic transitions. This model features six categories—space, time,

object (motif), character, action and theme. Yet films contain the extra category of

sound, although it has been suggested literature contains sound-elements as well. This

model can be applied to both The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals. The investigation of

narrative strategies revealed that the plot structure of the film differs greatly from that of

the short-story composite and ''TIW''. Yet both media attempt to bring about emotional

involvement to maintain narrative interest. The Lone Ranger triggers emotional


involvement by means of the reader's foreknowledge of tragic events. The film mainly

draws on close-ups of facial expressions, mean behavior of characters and tragic

flashbacks. In Smoke Signals, Thomas is portrayed differently to prevent him from

looking ridiculous. The other characters are combinations of different characters in The

Lone Ranger, which leads to a different portrayal as well. Furthermore, the characters in

the film are less stereotypical than those in the short-story composite. There is little

characterization of the spatial environment in The Lone Ranger, yet the film seems to

focus on the messiness of it all. For the rest, the Coeur d'Alene reservation, where the

movie was partly shot, is depicted by its trailers and muddy, desolate fields. Like

"TIW", Smoke Signals features many flashbacks. Yet it attempts to portray an equally

long period as The Lone Ranger by means of a flash-forward of twenty-two years in the

beginning of the film.

In the film two types of narrators can be distinguished, a visual and an audio

narrator, whereas The Lone Ranger features only textual narrators, albeit of a greater

variety. The prose collection indeed uses both an extra-heterodiegetic narrator and

intra-autodiegetic narrators. In the film, the role of the extra-heterodiegetic narrator is

taken over by the objective monstrator and music and sounds. The intra-autodiegetic

narrators are all shots from a character's point of view and conveyed through the voice

of Thomas. The low angle of certain shots attempts to capture Arnold's threatening

posture. Furthermore, close-ups and facial expressions are combined with eyeline

matching or an advancing dolly. The latter is meant to elicit sympathy for both Victor

and Thomas. Establishing shots are used to portray the openness and desolateness of the

"road" and reservation. Finally, sound is used for four different reasons in the film.

Firstly, Thomas’ voice is used as an audio-narrator who opens and ends the film and

who narrates several flashbacks or stories. Secondly, music is used for emphasis, e.g. to

underscore the end of a story. Thirdly, sounds convey emotions and increase the

emotional involvement. Fourthly, lyrics of songs are used to support the plot. I conclude

that sounds mainly add something to the narrative, rather than adapt elements from a

prior medium. An exception, however, is Thomas’ voice as an audio narrator.

There are several major differences between the screenplay and the film. In the

final edit, several practical issues had to be taken into consideration. These include the

rapid burning down of the house (which limited the amount of 'burning house' scenes),

the heavy rain that forced the basketball scenes to be shot indoors and problems with

getting the cast together to shoot the final scene with the family on the river bank. The


film goes for a more solemn and serious ending than the screenplay. Yet, in general, the

film is less tragic than the screenplay. More serious considerations, like the allusion to

the native American genocide after “John Wayne's Teeth” have been omitted from the

film. Suzy's character underwent most changes, as she is much more "present" in the

screenplay. By withholding most of the information on Suzy, she is rendered more

mysterious. In the final edit, the response of test audiences was taken into account to

make several of these editorial choices.

The section on the genre-adaptation focusses on the transposition of a composite

story into a single story (the screenplay). This is done by condensing elements from

different stories of the composite novel into the single story. These elements pertain to

different categories: events, motifs and themes, places and characters. The preference

for various elements and stories over others seems to be based on two criteria: 1) the

structure and plot of the new single story and 2) the elaboration of characters,

conversations, events, thoughts or places in the new single story. Numerous elements of

Smoke Signals are transformations from The Lone Ranger. The most frequent kind of

transformations are structural quotes and alterations. Hence repetition and substitution

are the most prominent and relevant techniques of adaptation. Next to these two types of

transformations, there are several deletions. I consider these less relevant except that the

more stories and elements are deleted, the more interesting the remaining elements

become. There is also the criterion of the author's idiosyncratic or emotional

preferences. Yet these motivations are hard to retrace and perhaps not relevant to the

general adaptation processes. Moreover, Smoke Signals features new characters who

seamlessly fit into The Lone Ranger's narrative community.

Adapting the short-story into a full-length film has major consequences for three

different story-parts: the opening, the middle and the ending. Smoke Signals presents a

coherent entity where the characters evolve as the story progresses. By comparison,

''TIW'' begins in medias res, has an open ending and features stereotypical characters

that do not develop in the course of the story.

In the section on the thematic adaptation, I discuss the prominent themes, motifs

and figuresin The Lone Ranger and Smoke Signals such as the phoenix, fire, water and

the relationship between Victor and Thomas or between Victor and his dad. Clearly the

most pertinent issue is the "native American identity". First and foremost, the father-son

relationship becomes emblematic of the attempt to reconcile the present with the past,

to come to terms with one's legacy or the (cultural) heritage of one's people. This notion


is strengthened by the troubled relationship between Victor and Thomas, who represent

elements of the modern and the traditional. In both the plot of ''TIW'' and Smoke

Signals, the structural function of the father-son and Victor-Thomas relationship is

prominent. Moreover, the references to native American history and culture further add

to the theme of native American identity.

The different levels of adaptation can be investigated separately, however, they

are all interconnected. Firstly, there's the levels of media and genre-adaptation. In my

analysis of the recurring elements in both the film and the printed text, I mention several

themes, motif, characters and events repeated either by means of visualisation or songs.

The baby's rescue by being thrown out of the window, for instance, is visualised in

Smoke Signals. Similarly, the native American past and culture are represented by

including native American drums on the soundtrack, which makes for a representational

mediation, despite the direct physical or emotional impact. The levels of thematic and

genre-adaptation are also connected. The section on genre-adaptations already

mentioned that the single-story repeats certain motifs or themes to 1) establish a link

with the original text and 2) presumably to preserve a specific morale or message. In

Smoke Signals, the motifs of basketball and frybread are salvaged, supposedly to

reconnect with the prose collection and to foreground the theme of a desirable

compromise between native and white American. An important change, however,

underwent the short-story cycle's theme of the deplorable reservation, expressing the

inability to fit into contemporary white American society. This is more integrated into

the problematic relationship between father and son, and Victor and Thomas. Both

manifestations, however, denote the incapacity to deal with the past, resulting in an

inadequacy to handle the present. This major theme functions as a structural metaphor

in ''TIW'' and Smoke Signals. This concept refers to a metaphor conveyed by the

structure of the work, in a way similar to the morale of a story. In return, a structural

metaphor can also structure the work itself. In the case of Smoke Signals, the metaphor

is conveyed by, e.g. Thomas telling a positive story about Arnold and the subsequent

flashback by Victor, where Arnold is acting unkind. Hence, the genre and thematic

adaptations relate to each other. In fact, the three levels of adaptation have to be

considered in relation to one another when analysing adaptations in general.

On each respective adaptation level, various native American elements have

influenced the outcome of the overall adaptation. On the level of the media-adaptation,

the film's soundtrack is dominated by "genuine"native America artists such as Jim


Boyd, the EagleBear Singers or Ulali. Moreover, the film features native American

drum tracks. Vaughn EagleBear's protest song “John Wayne's Teeth” may well be the

best example of the native American influence. From a visual perspective, the movie is

filmed entirely on the Coeur d'Alene reservation. Moreover, it features no

"stereotypical" native Americans but rather mocks clichés like Crazy Horse's famous

“Hoka-hey”-phrase – commonly known as: It's a good day to die. Remarkably, neither

the film nor the printed story takes place in the city, which seems like another world. An

exception is the short-story “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”.

On the level of the genre-adaptation, in both the film and the prose collection

Alexie features short orally transmitted stories. In The Lone Ranger, these are stories

narrated by a random character, which I consider "oral" because they usually appear as

part of a conversation. In Smoke Signals, Thomas often narrates his stories with his eyes

closed. These oral stories should be considered more typical of native American than

white American culture.

The thematic adaptations bear the enhanced imprint of native American culture,

as evident in references to General Armstrong Custer, Chief Joseph, The Ghost Dance

religion etc. The alternative native American discourse and music stresses this even

further. The integration of the deplorable "Rez" theme into the father-son and Victor-

Thomas relationships doubly bring home the need for a coming-to-terms with the past.

The motif of the deplorable reservation understandably refers to the present situation for

many native Americans. Perhaps the coming-to-terms with the past, too, is a theme

more relevant for native Americans (and African Americans) than white Americans.

Furthermore, from a postcolonial perspective, the film is more ambiguous than the

short-story composite. The latter draws a very negative image of white Americans,

whereas the film portrays them as both kind and unkind. Yet the story cycle and movie

adaptation both share the idea that native Americans are strangers in their "own"

country.

A conclusion is that the three levels of adaptation each are relevant in adaptation

studies. One can research them separately, but they are connected all the same. This

connection must not be neglected, as decisions on one level may originate of have

implications on another level. To get a correct image of the adaptation as a whole, it is

crucial this interconnectedness is never lost sight of. Of course, the content of the work

has a definite influence on the adaptation levels as well. In this case, the native

American themes and motifs have had a visible impact. Each adaptation level seems to


support the main theme of the prose collection and film: forgiving.

“I kept trying to figure out the main topic, the big theme, the overarching idea, the

epicenter. And it is this: the sons in this book really love and hate their fathers.”

(Alexie, 2005: xxii)


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Ik verklaar plechtig dat ik de masterproef, (titel), zelf heb geschreven. Ik ben op dehoogte van de regels i.v.m. plagiaat en heb erop toegezien om deze toe te passen in dezemasterproef.

Jeremy Lanssiers


sherman alexie's smoke signals

Documents

film smoke signals

level of adaptation

triple adaptation

shortstory composite

composite fiction

lone rangerand tonto

lone ranger andtonto

native american themes