Smoke Signals

A large part of this story takes place in the past, which seems very important. By having flashbacks and showing past event through the characters it showed that the past plays a big role in the future. It helps to explain not only why the characters act the way they act, but why the Indian culture is the way it is. I don’t think it is used as an excuse, but it is used as a way of explaining why it is how it is now.  If it wasn’t for the past the present would be different, and I think this is what the use of flashbacks are used for.

                It also seemed to me that the title was used to convey a general idea that was important. The title Smoke Signals hints at a primitive idea, the idea of communicating with smoke, but I think it means more than that after seeing the movie in its entirety. I think it means that there are times of trial in everyone life, and these trials or obstacles are like fire. When you are going through the problems smoke rises and shows that you are overcoming them and becoming better. The importance of the fathers trailer being located in Phoenix and having a literal ‘phoenix’ event cannot be ignored. As the memory and pain that Victor had associated with his father burned, he raised out of the ashes a new man. He was going through a lot of pain and trial from the past, but as the fire burned and the smoke rose it signified that he was letting go of the bad, and he was able to become better because of it.