Smoke Signals

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
A New Film From the Heart of Native America

The 1998 movie was named to the National Film Registry in 2018.

Geeky, orphaned Thomas lives on the Coeur d'Alene reservation in Idaho where he's reluctantly looked after by stoic Victor, whose long-gone father Arnold saved Thomas from the fire that killed his parents. When Victor learns of Arnold's death in Phoenix, Thomas says he'll pay the expenses of the trip if he can accompany Victor. The young men reach an understanding during their travels, while Victor struggles to deal with his complicated feelings about his father and the past.

Tropes used in Smoke Signals include:


  • Actor Allusion: In a flashback, Arnold asks his son Victor who his favorite Native American is. Victor replies "Nobody," as in he has no favorite Native American, which gets his father upset. Gary Farmer played Nobody in Dead Man.
  • Adaptation: From the short story This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona, featured in the short story collection Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven by Sherman Alexie.
  • Adaptation Expansion: The movie includes a number of additional scenes and plot points that don't appear in the original story, many of which are adapted from other stories in the collection by Alexie.
    • The movie also adds the character of Suzy Song, who doesn't appear anywhere in Lone Ranger And Tonto Fightfight In Heaven.
  • Adorkable: Thomas is this as a kid complete with huge glasses.
    • Thomas remains this even as an adult.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Thomas Builds-the-Fire.
  • Catch Phrase: Whenever Thomas finishes with one of his stories, Victor usually negates the truthfulness of it with "Thomas, you're so full of shit..."
    • When Thomas wants to get Victor's attention he usually cries out, "HEY VICTOR!"
    • Also by Thomas, "Some days, it's a good day to die. And some days, it's a good day to have breakfast."
    • Earlier in the film a variation of the same phrase is used by Junior, one of Victor's basketball buddies, "Some days, it's a good day to die. And some days, it's a good day to play basketball."
  • Cool Old Guy: Arnold. Played basketball and was a very crafty magician.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Victor is a male example of this.
  • God-Created Canon Foreigner: Suzy Song.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Arnold and Suzy. Amplified by the fact the Arnold is quite wide around the waist.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Arnold and Suzy are this.
  • Jerkass: Victor has shades of this. Though not outright unpleasant he is not above bullying his friends and isn't exactly nice to Thomas. It becomes particularly prominent with his interactions with Suzy.
    • There is also that bit where he proceeded beat the crap out of poor Thomas when they were kids.
      • To his credit though, Thomas had just finished asking Victor if the reason his father Arnold had left their family was because he hated Victor.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Victor falls into this as well. Abusive alcoholic dad: check. Parental Abandonment: check. Poverty stricken: check.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Victor turns out to be this at the climax of the film.
  • Mama Bear: Arlene is a strong but nonviolent example of this. After a night of "boozing", she wakes up at the sound of a young Victor breaking beer bottles on the side of their house. The impact of seeing her son in that state prompts her to stop drinking. Being an alcoholic, the fact that she goes cold turkey and evidently STAYS on the wagon not only doubles over as a Crowning Moment of Awesome but proves the lengths she will go to for her son. She is even willing to put up with Arnold's beatings if it means Victor won't have to see her or Arnold drunk ever again.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Suzy Song. That is all.
  • Momma's Boy: While Victor is generally aloof, cold and a Jerkass to those around him, he clearly has a close bond with his mother, Arlene.
    • Thomas is this in spades with his grandmother. Complete with the selection of wardrobe and the same hair styles.
  • Saw Star Wars 27 Times: Victor Joseph tweaks Thomas Builds-the-Fire over how many times the latter has seen Dances with Wolves.
  • Stepford Smiler: Victor serves as a Type A male example of this. He gives a gymnast Thomas talks to on the bus to Arizona a brutal verbal smackdown after catching her in a lie, all the while smiling.
    • He does tend to insult people while smiling the whole way through.
  • The Storyteller: Thomas is well known as this, much to Victor's annoyance.
    • Arnold proves to be this as well, as shown when he tells the story of how he and Victor "defeated the Jesuits in a basketball game".
  • The Power of Friendship: Yes
  • Took a Level In Kindness: After verbally abusing Thomas for the better part of their journey, when they finally arrive home Victor thanks Thomas and gives him some of Arnold's ashes. To Thomas this is a VERY BIG DEAL.
  • Troubled but Cute: Victor.
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