Class Meeting Cancelled on 9/30

Our class on 9/30 is cancelled. You are not mandated to make a post on the film Smoke Signals.
 


1. Examine the structure of Smoke Signals. Is it linear? Non-linear? Why? What about the transitions? How are they related to the structure?
 

2. How does Smoke Signals comment on the Western genre? Elaborate beyond discussing the overt moments where something relating to a Western film is mentioned? 

3. What elements of "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," were omitted or changed for the film Smoke Signals? Why?
 

4. Why do you think Thelma and Lucy are driving backward?
 

5. In the film Adaptation, a character that is teaching a seminar on screenwriting says, "And God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. It's flaccid, sloppy writing." What do you think of the voice-over in Smoke Signals? Is it used as a crutch? Does it simply move the story along? Or do you feel it does something more?
 

6. Discuss the idea of humor used as political tool in relation to this film or anything in popular culture.

7. How does Smoke Signals relate to the other major films of the 1990s that depict Native American lifestyle.

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