Abstract
Native cinema is still a new on North-American screens and working to establish the sharp differences between Western America and the “Thirld World” reality on the reservations for Native Americans remain the poorest minorities in the US and in Canada. It is also new as the space whereaboriginal people shave control of their filmic representation, showing, for one, the diversity of tribal cultures preserved and thriving. The films analysed are Powwow Highway and Medicine River, both based on novels of the same title by David Seals and Thomas King, respectively. The theme is avery dear one to Native Literature: the trip back to one´s community and the figure of the trices as mediator or guide of this return.
Highlights
Native cinema is still a new on North-American screens and working to establish the sharp differences between Western America and the “Thirld World” reality on the reservations for Native Americans remain the poorest minorities in the US and in Canada
The films which could be put in this category, including the ones written or directed by Sherman Alexie, a Coeur d’ Arlene writer,2 each depend on a different tribal culture, but those cultures do share a history of struggles against the whites, a difficult social situation, and their world views are nearer to each other than they are to the European cultures
The sentence and the images related to it – old cars, old refrigerators abandoned in lawns, houses without panes in the windows, people with old clothes, drunks all around, no transportation – emphasize the difference between western USA and the reservations
Summary
Native cinema is still a new on North-American screens and working to establish the sharp differences between Western America and the “Thirld World” reality on the reservations for Native Americans remain the poorest minorities in the US and in Canada. It is new as the space where aboriginal people shave control of their filmic representation, showing, for one, the diversity of tribal cultures preserved and thriving. Powwow Highway and Medicine River are based on two novels (Medicine River by Thomas King and Powwow Highway by David Seals), which, as the films, are built around two very important motives in Native Literatures: the trip back to the community (which implies a rejection of the values of the American way of life) and the figure of the trickster (as the instrument which causes this trip or guides the protagonist in it)
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