——Analytical paper on season 3 episode 8 (send it) of Reservation Dogs——
In this class, we have already watched and discussed several episodes of Reservation Dogs. This assignment asks you to focus and extend a discussion about one episode in an
analytical way.
Here are some key questions to answer about the episode you choose to analyze. Not all of
them will be relevant to your episode or particular ideas, but they are a place to start:
Storytelling is central to many Native American cultures. It serves several functions—one of which is to impart important lessons and cultural information. What lessons
or cultural information are being imparted here? Use details and examples to illustrate your discussion. (This first question is a great place to start).
Are there incidents, visuals, sounds, or conversations in this episode that require spe-cific cultural knowledge to understand? You should be as specific as possible abou-t the tribes/cultures that share this knowledge or belief and discuss how this contri-butes to a larger sense of meaning.
For instance, in the episode titled “Uncle Brownie,” the eyes of the owl figures are pixelated
out, and our Rez Dogs are freaked out by them. It is likely that you didn’t know what that
meant when you first watched it. However, we now know that the Owl is, in some Native
American cultures, a harbinger of evil, because Dr. Lowry did her homework and got a lot
more specific than Rotten Tomatoes about it.
How do some of the following elements contribute to the narrative and help round
out the sense of meaning? Below is a list of elements followed by an example of how we might start to apply them to understanding more of the meaning of the episode. You would want to spend time explaining these things in detail in your own work. These are just initial observations.
Plot: The narrative arc of “Uncle Brownie” is in part about teaching and learni-ng—and it includes a couple of odd things–the old couple at the beginning, and the resulting dead deer seem to interrupt the point of the story. How do these things contribute to the main point of the story?
Setting/ Set design: Uncle Brownie’s house is a very important part of establishing his character
Dialogue: I feel like the way Brownie talks about Cookie is incredibly important. Why?
Costume: Uncle Brownie’s clothing is a very important part of establishing his character. What does that hat say about him, for instance?
Characters: The way different members of the Rez Dogs react to Brownie is crucial to the story. And Brownie’s interactions with other characters also adds to the narrative. Brownie is an elder. Does he get respect?
Sound/Music: Does the music in this episode seem to comment on the story? How?
Does this episode connect to other episodes in important ways that enhance the m-eaning of the episode?
This paper requires you to have a main topic such as letting go, community or lessons from
the elders. You can also include ways that you see ethnocentrism, colonialism.
Examples on season 3 episode 8 (send it): Choose one of these topics to go of off below
Community: Kenny Boy and the Rezz Dogs come together to kidnap Old Man Fixico. (They
trust Kenny enough to ask him for help) The Rezz Dogs end up calling Kenny Uncle as well.
Kenny also decides to take the blame at the end of the episode when Officer Big is
interrogating everyone because he believes that what they did was for a greater cause. All
the young people come up with the name Rezz Dogs and become ‘one’ in a sense. At the
end of the episode they all come together to see Fixico, Fixicos brother is also there as well.
Letting go: Old man Fixico decides to see his cousin after Willie Jack cries saying she’d do
anything to see Daniel again. The bus exploded at the end of the episode which may have meaning that “all from the past has burned down” and now they can come together as
one after leaving the past behind
Lessons from the elders and lessons from the younger individuals as well: Willie Jack shed in-sight on the importance of letting go and Old man Fixico(max) reacts to that and is willing
to see Fixico after years of not seeing him.
