Gabby L.
Featured Image: Smoke Signals, ©1998, ShadowCatcher Entertainment
Red is arguably the most prominent color in Smoke Signals (1998). From the way the film opens with the burning house to red umbrella that covers the traffic radio host to the reservation’s gymnasium. It is abundantly clear that this movie has already spoken volumes about the themes within the 20 minutes. Whilst analysis could be completed on each of the previous images listed, this is not the purpose of this one. This is about Victor and his image-centered journey into Native American masculinity shown through the colors of clothes upon his back.
Placing us in the context of Native American culture, colors carry symbolism and meaning. While each tribe assigned different meanings for colors, there are a few basic colors that appear to run across the board. One of these is the color red which means “wounds, sunset, thunder, blood, earth, war, day” (Lewis & Clark Trail). Additionally, outside of Native American culture, graphic designers often pick colors per the meanings they convey to the audience. In an article written for Graf1x.com, “Color Meaning and Psychology of Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Pink, and Violet colors”, the author provides a convenient infographic listing colors and their corresponding emotions, industries, and how they are used to convey certain responses.
Here, red evokes emotions such as excitement, energy, passion, courage, and attention. It is used to stimulate, create urgency, draw attention, caution, and encourage. We see these two sources of meaning intersect in Victor.
We begin our analysis with the introduction of Victor’s character. He is playing basketball in his high school gym with buddies whilst Thomas sits upon a stage, observing with awe. With the acknowledgement that dialogue and body language is telling in this scene, what we notice is the color of Victor’s shirt: a striking red. It does not quite fit him, baggy in most areas.
What follows is aggression, an offering of war, directed towards not only his buddies (over foul trouble) but also towards Thomas.
Flash forward (or backward, really) to Victor as a child, still wearing red but this time under a flannel. In the car with his father, headed home. The viewer cannot understand why Victor is wearing red, in this case representing a wound, until the end of the scene wherein Victor spills his father’s beer upon the floor of the pick-up truck. His father strikes him across the face with a swift, closed fist and quickly tells him to get over it.
Another “magic cut” and we have entered present time with Victor walking into the kitchen wearing, you guessed it, a red shirt. This time a button up. Perhaps it conveys he has grown since then, more refined, attempting to emulate an adult.
Quite a bit later, we see where Victor’s outward aggression began…after the disappearance of his father. There is, quite literally, a stand-off between red and blue. Victor vs. Thomas. (See more on the meaning of shot and cut in Smoke Signals here and the different perceptions that Victor and Thomas hold about being a Native American man here.)
Here, we have red which we have already been told is aggressive, it is war, it is anger, it is thunder. Now we introduce its opponent in Smoke Signals, blue. Per the infographic, blue represents emotions such as inner security, freedom, wisdom, and joy. Red vs. Blue. The blue has what the red lacks. Red is all urgency and stimulation where blue seeks calm and order. They are polar opposites so it is no surprise that blue ends up with a bloody nose, a mark of where red has been, has touched.
Thorough out the course of the film, the viewer follows blue and red along a journey centered around what it means to be a Native American man in modern-day America. By the end, Victor has transitioned to wearing shades of brown as opposed to his previous indulgence in red. Brown means stability, comfort. It implies common sense and warmth. It is everything Victor was not prior to this journey and exploration of what it means to be a Native American man. By providing an image-color-based journey to pair with the plot of the film, the viewer is able to identify colors to the meaning of being a Native American man, from start to finish.
Works Cited
Eyre, Chris, director. Smoke Signals. ShadowCatcher Entertainment, 1998.
Graf1x. “graf1x.com.” Posters for Artists, Designers, Teachers, graf1x.com, 14 Sept. 2014, graf1x.com/color-psychology-emotion-meaning-poster/.
Unknown. “Native American Designs and Colors.” States with Indian Names, Lewisandclarktrail.com, lewisandclarktrail.com/section2/colorsanddesigns.htm.
Harrise8. “The ‘Real Indian’ Man as Constructed through a Real Indian’s Stereotype.” Gender and Diversity in Film, 27 Feb. 2019, engl359.home.blog/analytic-blog-posts/the-real-indian-man-as-contructed-through-a-real-indians-stereotype/.
Oravec, Emma. “How the Shot and the Cut Give Meaning in ‘Smoke Signals.’” Gender and Diversity in Film, 27 Feb. 2019, engl359.home.blog/analytic-blog-posts/how-the-shot-and-the-cut-give-meaning-in-smoke-signals/.
Gender and Diversity in Film 
I really liked reading about how the color followed along with the story and how it is part of Native American culture. However, you talk about blue being the opposite of red but then Victor ends up in brown is said to be what he is looking for. I’m curious if it would be beneficial to look and see why brown was chosen for Victor in the end over blue because both colors seem to have meanings of peace.
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I love this topic, it is really interesting to read and was a great idea to analyze. One of the things that I had noticed the most when reading your blog was just the placement of pictures. It is a little hard to read and makes the words look spread out and jagged. Maybe consider making them bigger/smaller or not wrapping them in the text. Other than that I think this is super interesting and a great job!
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I really like that you chose such a narrow topic that you were able to go so in depth about. Who wouldv’e thought that something as little as color could convey so much? Love that you added in the color chart to give the reader access to the real argument of your post. I would try to just enlarge the other images and maybe make the placement uniform. I have noticed that side placement breaks up the text in an awkward way for some reason, but center placement seems to keep everything together. Great idea and good job!
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I really like your topic. I would say to resize your final picture to match the size of your paragraphs. The infographic of the meaning of the colors is really nice too.
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What a unique analysis! Colors are so important to Native American culture, so analyzing what that does to a Native American film is brilliant. I really enjoy that you go scene by scene, and each with an appropriate picture to give the reader reference to what you are talking about. I also love your color chart and think it adds a lot to your argument. Overall, I think this is a brilliant analysis of something that we often overlook in films, whereas the costuming is so intentional and clearly brings a lot to the meaning of a film and character development.
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When you were talking about your post in class it made me really excited to read it! I love when people talk about colors in a film and how they can relate to something more than what they are. And good job on researching what the colors mean for Native Americans. Plus that color chart you found is super cool and is a great addition to your post. I never noticed how often Victor wear red… It’s interesting how there is a red vs. blue kind of situation in the film. Where Victor’s character is often represented by red and what it represents, same with blue and Thomas.
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This analysis is SO fascinating! You did such a great job of being creative and insightful with this assignment. The only suggestion that I have is to not indent your paragraphs, I don’t think its necessary for an online medium.
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This is a really interesting read. Coloring in film is such a subtle choice that I feel like it is often forgotten. I like that your whole post is devoted to this single characteristic. My only suggestion would be to make your paragraph indentations uniform. Some paragraphs have an indent and some don’t, but I think if you stuck with one over the other the whole post would look nicer.
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I absolutely love this essay! It is something that I never thought of watching the film, but it is something that adds so much meaning to the film. The only suggestions I have are based on formatting. I would just suggest making the pictures the same length as the paragraphs. The spacing also seems a little funky, so I’d play around with that. The essay itself is so fascinating. Good job!
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I very much enjoyed this analysis of the film and it never occurred to me to think about color in film this way! I like the overall flow of the blog and the graphics that you have added on to the blog itself. I think it is super helpful that you talk about color and then show how color is used in film. I think it would be super helpful to talk about this topic more in class and to see how we can connect masculinity to it as well. Great post!
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Your idea blew many of us away when you presented it in class, and your article does not disappoint. The analysis is unique, narrow, and succeeds. I like that you also bring Thomas’ colors into the analysis and show how the two interact and develop through that. I would suggest making the images a bit smaller, actually, however. I know we want to emphasize the images because film is visual, but I think that since you have such little text in-between a lot of them, the post loses the feeling that it is a written analysis a bit at times. I think having the images flush with the margins of the text would work well. Also, just a fun thought that has no real connection: the fact that you pin red and blue (or, rather, the film pins them against each other) oddly makes me think of Heathers, which has a lot of meaning derived from the coloring represented in costumes. Some of the most powerful analyses I have been told or read have been about color in Heathers. It is an often overlooked but very powerful means of analysis that I am glad you tapped into. Good luck with your revisions!
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Your choice to analyze the use of color in the film was a breath of fresh air. While costuming can be a focal point for a film, often the analysis of the costumes can be left at surface level, so your deeper look was very interesting. Your reference to classical color meaning as well as those in Native American culture lends some authority to the post. If anything, I would say make the sizes of your photos a little smaller; the large size is helpful to view the image but it almost gives too much of a break to the continuity of your writing.
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This is definitely one of the most interesting blog posts that I have read. I would have never thought about this and it was totally something so subtle yet so important to pick up on. I remember your presentation in class and being so impressed. I would look at the ending again just because it feels almost rushed. Also, the placement of some of the images is a bit odd and you might want to move those around a bit. Other than that, I really enjoyed your take on the film! Again, super impressed how you picked up on this idea!
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Great job with this analysis! The color of clothing is not something that is typically examined in many films, but is important. I really enjoyed the chart of color psychology that you included at the beginning of your post – it was very helpful. I liked the screen grabs that you included, but maybe you would be able to make them just a little bit smaller. They’re all great examples of color to include, their size just appears a little large/wide in relation to the text to me.
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This post is incredibly interesting and well thought-out! I thought you incorporated your research effectively into your post, as well as images and hyperlinks. I also like that you included terms such as “magic cut” that show your knowledge of other formal aspects of the film. Great analysis overall and powerful connection to notions of Native American masculinity and Victor’s character journey!
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