Reservation Dogs Reflection

 

Maddie D

Reservation dogs was more comedic and relatable than I anticipated, but still pushed forward themes and ideas that surprised me, expanded my perspective, and made me think. This show is written so well, and I love how it asks most of its audience to reflect on their own understanding of present day US reservations and Native Americans through a mix of light hearted and heavy subjects. 
A scene that stood out to me was Rita's conversation with her one night stand. Everything seems to be going well as as they chat in the morning until he rolls up his sleeve to reveal a confederate flag tattoo with "Indian" feathers next to it. This is a shocking reminder to the audience (and Rita) that this man's whiteness and experience blinds him to the hurting and humanity of others. He clearly has strong biases that allow him to tokenize and look down on Indigenous people while believing he is entitled to his place in the world. This was upsetting to me because I know people who share similar attitudes as this man. They are able to keep the view by ignoring certain groups of people's shared experiences. 
There were many conflicting narratives in this scene between Rita's experience and her one night stand's understanding of Indigenous history in the US. It's laughable how ridiculous it seems, but there is a lot of truth in it as well. This is the beauty of the show: this laughable scenario forces the audience to confront their own understanding and view of Native Americans and are pushed to see the situation through Rita's eyes. One can begin to understand how harmful the simple, untruthful cultural understanding of Native Americans and reservations in the US is while changing their own view.    
Here is an example of a feather and confederate tattoo that someone chose to get. 






Comments

  1. David BernellMarch 1, 2023 at 3:04 PM

    If a show/movie surprises you and gets you to think, then people behind who made it have done their jobs well. The scene of the man with the tattoo provides a good example of this. What might those symbols mean to the person who has them on his arm? What do they mean to different people who see it, including not only Rita, but us -- the viewers of the show?

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