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Page 14 - Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023
Review: You’ll kick yourself for not watching sooner
continued from page
of everyday life in its isolated rural
community, trading traditional sit-
com studios for on-location shoot-
ing, while eschewing laugh tracks
entirely.
“Reservation Dogs” is set in an
unnamed Native American reserva-
tion in Oklahoma, and its first sea—
son became the first TV series to be
filmed entirely in Oklahoma.
A “reservation dog” is the name
for one of the many stray and feral
dogs that can be found roaming the
streets and other outdoor spaces of
Indigenous reservations in North
America.
It’s also the name adepted by the
four Native teens in this show who
see themselves as “cool gangsters,”
in the style of Quentin Tarantino’s
“Reservoir Dogs.”
The show follows these kids as
they yearn for bigger things than
life on the “rez,” while they also
struggle to make sense of the often
contradictory muddle that their cul-
ture has become, after centuries of
white colonization, plus their own
short but tumultuous lifetimes of
being raised by parents, grandpar-
ents and other tribal elders who are
frequently still sorting out their own
messes.
“Reservation Dogs” depicts “rez
life” as a perpetual state of chaotic
disrepair, with tribal law enforce—
ment that’s underfunded and disre—
spected, and Indian Health Service
workers who are similarly over-
worked and ill—equipped.
While we’re shown this can lead
HARLE
to lax responses to petty crimes and
health issues endemic to Indigenous
peoples, “Reservation Dogs” also
hammers home the idea that the re-
laxed and often nonexistent bound—
aries of Native American culture can
help integrate family and spiritual-
ity more fully into their community
experience.
Several characters receive casual
and frequently unasked-for Visita—
tions from ancestor spirits, and our
quartet of “Reservation Dogs” typi-
cally address adults on the reserva-
tion by some combination of “uncle,”
“auntie,” “grandparent” and “cous—
in,” just as those elders greet the
young people as “niece,” “nephew,”
“grandchild” and, again, “cousin.”
The tribal members themselves
point out the difference between
those titles as honorifics versus
those relatives who are actual “kin,”
but one of the symptoms of Clois-
tered communities in any culture is
how closely intertwined everyone’s
histories become, as jovial adults
allude to past relationships by tell-
ing their friends’ kids, “I was almost
your (momma or daddy).” I
What’s key to the portrayal of res-
ervation life in “Reservation Dogs”
is not just its insights into rural Na—
tive Americans, but also its empathy
for their plight, since many of their
ongoing challenges and shortfalls
are shared by similar communities
of economically disadvantaged white
people outside of big cities, but then
compounded by their legacies of out-
side oppression.
It’s initially hilarious, but
subtly heartbreaking, when two
UIN
harlequinproductions.org
tribal elders lead an informal prayer
ceremony to undo some “bad medi-
cine” wrought by one of the teens,
and in their quest to cap off the rit-
ual with “a really old song,” they re-
sort to reciting what they can recall
of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” as one
of their ancestor spirits looks on and
remarks that even he knows the lyr—
ics better than they do.
Over the course of this show’s
two seasons, we see our gang of four
animated by the unmet goal of their
fallen fifth member, Daniel (Dalton
Cramer), who dreamed of traveling
to California before he lost hope and
took his own life.
As with any number of sparsely
populated rural communities, the in-
ternal conflict of growing up ‘on the
reservation is that it can provide a
welcome sense of identity and com-
._munity, but depending on how much
broader you’d prefer your horizons
to be, it can feel like it’s killing your
soul and aspirations.
Adolescence is already when
many Childhood friendships come
undone, as kids who have known
each other their whole lives start
to grow apart, as they become their
own men and women, and for the
“Reservation Dogs,” the question
of whether to carry out Daniel’s
planned pilgrimage to the California
coast underscores the differing pri-
orities these kids are developing.
As we see with the adults who
raised them, this dilemma tran-
scends generations.
Rita (Sarah Podemski), the single
mother to “Reservation Dog” Bear
(D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), stayed on
Building Madness
Winner of the
PanOwski Playwriting
Award
the reservation and works at the
Indian Health Service, while Teenie
(Tamara Podemski), the aunt to fel—
low “Reservation Dog” Elora Danan
(Devery Jacobs, whose character
was indeed named for the film “Wil—
low”), became a “Big City Indian.”
During one of the annual IHS
conferences where the “aunties” go
to “snag” some no-strings-attached
hook-ups, Rita and’Teenie have a
brief blowup over how each one en-
vies the other’s life, but both feel
alone in their own way.
The narrative turns an unflinch-
ing eye toward examining each char-
acter’s flaws and foibles, even as it
affords them all some measure of
sympathy. ,
This is how the show manages to
feel grounded in reality, even when
it diverges into encounters with the
fantastical —- such as Bigfoot sight-
ings, and judgments passed upon
men who have lost their way by the
vengeful, cloven—footed “Deer Lady”
(Kaniehtiio Horn) — and the absurd
(three words: colonizer catfish cult).
As a fan of supporting-cast char-
acter actors, I love how “Reservation
Dogs” showcases seasoned Indige-
nous performers such as Gary Farm-
er, Wes Studi, Zahn McClarnon and
Kimberly Guerrero, and because
it’s a minority-majority cast, when
non-Native actors do appear, they’re
deployed perfectly, from Garrett
Hedlund and Bill Burr to Megan
Mullally and Marc Maron.
This one is a treat, gang. If you
haven’t seen it already, then like
me, you’ll kick yourselves for not
watching it sooner.
MARCH 17 - APRIL 1, 2023
Evenings at 7:30 pm.
Sunday matinees at 2 pm.
Visit our website for more details.
Max and Paul are just trying to keep their architecture company afloat,
but they accidentally hired the mob to build/a police retirement home.
They may never get the project done in this screwball. comedy, but
they are most definitely building madness. If you love those great old
comedies from Hollywood’s Golden Era of the 19305, you will love this!
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