Smoke Signals is a film telling the story of two Native Americans making their way across the country and across their identities. This movie is remarkable in terms of sociology due to its focus on people’s values and norms. Although the protagonists of the story are Native Americans who cherish their heritage, the focus is on universal values related to the family. The two young men have quite similar attitudes towards the existing norms and morals that are similar in their culture as well as the dominant one, which is, in this case, the American culture. The way these representatives of indigenous people interact with the dominant group is also worth consideration.
The scene in the bus is thought-provoking as it displays the way American society addresses some situations. The cultural group with limited resources has quite a limited set of options. Hence, such people as Victor and Thomas choose to avoid direct conflicts with the dominant group but question this dominance by celebrating their uniqueness (by signing aloud and making others listen).
At the same time, the film in question is also interesting in terms of the evaluation of such a sociological framework as functionalism. According to this approach, societies seek stability that is achieved through the collaboration of their members, in contrast to the conflict theory which maintains that progress is a result of the struggle for resources. The two protagonists are actually placed in the position of this kind of struggle where they fight for the love of one man, their father.
This struggle is supposed to make them rivals to a certain extent, but instead, they become close friends who help each other regain conciliation with themselves and their traumatic past. Thus, functionalist’s ideas are relevant and applicable in the real world as individuals, as well as society at large, can and do collaborate rather than struggle.