The concept of sovereignty is widely used in modern society for multiple purposes. Its definition usually depends on the author’s intention to underline the importance of a particular issue or process. Filmmakers prefer to address either visual or legal sovereignty to represent the rules and regulations according to which individuals have to develop their relationships. In common sense, sovereignty can be defined as authority applied to governing and controlling people. Talking about Indigenous people, visual sovereignty means their self-representation in society, their relationships, and the conditions under which they have to live in a new world.
When Native Americans decide to leave their reservations for a better future for themselves or their children, they challenge their sovereignty regarding their cultural roots and history. Not many white Americans appreciate an opportunity of sharing their space and resources with representatives of other races and ethnicities who may infringe on their customs and social norms. In their turn, Indigenous people have to protect their sovereignty by supporting and respecting each other, remembering their traditions, and saving their moral principles in their current communities.
The Exiles by Kent Mackenzie shows how Native Americans co-exist in a white American world and promote their sovereignty. The central characters, Yvonne, Homer, and Tommy, demonstrate different attitudes toward their independence and readiness for life in a big city. By neglecting her challenges and inability to change her family relationships, Yvonne is obsessed with an idea of a better future for her child. She wants her baby to speak English, attend school, and become something (The Exiles).
The woman is one of the characters with some sense of the past and the necessity to improve something in this life. She seems to have nothing in common with the concept of sovereignty because of her dependence on her husband and the necessity to adapt to the conditions she cannot change. Her monologues are full of sorrow and questions about the lack of progress at the moment. At the same time, she is probably the only character who truly follows the principles of sovereignty. She does not need someone to prove her abilities to survive; she is ready to raise her child alone; she has some hope for a better future.
Despite mutual expectations that Indigenous men are more independent and stronger than their women, the example of The Exiles illustrates how some of them can be easily broken. Even if all that damage remains invisible, it is hard to neglect the characters’ emptiness and low self-esteem. Homer cannot spend a day without his friends and is ready to leave his pregnant wife, not to become alone with his thoughts and responsibilities. He drinks to forget about how local sovereignty suppresses his desires and limits his opportunities. Tommy is another central character who might seem a respected man in his circles. However, when he talks about time in jail as nothing serious, “just time,” it is possible to understand that there is a big hole in his soul (The Exiles). He and his friends do not notice that something is missing in their lives. As soon as they leave their reservations, they challenge their sovereignty, either legal or visual. They have to do something to strengthen themselves; instead, they continue drinking, fighting, dancing, and leaving behind the days that never come back.
Work Cited
The Exiles. Directed by Kent Mackenzie, performance by Yvonne Williams, Homer Nish, and Tommy Reynolds, Contemporary Films, 1961.