*This article contains spoilers for the FX Series ‘Reservation Dogs’*
“Every element of our bodies was made inside an exploding star,” says iconic actor Wes Studi, as the zany Bucky in ‘Reservation Dogs’. “We just borrow stardust until we die, and then we return it for something else to use.”
Seeing Studi — known for playing the stoic “leather and feathers” stereotype in ‘90s Westerns — spew stoner-esque one-liners whilst donning a Canadian tuxedo could throw any regular film lover for a loop. But that’s just what ‘Reservation Dogs’ does: it subverts your expectations.
Co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, the show follows four teens willing to go to grievous lengths to escape their Oklahoma reservation. Elora, Bear, Willie Jack, and Cheese are an eclectic group of rebel rez kids looking to make enough cash to get themselves to California; a plan motivated by the death of their friend, Daniel. They steal, they fight, and they’re sh*tas*es more often than not. But they’re also a family reeling from the loss of one of their own, and they’re just not sure where to put all of their tumultuous grief.
My cousins and I used to be those exact sh*tas*es, bar the stealing and the paintball fuelled turf wars with other rez kids. My entire childhood was spent walking up the steep waabooz road so the four of us could grab the tall cans of AriZona at Trails End and pick our way through stinging nettle until it was time to sit around the TV with our bowls of mac and cheese. We have the little scars of scraped knees and burr battles to remember the summers we never thought would end.
This giddy innocence is often left out of the narrative because media portrayals of Natives have been predominantly created through the eyes of non-Native folk. The aforementioned horse riding, monologuing, “stoic Indian” is such a prominent character in these stories that no one has ever tried to peel back the layers to see all that contradicts this stereotype. There’s a humour that hugs the tone of every conversation, a smile behind every lecture, and behind it all is an intricately woven community that extends like tree roots out and away, connecting us all through laughter.
‘Reservation Dogs’ also frequently demystifies preconceived ideas, using the spirit character of William Knifeman as its main source of a reality check. He appears before Bear in the first episode, boasting his brave fight in the Battle of Little Bighorn, only to then continue about how his horse hit a gopher hole mid charge: “rolled over and squashed me” he says. But how could the rugged warrior be taken down by his own steed, you ask?
Well, that’s just what to expect from the rest of the series. The spirit characters don’t always bless the rez kids with eloquent advice, nor do they adhere to the cliche mold they’ve long been forced into. They’re just another part of the show, existing in tandem alongside the varying and countless types of Native folks out there — because Indigeneity is multi-faceted and ‘Reservation Dogs’ highlights the beauty and the pain and the hilarity behind every corner.
Harjo makes sure to blend the tragic with the hilarious throughout the entirety of the show. “We laugh in the face of darkness,” he says. “Our humour butts up against tragedy a lot of times. I think that’s something that’s been true through our history and our survival. We always had to keep our humour intact to survive.”
Seeing these quasi-reflections of my own family members, joking their way through the kind of memories that could break anyone else, is like being right back on my own rez. It’s all of us squished into an auntie’s living room, passing around plates of my Nana’s potato salad, and letting the hours fall away because there’s nowhere else we’d rather be.