Literary Cousins of Reservation Dogs : A Comparative Analysis of Works by Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie

Agnieszka Gondor-Wiercioch

Literary Cousins of Reservation Dogs : A Comparative Analysis of Works by Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie

Publication date: 16.12.2022

Media Research Issues, 2022, Volume 65, Issue 4 (252), pp. 53 - 65

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.22.038.16496

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Titles

Literary Cousins of Reservation Dogs : A Comparative Analysis of Works by Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie

Abstract

Literaccy kuzyni „Reservation dogs”: analiza komparatystyczna utworów Louise Erdrich i Shermana Alexie

Artykuł przedstawia analizę komparatystyczną współczesnej prozy rdzennych Amerykanów (powieści Love Medicine i The Bingo Palace Louise Erdrich oraz wyboru opowiadań The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Shermana Alexiego) oraz serialu Reservation Dogs Taiki Waititi i Sterlina Harjo. Celem artykułu jest wykazanie podobieństw na poziomie konstrukcji młodych bohaterów w tekstach literackich i dziele filmowym z uwzględnieniem takich kategorii jak dekonstrukcja stereotypów Indian, humor umożliwiający przetrwanie (survival humor – Lincoln 1993) oraz kwestii gatunkowych. Ta ostatnia kategoria obejmuje opowieści o dojrzewaniu, opowieści drogi, opowieści o powrocie do domu (homing novels – Bevis 1987) oraz realizm magiczny. Wykorzystana metodologia to studia kulturowe, postkolonializm i postmodernizm. Autorka artykułu zamierza wykazać, że wiele środków stylistycznych wykorzystanych do konstrukcji postaci w serialu Reservation Dogs pojawiło się znacznie wcześniej w kanonicznych utworach współczesnej prozy rdzennych Amerykanów i twórcy serialu wydają się podejmować inteligentny dialog z tradycją literacką, ponieważ podobnie stawiają na afirmację współczesnej kultury indiańskiej, podkreślają jej związki z popkulturą i bardzo często wprowadzają czarny humor, oddając rdzennym Amerykanom sprawczość i kontrolę nad własną opowieścią.

ABSTRACT

The article is a comparative analysis of contemporary Native American fiction (Louise Erdrich’s novels Love Medicine and The Bingo Palace, Sherman Alexie’s short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven), and the series Reservation Dogs by Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo. The aim of the article is to indicate similarities in the construction of young protagonists of the selected literary texts and the series, with an emphasis on Indian stereotype deconstruction, survival humour and the genres. This last category encompasses bildungsroman, road novel/story, homing novel/story and magical realism. The methodology used in the article includes cultural studies, postcolonialism and postmodernism. The author of the article wants to argue that many stylistic devices used in the character construction in Reservation Dogs have appeared much earlier in the canonical works of Native American fiction and Waititi and Harjo seem to enter into an intelligent dialogue with the literary tradition because similarly to it, they affirm contemporary indigenous culture, stress its connection with popular culture and very often introduce the black humour which turns Native Americans into subjects of their narratives and gives them back control over their own stories.

Keywords

proza rdzennych Amerykanów, kino ludności rdzennej, konstrukcja postaci młodego bohatera, dekonstrukcja stereotypów indiańskich, humor umożliwiający przetrwanie; Native American fiction, indigenous film, young protagonist construction, Indian stereotype deconstruction, survival humour

Native American fiction, indigenous film, young protagonist construction, Indian stereotype deconstruction, survival humour

References

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Information

Information: Media Research Issues, 2022, Volume 65, Issue 4 (252), pp. 53 - 65

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.22.038.16496

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Literary Cousins of Reservation Dogs : A Comparative Analysis of Works by Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie

English:

Literary Cousins of Reservation Dogs : A Comparative Analysis of Works by Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie

Authors

Agnieszka Gondor-Wiercioch

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8849-0942

Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Gołębia 24, 31-007 Kraków, Poland

Published at: 16.12.2022

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY

Percentage share of authors:

Agnieszka Gondor-Wiercioch (Author) - 100%

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English

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Number of downloads: 819

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