It’s easy to tell that the translation of the short story “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” to the screen version of Smoke Signals begs a lot of conversation about narrative and cultural lenses. The movie is not a straight interpretation and so this paper will ask you to connect the pieces through a thematic lens. Identify two or three themes and discuss how each of the works carries out these themes. What themes does each version explore? How does the theme(s) work? How is it represented? Symbolized? Discussed? Be sure to support your argument with examples from both the short story and the movie. First, offer an introduction that lays out the overall argument about your thematic discussion. Then, briefly summarize the plot of both the short story and the movie, offering about one paragraph per piece (warning: When you summarize, don’t get carried away. One paragraph is all you need to give your reader an overview of the plot). Then, in two or three paragraphs, argue and support your ideas about what theme(s) each piece identifies and purports. Make sure you end with a conclusion and a separate page for your Works Cited.
