Written by C Hues
July 22, 2022
Reservation Dogs is a show that uses animal themes to convey meaning about the characters and the experiences which have formed them. The incessant dog references throughout the show reveal themes of loyalty, while several other characters have names associated with animals that display their personality and actions. Some animal references delve into the supernatural and show the myriad ways in which these forces help or hinder our protagonists.
The song playing in the first episode is “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, by The Stooges.[1] Dogs are known to be extremely loyal creatures. The lyrics represent the loyalty that Elora feels towards her deceased friend, Daniel. The lyrics to the first verse are as follows, “So messed up, I want you here / In my room, I want you here / Now we’re gonna be face-to-face / And I’ll lay right down in my favorite place.”[2] The lyrics foreshadow Elora leaving the Reservation Dogs to travel to California, which was Daniel’s “favorite place”, although he had never actually been there. In Daniel’s mind, California represented an escape from hellish home life in Oklahoma. In a flashback in episode 7, Daniel’s parents are heard having a violent fight and he tells the group that he “can’t go home.”[3] Later in the same episode, he is found dead (suicide by hanging) by his best friend and potential love interest Elora Dannan. In the Bible, the character of Daniel was able to escape the lion’s den and become a prophet and visionary.[4] However, this Daniel is not so fortunate. Elora believes that their hometown “killed Daniel” and that it “eats people”,[5] like a hungry animal (what the lions could have or should have done to the biblical Daniel, without the protection of God). She says that the world is “dog eat dog”,[6] which is a cynical view of the world shaped by Daniel’s suicide and reinforces her belief that she must take from others, or they will take from her. The second verse to “I Wanna Be Your Dog” goes “And now I’m ready to close my eyes / And now I’m ready to close my mind / And now I’m ready to feel your hand / And lose my heart on the burning sands”. [7] The “burning sands” line fits with the theme of California in the show, as Daniel envisioned a sunny, warm place that was antithetical to the small-town, tight-knit community that he knew and detested in Oklahoma. However, the lines “And now I’m ready to close my eyes” substantiate that California was merely a dream and never a destination for Daniel. This is confirmed in episode 2, “NDN Clinic”, in which Bear’s Warrior Spirit subtly mocks him for his group’s plans to go to California. The Warrior Spirit says, “California! Aho! Yeah! Yeah. That’s where you’re gonna go? You’re gonna run away. Head off west. Dreaming big. They all just want to run away. We are all just…running away.”[8] By fleeing to California, the Rez Dogs would not be finding happiness, they would merely be attempting to elude pain and trauma. However, Daniel’s death would haunt them and follow them regardless of where they tried to go. Daniel merely had the idea of a beautiful, serene California in his head, but he had no experience as to what kind of a place it would really be for him. The lyrics “And now I’m ready to close my mind” reveals Elora’s literal close-mindedness and single-focused pursuit of Daniel’s dream, even at the cost of her deep-rooted friendships with Bear, Willie Jack, and Cheese. A key theme of Reservation Dogs is appreciating what you have and who you have; Elora puts the pain of losing Daniel over the friendships and relationships that she gains through interacting with and helping Brownie and others. Ultimately, Elora leaves the Rez Dogs because she thinks they are being disloyal to Daniel or betraying him by deciding to stay in Oklahoma. After debating Bear about the crimes they commit to make enough money to afford their trip to California, Elora tells the group that she will be leaving “with or without” them, and then walks out of the abandoned building where Daniel hanged himself (while the rest of the Rez Dogs stay behind).[9] This scene foreshadows Elora’s eventual betrayal of the group, by abandoning them and leaving with their sworn enemy, Jackie.[10] The irony of the scene is that although Elora is the only one in the scene to leave the building where Daniel died (and eventually leaves Oklahoma), she is the only one who cannot make peace with Daniel’s death by the end of the season. Although she leaves Oklahoma, Oklahoma is still with her—the memories of her family, her community, her uncle, and others. Therefore, in the last episode, when Jackie tells Elora about how much better California will be, Elora hesitatingly agrees, with the implication that she realizes that she cares far more about her small-town than she wants to admit (as caring about it seems like being disloyal to Daniel). When Elora talks to Bear in his room the next morning after their initial debate concerning the justification of their crimes, a Reservoir Dogs poster can be seen over Bear’s head. Reservoir Dogs was a film by Quentin Tarantino about a group of gangsters who were being set up by an undercover police officer.[11] Mr. Orange, the undercover cop, betrayed the other “Dogs” and got most of them killed. When Mr. Orange, out of guilt, revealed his betrayal to Mr. White, the latter shot and killed Mr. Orange. The Reservoir Dogs poster symbolizes and presages the eventual betrayal that Elora commits against Bear by abandoning him in Oklahoma (and refusing to tell him that she would not pick him up, along with her siding with and taking Jackie with her), and signals Elora’s betrayal against the Rez Dogs as a group. Near the very end of the episode, the group is dressed in black and white suits and ties, which is a homage to the characters of Reservoir Dogs. Elora tells the group that they should “just pool [their] money together and get the fuck out of [Oklahoma] sooner”, but Bear contradicts her by retorting that they “Better protect our homes, man. We gotta be like vigilantes, not criminals.”[12] When Bear and Elora voice their contrasting opinions, the two are physically distant and opposite one another (with Cheese and Willie Jack stuck in between physically and figuratively). Cheese voices his support for Bear’s plan and Willie Jack subsequently warms up to it, but Elora is the last member to (reluctantly) agree. Lastly, in a poster for Reservation Dogs on Hulu, Cheese is shown with his arm around Bear, and Willie Jack is nearby. However, Elora is seen to the right of the group, looking in another direction and further in distance from the others. This signifies that in the Rez Dogs, Elora stands alone and away from the “pack”. [13]
In episode 1, when the Rez Dogs are first introduced (about to steal a truck full of Flaming Flamers chips), Willie Jack is shown wearing a shirt that has a drawing of a bald eagle.[14] The bald eagle is the symbol of the United States. Later, in the same episode, the viewers are shown a torn American flag in the yard outside where the Rez Dogs are selling their stolen Flaming Flamers chips. The torn flag contradicts with the eagle and conveys that the idea of American exceptionalism and the promise of equal opportunity for everyone was build on the blood and bodies of Indigenous peoples.[15] This theme is further corroborated when Bear’s Warrior Spirit reveals that he went to the Battle of Little Big Horn to fight General Custer, but he failed to make it to the actual battle and was crushed to death by his own horse.[16] In this episode, the railroad is shown a couple of times, which played a large part in Indigenous American conflict toward European Americans and was one of the key factors that engendered the Battle of Little Big Horn.
“The Great Plains were the last Native American holdout in America. As settlers colonized the far west before the Civil War, few had put down roots in the Plains due to its dry weather and large Indigenous populations. But after the Civil War, far-west land became scarcer and the U.S. government granted 10 percent of Plains land to settlers and railroads. A confrontation between the Plains Indians against the settlers and government forces was inevitable. By the late 1860s, most Native Americans had been forced onto so called Indian reservations or killed outright. Vowing to avoid the same fate, the Plains Indians settled in for a long and fierce holdout. In hopes of squashing the livelihood of the Native American people on the Plains, the government allowed the railroads to kill scores of buffalo herds to lay railroad tracks. They also urged hunters to kill as many buffalo as possible without oversight and encouraged trains to stop so passengers could massacre buffalo for sport…To the tribes, the railroad represented an end to their livelihood, since for millennia they’d relied on free-roaming buffalo to survive. By the time Custer arrived on the scene in 1866, the war between the army and the Plains Indians was in full force.”[17]
In episode 1 and episode 3, the viewers are shown graffiti that says, “LAND BACK FUCKERZZ”, which further delves into the themes of land being stolen from Indigenous peoples, as the Warrior Spirit knows all too well in the build-up to the Custer’s Last Stand (and afterwards).[18]
In episode 2, Bear is wearing a Wu-Tang Clan shirt with a tiger on it. He is walking down a dirt road, where he is assaulted and left beaten by the NDN Mafia.[19] The shirt with the tiger is significant because tigers are solitary animals; Bear is caught alone and defeated by the group because the other Rez Dogs are not around to help him. Cheese is shown in the same episode wearing a shirt with a dog on it; he meets an elderly woman who confuses him for her grandson. Cheese, like a dog, shows her loyalty and pretends to be her grandson. He sits in her room with her and listens to her, as his grandmother is dead, and the elderly woman is estranged from her daughter and unable to see her grandson. When they go outside and watch the sunset, the elderly woman mentions that she misses “the dogs.”[20] In episode 3, when visiting Elora’s “cousin-uncle” Brownie (her actual cousin but called her uncle because he was raised with her mother), she, Bear, and Willie Jack encounter a dead owl that Brownie has outside as a trophy. Although played for comedic effect, the owl symbolizes wisdom and knowledge, and Bear and Elora go to Brownie so he can teach Bear how to fight.[21] In episode 3, an elderly white couple run over a deer and leave it on the side of the road.[22] In episode 4, Bear’s mother sleeps with a wealthy white man who seems (in her opinion) like the ideal father figure for Bear. Soon, however, he is revealed to be a racist who fetishizes Indigenous women. He has a confederate flag tattoo, and a deer head hangs on his dining room wall. The deer is a symbol of the hunted, vulnerable, and oppressed. The white man was on the hunt and Bear’s mom was (one of) his prey.[23] However, episode 5 switches this scenario, as a “deer lady” (a mystical being whose upper half appears to be that of a human female and whose lower half appears to be that of a deer) assaults and kills men who mistreat women and who commit serious crimes in town. Big warns Cheese about this “deer lady” and tells him that he needs to be a good person, as the deer lady told him as a child to never disrespect his grandmother, treat women with respect, and to always be good. This lady seems to be a figment of Big’s imagination because the viewer only gets context about the deer lady from Big, who is a known conspiracy theorist. However, the end of the episode shows the deer lady catching a ride with another victim or prey, while Cheese and Big drive the other way.[24] This implies that the “deer lady” is real; likewise, in episode 6, Leon (Willie Jack’s father) sees a deer-like figure with red eyes. Willie Jack assumes that the deer could be Daniel’s spirit, but Leon denies it. After Willie Jack and Leon finally leave the woods, the deer figure rises and is shown again. As this creature appears outside of Leon’s experience, it is also not a figment of a character’s imagination or a mere psychological episode.[25] In episode 8, Bear’s Warrior Spirit appears before Uncle Brownie, which also confirms that the supernatural forces that these characters interact with are real and are not limited to affecting just one person.[26]
Willie Jack’s father, Leon, has a name that means “lion”.[27] Lions are social animals, and they belong to a pride; they form a family unit and stick together. When Willie Jack tells her dad that she plans to leave for California, he tells her that her people are in Oklahoma.[28] He explains that people leave Oklahoma and always return, which foreshadows Elora’s eventual and inevitable return to the group in Season 2. Since Leon shows his daughter the importance of community, she is the first member of the Rez Dogs to announce that she is not leaving her home.
Bear is named after the animal,[29] which is typically feared by humans and seen as a threatening, vicious beast. However, the irony of Bear’s name is that he does not reflect the typical stereotypes that people associate with bears. Bears are supposed to be tough and mean; they are brutal and deadly in combat. However, Bear is a poor fighter (he gets beat up by the NDN Mafia gang) and a bit of a coward (he shows some fear when the doctor in the NDN Clinic tells him that he can go back out and continue fighting right away).[30] In popular culture, bears are seen as cuddly, sweet, and helpful allies. This is shown in media with characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, Smokey the Bear, and several other characters. Bear is a sweet, kind-hearted kid who puts up a pugnacious front. Bear also originates from the “Old English bera, probably derived from a root meaning ‘brown’.”[31] In this sense, Bear’s name is more accurate; he believes he should do something to help his people (Indigenous Americans, also called “brown” people)[32] and listens to (although he sometimes misinterprets) the advice of his Warrior Spirit. However, Bear must truly learn what it means to be a warrior. Beating people up and winning a fight is not what it means to be a warrior. As Uncle Brownie tells Bear, “A warrior has to take a beating sometimes. That’s how he gets stronger. You know? It’s—it’s all about getting back up again.”[33] Indeed, Bear must endure and overcome a lot of losses, from losing a fight to the NDN Mafia, from losing respect for his dad (as his dad continues to fail to be a present and decent father) and losing his friend Daniel (to suicide) and later Elora (when she leaves him to go to California).[34]
Ultimately, Reservation Dogs is a show that uses animal themes to connect to the experiences of Indigenous peoples and the connections that they form throughout their communities. The four main protagonists establish a stronger connection to their people, their home, and even their enemies than they had previously thought was possible. As they go on several journeys throughout their bizarre hometown, they begin to realize that they may be making a mistake in leaving a place that they loved all along.
[1] “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, The Stooges. Dave Alexander, Iggy Pop, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton. BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc. LyricFind.com
[2] Ibid.
[3] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 7. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[4] “Daniel.” Behindthename.com. Accessed July 22, 2022.
[5] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 1, 8. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[6] Ibid.
[7] “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, The Stooges. Dave Alexander, Iggy Pop, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton. BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc. LyricFind.com
[8] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 2. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[9] Ibid. Episode 1, 7.
[10] Ibid. Episode 8.
[11] Reservoir Dogs. Rating: R (Strong Violence|Language). Genre: Crime, Drama. Original Language: English. Director: Quentin Tarantino. Producer: Lawrence Bender. Writer: Roger Avary, Quentin Tarantino. Release Date (Theaters): Oct 23, 1992 Wide. Release Date (Streaming): Mar 18, 2003. Box Office (Gross USA): $2.5M. Runtime: 1h 45m. Distributor: Miramax Films, Artisan Entertainment. Sound Mix: Stereo, Dolby Stereo, Surround. Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1). https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/reservoir_dogs
[12] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 1. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[13] Ibid. Poster, Epsiodes 1-8.
[14] Ibid. Episode 1.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] History.com. “What Really Happened at the Battle of Little Bighorn?” Annette McDermott. Feb 27, 2018. Updated Jun 7, 2019. https://www.history.com/news/little-bighorn-battle-facts-causes
[18] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 1, 3. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[19] Ibid. Episode 2.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid. Episode 3.
[22] Ibid. Episode 3.
[23] Ibid. Episode 4.
[24] Ibid. Episode 5.
[25] Ibid. Episode 6.
[26] Ibid. Episode 8.
[27] “Leon”. www.behindthename.com. Accessed July 22, 2022.
[28] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 6. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[29] “Bear”. www.behindthename.com. Accessed July 22, 2022.
[30] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 2. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[31] “Bear”. www.behindthename.com. Accessed July 22, 2022.
[32] “Brown”. www.behindthename.com. Accessed July 22, 2022.
[33] Reservation Dogs. Creators: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi.
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Jewel Alexis, Lane Factor, Elva Guerra. Episode 3. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/reservation_dogs
[34] Ibid. Episodes 1-8.