History Main / TheRez

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!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16930197250.93346000 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.
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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/WindRiver https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wind_river.jpg]]]]

Indian reservations (as called in the US) or reserves (in Canada) are a stock setting used with Indigenous characters in United States or Canada. In fiction, all Indians either live on the rez or have family on the rez ( /e/ is short).



In fiction, the rez often comes in a few particular varieties:
* '''The [[NativeAmericanCasino casino]] rez''': Any tribe that is rich from the casinos they run on tribal land. Some Indigenous traditionalists in the work will oppose this revenue source, even if gambling ''is'' traditional. Pretty much TruthInTelevision.
* '''The [[MagicalNativeAmerican magical]] rez''': Tends to be either in a forest resembling [[Franchise/StarWars the moon of Endor]]--often with totem poles (especially in UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest, but [[TipisAndTotemPoles sometimes elsewhere]]) and cabins--or in the desert. Whatever the case, the message is that the locals are CloserToEarth.
* '''The [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical political]] rez''': This reservation is basically a third-world country, complete with the soul-crushing poverty (residents will often lack basic services and amenities, inhabit dilapidated shacks and [[TrashyTrailerHome trailers/RVs]], drive TheAllegedCar, and struggle with [[AddledAddict addiction]] and unemployment), exploitation of resources (usually uranium), and [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica American-backed oppressive regime]]. Since this aptly describes a lot of reservations--one example being South Dakota's Pine Ridge, which has been nationally infamous since TheSeventies for its low quality of life--also TruthInTelevision.
* '''The [[AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum]]-hiding rez''': A subversion of the political rez: Here, the locals only pretend to be poor to hide their AppliedPhlebotinum. [[ChekhovsGun This will be important.]]

A subtrope of InjunCountry. Not to be confused with a certain other "VideoGame/{{Rez}}".

In RealLife, the depiction that all Indigenous people live on reservations is misleading. In both the US and Canada, the majority of Indigenous people live in cities or otherwise off-rez. Depictions of poverty on US and Canadian reserves are TruthInTelevision.
Quality of life on US reservations is extremely poor, with high unemployment, low graduation rates, low incomes, and entire families often living in one cramped dwelling space. In 2017, over 80% of Canadian reserves had median income below the poverty line, according to census data. That said, depictions of all Indigenous people in a work as TheAlcoholic, seen more in old-fashioned works, is now viewed as an offensive characterization and a DiscreditedTrope.

Native Americans who live on reservations deal with the federal government through two federal agencies: the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service. In Canada, Indigenous Canadians include First Nations (Algonquin, Mohawk, etc), Metis, and Inuit (in the Arctic). Canadian Indigenous people get services from several federal departments, including Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Chief Man-of-Bats, the Native American answer to Franchise/{{Batman}}, patrols The Rez. On his first brief appearance in 1954, it was the magical rez as much as anything, but when the character [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison was revived in the 21st century]], his neighborhood had become the political rez.
* The minor Marvel hero American Eagle lives on a political rez in Navajo country. During ''ComicBook/FearItself'', he had to defend the reservation from white supremacists seeking to take advantage of the chaos unleashed by the Serpent to wipe out the natives so that they could finalize a deal to build a wind farm without having to share the profits with the natives living nearby.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}'': Paran Katar found Katar Hol's mother in one of these.
* The fictional Keewazi tribe of the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' are a phlebotinum-hiding rez.
* ''ComicBook/APeoplesHistoryOfTheAmericanEmpire'' has a segment that takes place on the real life Pine Ridge Reservation, covering the events led to the Second Battle of Wounded Knee. Political rez in full force.
* ''ComicBook/{{Scalped}}'' is set in a casino rez in South Dakota that brushes up against the political rez at times.
* The first story arc of ''ComicBook/ShamansTears'' involves a case taking Joshua back to the Sioux reservation where he was born and raised, and eventually ran away from. He does not have fond memories of the place. Political rez, although Joshua experiences actual magic while there when he learns he is TheChosenOne.
* ''Franchise/XMen'': Warpath's rez in Camp Verde, Arizona was the phlebotinum-hiding variety.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* ''Film/TheCrowWickedPrayer'' had a political rez.
* Much of the action of ''Film/GunsGirlsAndGambling'' takes place on the Apache reservation where The Chief runs the NativeAmericanCasino with the sole purpose of taking money off white people.
* ''Film/HoldTheDark'' takes place in the tiny Alaskan town of Keelut (named for a Native American creature of folklore) where the locals are predominantly poor Native Americans who are embittered at local white law enforcement.
* ''Film/SmokeSignals'', also made entirely by Native people, follows the adventures of two Coeur d'Alene boys who leave their reservation to retrieve the ashes of one boy's father from Phoenix, Arizona. Given that the movie is based on a short story by Creator/ShermanAlexie, the Coeur d'Alene reservation is presented as a political rez, albeit a somewhat muted version.
* ''Film/{{Thunderheart}}'' is made of the political rez. Given that it's based on Pine Ridge in TheSeventies, yeah.
* ''Film/WhiteFawnsDevotion'' is an 11-minute short film from 1910 and the oldest surviving film made by Native Americans. It depicts a white man and a Sioux woman living on the Pine Ridge reservation, and what happens when the man receives word of a large inheritance.
* ''Film/WindRiver'' takes place mostly in a political rez.
** Speaking of Taylor Sheridan and the NewOldWest... the, erm, "heroes" of ''Film/HellOrHighWater'' use a casino rez to launder the money they steal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
!!Authors
* The "Native American Renaissance" in the late 20th century highlighted a variety of perspectives about reservation communities.
** ''Literature/HouseMadeOfDawn'' (N. Scott Momaday) and ''Ceremony'' (Leslie Silko) portrayed the Jemez and Laguna Pueblos, respectively, as places of spiritual rebirth. Although not "magical" in the typical sense for this trope, they contrasted strongly with rootless Native communities in urban areas, and allowed those books' protagonists to come to terms with [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII what they had experienced]].
** ''Winter in the Blood'' (James Welch), set around the Fort Belknap reservation in Montana, took [[CrapsackWorld a more cynical view]].
* Creator/ShermanAlexie likes to use the political rez, but a lot of his Indians are urban.
* Creator/TonyHillerman's mystery novels are set in a combination political/magical rez on the Arizona-New Mexico border featuring Navajo Tribal Police.
* Creator/JodiPicoult's novels:
** In ''Literature/VanishingActs'', Delia goes with her friend Ruthann to the Hopi reservation where Ruthann used to live. This portrayal is a combination of political and magical.
** Mentioned in ''Harvesting the Heart'', when Nicholas volunteers medical services at a Hopi reservation. This time the reservation is solidly political, with Nicholas having to deal with the lack of other doctors.

!!Individual works
* Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Cyber Way'' largely takes place on the Navajo (Dineh) reservation. Somewhat of a phlebotinum-hiding rez. The novel is set in the near future and the reservation has built a duty-free international airport, so is not particularly poor, but also has some hidden phlebotinum.
* WP Kinsella's ''Dance Me Outside'', made into a [[Film/DanceMeOutside film]] of the same name and the television series The Rez. Subverted "political" type, in that most of the subject matter is semi-comedic.
* ''Literature/TheNightWatchman'' is set on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation in 1953. Thomas, a tribal leader, has to organize opposition to a federal law that would de-recognize all Native American tribes and thus make it highly likely that what's left of Turtle Mountain would be sold off to whites.
* Poul Anderson's novella "Peek! I See You!" (''Analog'', February 1968) has an independent pilot chasing a flying saucer that proves to be an artificially generated plasmoid masking a real alien spacecraft. The aliens have been using Indian reservations as rest stops and trading posts for many years, meaning that ''every'' reservation is hiding phlebotinum.
* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' has a magical one. Complete with huge trees.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Backstrom}}'' has the eponymous detective clash with tribal police, with the JurisdictionFriction becoming so tense the two sides draw weapons on each other.
* ''Series/{{Banshee}}'' uses the political variety, but plays with it: the reservation is, in practice, just another small town right next to Banshee.
* ''Series/TheFBI'': "A Mouthful of Dust" is set an Apache reservation in New Mexico. When the suspect goes on the run, Erskine and the local enforcement have to chase him across the ThirstyDesert.
* The Hekawi reservation on ''Series/FTroop'' was a variation of the casino type, in that the Indians are always conniving to turn a profit through the sale of souvenirs and participation in Sergeant O'Rourke's illegal schemes. Subverted in that the scripts tended to {{Lampshade}} and deconstruct many of the stereotypes of Native Americans at the time.
* ''{{Series/Longmire}}'' takes place right next to a Cheyenne reservation, and a big chunk of the series involves exploring the political version. The fact that a casino is built partway through the series, as well as a few forays into native spirituality, introduce elements of both the casino and magical variants.
* ''Series/MohawkGirls'': The story is mostly set in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory within Quebec (just outside UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}), where the Mohawk band of the same name lives. It explores the lives of several residents, plus Anna, a newcomer whose father was also from there. It doesn't fit into most stereotypes, with the Mohawk culture, contemporary life, politics and other issues which they face explored heavily.
* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', it's stated that [[{{Streetwalker}} Patty the Daytime Hooker]] spent her childhood here with her father "Chasing Squirrel" after her parents divorced.
* The ''Series/OurAmericaWithLisaLing'' episode 'Life On The Rez' shows up at Pine Ridge, so we're pretty safe calling this one political.
* ''Series/NorthOf60'', a Canadian 1990s television drama series, is set in the fictional town of Lynx River, a remote Dene reservation area built on Band land in the Northwest Territories. A somewhat popular subplot in the series is a young person from the series (e.g. Teevee Tenia, Hannah Kenedi) leaving the Rez to go to big cities like Calgary and Vancouver, often with not-so-nice results.
* ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' went with the phlebotinum-hiding variety: An arrowhead which contains a monster.
* Skye from ''Series/ThePuzzlePlace'' lives with his family on an Apache reservation in Arizona. His seems to be a Magical Rez, as he periodically teaches his friends about his culture and comforts them with insight from his people's beliefs and traditions. There are indications that his reservation is located in a desert, though.
* ''Series/ReservationDogs'': The Rez is the whole setting for this show, about the various groups of native Americans living on the Rez and their attempts to either make it more bearable or find a way to escape the poverty and hopelessness there and make it in the outside world.
* The Canadian series ''Series/TheRez'', fairly obviously.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has a variant where there are entire ''planets'' of {{Magical Native American}}s.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' also had at least one Magical Rez planet. The most prominent was inhabited by apparently transplanted Salishan peoples (the whole gimmick of the series being that most "aliens" are actually TransplantedHumans), conveniently fitting with the Pacific Northwest filming location (the series was shot in and around UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}}). This particular planet fit into both the "magical" and "phlebotinum" subtypes; "magical" because the spirits they worshiped turned out to be real (real aliens, that is--and not the same evil ones the rest of the transplanted people were stuck worshiping), "phlebotinum" because their planet was the first one where the modern Earth humans found the metal trinium (which is like titanium on steroids).
* ''Series/Stumptown2019'' has the Confederate Tribes of the Wind Coast doing quite well with their [[NativeAmericanCasino casino]]. Also some traces of political rez, with multiple plot points depending on the US city and county authorities having no jurisdiction on the rez.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' has Mulder and Scully traveling to reservations a number of times, ranging from political, such as the season 1 episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E19Shapes Shapes]]", to phlebotinum hiding, like in the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS02E25Anasazi Anasazi]]", the finale of season 2.
* ''Series/{{Yellowstone}}'': The local Crow Indian Reservation is shown to be quite poor, in spite of the [[NativeAmericanCasino local casino]]. The proud residents maintain their cultural traditions while struggling to make ends meet. The tribe is respectful to Casey, the white husband of a local Crow woman, Monica, but they make it plain that they are not "his people." The reservation also has to worry about brain drain, as shown when Monica resists taking a lucrative teaching position off the reservation, since it would leave the reservation school with one less teacher.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* The Canadian mix-tape 'Brocket 99' is a mock radio station satirizing many common Aboriginal Canadian stereotypes.
* Buffy Ste. Marie is fond of the political rez as is the late Creator/JohnTrudell.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ChoroQ HG 3'' has the Native American reservations in the M and L courses of Sunset Volcano.
* The village of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Soo]] in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' is the magical variety.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has not yet mentioned how Native American tribes fared in the retro-futuristic AlternateHistory America (though given the CrapsackWorld it's been shown as repeatedly, the "political" variant is most likely). However, in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', specifically its ''Honest Hearts'' DLC, 206 years after the bombs dropped, the tribals known as the Dead Horses living in Zion Canyon are stated to come from a place called "Res" east of the Grand Canyon. The tribe's language, also called Res, a mixture of German, English, and Navajo was speculated by Joshua Graham to be a creation of those living in and/or touring "Res" during and after the Great War, eventually leading to the Dead Horses' creation.
* Cosmo Canyon in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is a variation on the phlebotinum-hiding variety. It starts out as the magical rez (the locals live in harmony with the Planet and study the secrets of TheLifestream). Late in the game, it's the player-party who asks if they can stash the phlebotinum there for safe-keeping.
* Apparently the Rez in ''VideoGame/Prey2006'' is of the political variety.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'', the Wabanaki reservation on [[LovecraftCountry Solomon Island, Maine]] is a mixture of all of the above. They were building a casino (shaped like a tipi that they themselves knew was inaccurate, but that was what the tourists expected) before [[TheCorruption the Fog]] arrived, they have an [[TheThemeParkVersion "authentic Wabanaki village"]] that serves as a tacky tourist trap, most of them ''actually'' live in a trailer park, and they were the only ones who knew about the EldritchAbomination that was buried under Blue Mountain, leading to strife between them and the owners of the Blue Ridge Mine out of a fear that they would [[DugTooDeep dig too deep]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* If there is a rez on ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|and the Planeteers}}'', it will be magical.
* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode where Peter had a vision quest was an interesting subversion: They used to be the magical rez, and now they're the casino rez.
** Another episode had Brian and Stewie going back in time and messing with history, causing the Native Americans to successfully fight off the white invaders. A few scenes show how Native Americans are faring, one of which has [[JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites two Natives driving through a political rez for white people]].
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' has the indigenous Martians living on a reservation ''inside'' the planet after the surface was purchased by an ancestor of the Wongs. It's kinda political (the Martians want their "sacred land" back because their ancestors traded it for one bead) and kinda mystical (the Martians can summon sandstorms and fly "buggalo"). Turns out in the end to be a kind of inadvertent phlebotinum-hiding type: the "bead" is actually a gigantic diamond; the Martians just ''assumed'' it was worthless and that their ancestors were cheated. They decide that since Mars is kind of a dump anyway, they'll buy some ''other'' planet and ''pretend'' it's holy.
--> '''Chief Singing Wind''': With cash like this, who's gonna argue? ''Nobody.''
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' offers a mild subversion based on RealLife: just because John Redcorn is a Native American doesn't mean he's just allowed to build a casino.
** They can gamble, [[EpicFail just not for money]]. [[spoiler: The plot is resolved by John Redcorn changing his intended demographic and opening a SuckECheeses instead.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'' had an episode with the magical rez. Of course there was a mystery involving a monster who turned out to be a guy in a costume.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have used casino reservations. One of them was also a magical rez, with the casino manager giving Bart a vision of the future in his office.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Red Man's Greed" is the casino variety.
* Tye Longshadow of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' lived on one prior to running away.
[[/folder]]

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Indian reservations (as called in the US) or reserves (in Canada) are stock setting used with Indigenous characters in United States or Canada. In fiction, all Indians either live on the rez or have family on the rez ( /e/ is short).