The 2006 film Lady in the Water, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, tells the tale of a community in an apartment complex and their encounter with a naiad named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard). Far from home and frightened, Cleveland Heep and the rest of the people in the apartment complex band together to get her back in the pool despite the threat of a dangerous creature called the Scrunt. Along the way, the audience and the characters both learn the importance of 'stories,' and their ability to strengthen and bring out the best qualities in individuals - this bolsters the importance of literature as an integral part of a culture. Lady in the Water deliberately calls upon many different aspects of Native American literature, specifically, in order to connect the film further to its Indian roots. The film's use of Native American iconography, beliefs, emphases on rituals and community, and more shows a story that is occupied with the need for exoticism and faith in a cynical world.
The opening narration and exposition sequence for the film is one of the clearest markers for its connection to Native American literature and folklore. The film opens with a Native American narrator telling the story of the water people and their union with mankind; crude cave painting-like drawings are used to illustrate this story. This is quite similar to the need to express truth through tales in Native American tradition. "The tribes seek - through song, ceremony, legend, sacred stories (myths), and tales - to embody, articulate, and share reality" (Allen, p. 55). In these images, many Native American-inspired images are seen, namely the Great Basin Spiral and the petrogyphs that are very similar to Pieute ancestral drawings. This Native American-styled introduction makes the school of literature from which this film derives its mythology clear.
The way in which animals are used and represented in Lady in the Water is also evocative of Native American literature, as these creatures have similar meanings and representations in Native American culture. "Why I was small, my mother often told me that animals, insects and plants are to be treated with the kind of respect one customarily accords to high-status adults" (p. 1). Native American tribal rituals and religion focus heavily on animals found in the plains of America, including the eagle (represented in the film by the Great Eatlon) and the wolf (Scrunt). While neither of these creatures are straightforwardly these specific animals, their designs are influenced heavily by them. The Great Eatlon's only appearance is at the end of the film, carrying Story back home, representing a kind of freedom and spirituality that is indicative of its role in Native American culture. The Scrunt's presence as the antagonist of the film belies the Native American's respect for the wolf, as hunting tribes adored them while agricultural tribes were distrustful. As the apartment complex could best be characterized as agricultural (having no specific warriors of its own), the wolf could be considered to be a threat.
The social lessons learned in Lady in the Water, involving community, forgiveness and courage, are similar to those taught in Native American literature. One of the running narrative threads throughout the film is the need for the community of the apartment building to come together to get Story back home. This is done through a 'soiree,' a party that disguises the fact that they will all be looking out for the Scrunt. Bringing the community together is indicative of the concept of the 'sacred hoop,' a singular unity that is "dynamic and encompassing" (Allen, p. 56). What's more, the sense of time of the Native American people is ceremonial rather than mechanical, and the fact that the film's rituals are based around circles (keeping a perimter around Story with mirrors to keep the Scrunt out) is part of Native American literature's demonstration of rituals as a means to keep the circle moving - to not lose time or life.
This falls into the ritual-based storytelling of contemporary Native American literature; "The protagonists areparticipants in a ritual tradition, symbolizing the essential unity of a human being's psyche in spite of conflict" (Allen, p. 81). The humans imbued with powers, all working together and serving a distinct function in order to get Story back to her world, is evidence of that. This demonstrably shows a need to force integration with the white world in order to appeal to publishers and their audience - sometimes whites get their interpretations or assessments of the culture wrong. This is evidenced by the film critic character, Mr. Farber, whose gross misassessment of the situation (by likening the tropes and conventions they must follow to Western films) leads to Story being gravely injured and Mr. Farber killed.
Like Tayo in Silko's Ceremony, the eventual goal of the film is to heal and restore Story, reunifying the relationship between man and the water people. This is also done through releasing Cleveland's (Paul Giamatti's) grief at the death of his family. This cleansing happens during rain, which is said to be a gesture of 'purification' in stories, and which occurs during Ceremony (Shyamalan, 2006). Story is similar to Night Swan, who is powerful and mysterious, and tied to the land. Cleveland as Tayo is a very clear allegory; he becomes the warrior, separated from the community (as his job as handyman) yet totally responsible for it. Tayo, like Cleveland, is unformed at the beginning of the story and must be shaped and made whole.
In conclusion, Lady in the Water, regardless of its quality as a film, engages the audience through the use of Native American literature and symbols, creating a world that is closely tied to America while still seeming exotic and historic. The Western world of cynicism, sadness and mundanity is disrupted by the presence of Story and the dilemma she brings with her (threats and intrusions in the form of Native American folklore-inspired wild creatures). The community then comes together to perform a complex ritual, each person having a unique role to play, in order to control the elements and their fate. Story exists outside time, but at the same time allows the people she touches to move forward with their lives, turning the meek into warriors. The dichotomy between the misunderstanding of Native American culture and its reality is also shown through Mr. Farber and their botched initial attempt to free Story. Eventually, Story is freed and order is restored, just as many Native American works are focused on "a mythic reality that shapes all life into significance" (Allen, p. 154).
Works Cited
Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Tradition.
Beacon, 1987. Print.
Shyamalan, M. Night. Dir. Lady in the Water. Perf. Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bob
Balaban. Warner Bros., 2006. Film.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Viking, 1977.
