The Business of Fancydancing: essentially it's a movie about an openly gay Native American poet who goes back to his reservation to attend a funeral. The movie analyzes the different struggles Polatkin (the poet) endures in both the urban city life and back home at his reservation. It's interesting to see how the movie doesn't portray his struggles as a homosexual man, rather, as a successful Native American poet. This movie seems to ignore queer theory for that matter. If the movie did not show the scenes of Polatkin sleeping or dancing with his boyfriend, then this movie would just be labeled as just another movie about Native American opression in today's day and age.
But we should still look at this movie for the message it tries to convey: Remembering your roots. Sherman Alexie (Director) depicts Polatkin speaking at several events, recalling his childhood and lifestyle growing up on the reservation. But the moment he goes back to visit, everyone harbors negative feelings toward him. What is dissapointing about Polatkin's attitude is that he doesn't seem to realize how much he ignored his roots, instead says that living on the reservation was "enough". This is truly apparent when he gets into an argument with one of his cousins on the back porch of his deceased friend's home. His cousins agree that Polatkin has done nothing to show his pride and heritage except "mention them" in his works, but he has never come back and been a part of their culture.
The ArgumentI would categorize this film as "Native American culture", rather than "Homosexuality".
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