+9*]aty``mZm/[= ${2R{!g=b{B,L0R2"T]IDa. I have always felt a distinct emotional connection to it, in fact. One recurring theme across these storytelling mediums is the use of the wendigoalso spelled wtikoa monstrous figure from Algonquian mythology who exhibits an insatiable greed along with a desire for human flesh. Be supportive, this is a place for growth, not hostility. The windigo is a Native American spirit belonging to the Algonquian tribes of North America and Canada. Dollightful's Wendigo Doll - Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation? Windigo is a malevolent manitou or spirit whose insatiable appetite for human flesh can never be satisfied. You dont have to be French to love the Phantom of the Opera. Ill admit, my initial reaction was very dismissive. This space is not for debate. % To Helheimr with it! When she was brought to the lab she already had the curse of the Wendigo but after she was "updated" she had visible antlers and could change her shape. During a panel at YES! Europeans may well have behaved like Wendigos when they invaded the Americasthey didbut they didnt bring the Wendigo with them. One does not need to delve very deeply into the annals of American film, television, and literature to find an array of caricatured depictions of Native American peoples and a distortion of their knowledge. Vol. Only assholes think thats offensive. Stolen Spirits: The Appropriation of the Windigo Spirit in Horror Literature. endobj wendigo cultural appropriation [26][27] During the winter of 1878, Swift Runner and his family were starving, and his eldest son died. One of those advisors I just mentioned, Chris Eyre, had this to say of the Wendigo: They [meaning Native peoples] truly, truly believe in it, because it represents greed and colonialism when we first came to the shores of what is now America, and pillaged all of their resources and forced them [into] cannibalism. We should show proper respect to our Cryptids at all times, and Im rightfully righteously indignant at the thought of anyone doing otherwise with Mothman. Not only is it not offensive, I LOVE seeing references to wendigos in popular culture! Marvel Comics pay tribute to classic Monsters. Abstract. The latest addition to this lineup of wendigo tales is Scott Cooper and Guillermo del Toros horror film Antlers (2021) in which a Native American character provides some brief exposition before the story centered around a white community contending with the monster begins in earnest. The deaths of tens of millions of Jews, Slavs, etc., at the hands of the Nazis, the deaths of tens of millions of blacks in slavery days, the deaths of up to 30 million or more Indians in the 1500s, the terribly short life spans of Mexican Indian farm workers in the US, and of Native Americans generally today, the high death rates in the early industrial centers among factory workers, and so on, all clearly attest to the fact that the wealthy and exploitative literally consume the lives of those that they exploit. Sponsored by Ball State University Libraries. 0000004651 00000 n However, it never provents for people of that tribe to share this and that story. 0000020040 00000 n Turning on Privacy Policy. and our however, the w*ndigo originates from spiritual beliefs held by Indigenous peoples. Learn how your comment data is processed. arent cryptids thing. Answer (1 of 6): First and foremost, I'm not telling you this because I personally have a problem with you dressing as a wendigo for a cryptid fair, but we are living in an age of cancel culture where a costume you sported ten years ago might be used against you. WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. The Wendigo may be a figure from American Indian mythology, but it belongs to all of humankind. Although this article is specifically observing the Wendigo, I argue that it is one of many caveless creatures, and the treatment of them by creators of non-Indigenous horror genre should be analysed in the future. By looking at the depictions of windigo in these specific Western stories and in Native American beliefs, it is possible to see how stripping spirits of their original contexts is harmful to Native communities. Learn how your comment data is processed. This articlescross-media analysiscovers television, film and game media;Teen Wolf(201117),Supernatural(200520), Bruce WemplesThe Retreat(2020) and SuperMassive GamesUntil Dawn(2015). This analysis will trace the process of these media, made by non-Indigenous white creators, removing the Wendigos indigeneity and placing it within fictional settings as an antagonist. appropriation that has troubled the exchange between Indigenous . That's just pulling a potential explanation out of my ass, though, I have no idea if its accurate or not. As a concept, wendigo can apply to situations other than some Native American-European relations. 0000001705 00000 n x\o7a_h ss+yHL$eW}gfw)$/D !;n*+v}}uSU|.&-y On top of that, the wendigo is a part of death. Now that I have a major problem with. For more information, please see our The Wendigo happens to be part of my own (Anishiinaabe) cultural heritage. i enjoy his content, but the w*ndigo is part of a closed religion and is supposed to be a lesson about human greed and selfishness, not a cannibal monster story. And were on the right side, thats what were working on but sometimes you get that cannibal tendency. As I mentioned during our latest episode of the NYMG podcast, I've been playing Until Dawn, and the game has got me thinking about a few different things that I'd like to spend some time parsing through, like the game's representation of things like gender and race, how it is that the idea of choice seems to influence the way we think about these representations, and the manner in which . 0000004071 00000 n it's just something thats been bothering me so i thought it'd come to reddit to see what other people thought. I know what cultural appropriation is but Ive not been as involved in social justice as I used to be and I guess its showing. (Think Noah from . media has really misconstrued the original lore and importance of the w*ndigo to Indigenous culture. How stupid to think otherwise. 0000002723 00000 n The Windigo also has the power to turn humans into cannibals who suffer the same . <> 0000011489 00000 n 0000012791 00000 n 4. You must be here to either learn more about social justice or answer questions from a social justice viewpoint. As much as I would love to tell everyone to just read her sources and then be able to understand everything better, I just don't think that's realistic for most people(because they are not easily accessible to most, and I don't think that was her intention by including these in her description. This construction is problematic in the horror genre as it presents an Indigenous antagonist that poses a threat to white culture for its otherness and indigeneity while at the same time, misappropriating, discarding and demonising the Indigenous culture the myth comes from, at whim. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Archived post. 246 33 With the comments turned off on Dollightful's apology video, I thought that maybe we could have some discussion here(if anyone ever sees this, anyway). endobj Im just struggling to understand the significance of it. Dollightful's Apology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-KBzKWvrUTo clear up the addition that I made even more, I think that it would be pretty important for the information on this topic to be easily accessible to her viewers. so im sort of clueless how reddit works and made an account for this, so bare with me. She's part of a group of young adults created in a lab (she's the only one who wasn't) who have these special abilities. Have you encountered wendigo stories in films, television shows, or books? xref endobj If you do go as a specific person, avoid figures of religious or cultural significance to a particular group to which you do not belong. Those things, the predation on the Indians by Europeans, most certainly happened. l Ca#!LzH{t+8W5 !2*_{)rgx-`]CTXSH($g In most traditions, the wendigo is human in origin and becomes a monster through a process that results either from acts of starvation-induced cannibalism or from possession by a spirit. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. There's nothing wrong with drawing the popular concept of a wendigo monster, or drawing any monster with antlers, and calling it a wendigo. Appropriating the Wendigo As it so happens, I am currently working on a project involving a Wendigo, so this is personal to me. The wendigo is intended to embody hunger, particularly as refracted through the icy cold of winter and the monstrous things that people do when their appetites overwhelm them. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. That, I would affirm, is truly and literally cannibalism, and it is cannibalism accompanied by no spiritually meaningful ceremony or ritual., More than a commentary on the life of wendigo stories amongst his own people, Forbes deploys the metaphor of the wendigo to advance nothing less than a critique of civilization at large and describes the violence that he argues lies at its foundation as one driven by a kind of wendigo psychosis. 2 0 obj "@TheThiccholas @realcoolJAY They can't say Issa wendigo cus of cultural appropriation props to them buuuuuut also WENDIGO type energy sooo " Copyright (c) 2022 Francesca Amee Johnson, https://doi.org/10.31273/reinvention.v15iS1.906, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, Accepts submissions from any undergraduate student, worldwide, including student-staff collaborations (student must be lead author), Edited by students and staff at the University of Warwick and Monash University. It has no place in the world of Folklore and monsters. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 841.92] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> That is why we know about the wendigo today, it is an oral tradition like all the . This article's cross-media analysis covers television, film and game media; Teen Wolf (2011-17), Supernatural (2005-20), Bruce Wemple's The Retreat (2020) and SuperMassive Games' Until Dawn . Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(443401, 'c61f3219-a9f3-4b0c-95ea-f614a80c184b', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Pictured above: A portion of the poster for the film Antlers (Fox Searchlight, 2021). And besides that, it never hurts to include your sources. 0000000974 00000 n It's taboo to the Anishaabe people, but the common depiction of it in media is no where near the original frozen cannibal spirit that the legends are based off of. MORTUI VELOCES SUNT! His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 I analyze the way the windigo are represented in Western literature and argue that Native American spirits should belong to the cultures they originate from. But I do notice that Eyre stopped short of saying colonialization is the origin for the Wendigo legend. Theyre revered spirits to the point where people wont speak their name so it must be frustrating when people are just like Oh yeah, I saw one of those, it was so spooky or have an aesthetic called wendigocore. She is Native American. My basic rule is simple: be respectful. Facing History and Ourselves combats racism and antisemitism by using history to teach tolerance in classrooms around the globe. That taste of human flesh, which out of that rose the wendigo.. U%.CI$ FKe{CiV/\Lg1DD$A!=FHD6 EInw^9qkCh&1rvR'`{7X wEB7Az~q0n8 t)$xh1rQJ,p>O/$-J)'OTk|m9(k|6U g/-JU;WM}7d5)V.yX=Qu,TDI+CA_5U|nH$WK7G3-aYaqeV2jWQV6C6OY"W5?x;f_27j3Y)/G`j|e9NHCp+-r4g7D? c! 0000013308 00000 n <> Facing History and Ourselves invites educators to explore our case study Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools, particularly our reading "Culture, Stereotypes, and Identity" which features reflection questions surrounding some of the stereotypical media representations that we touch upon at the beginning of this essay. Topics: By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. 7 (2020): Ghosts and Cultural Hauntings. Cookie Notice In this paper, I document the depictions of windigo in Native American mythology, those of Western literature, and the effects of appropriation and misrepresentation on Native communities. <>/Metadata 266 0 R/ViewerPreferences 267 0 R>> So, thanks, Dave! As it so happens, I am currently working on a project involving a Wendigo, so this is personal to me. However, PCism taken to its extreme would say that neither Cooper, nor I, should be telling stories about Wendigos at all, since were not of aboriginal descent. It can serve as a metaphor explaining any pattern of domination by which groups subjugate and dominate or violently destroy and displace. And you know what? Rules: Please report rule violations. A classic example is wearing a Plains Indian war bonnet (see the 80s band The Village People). Usually, the appropriating culture is in a relation of domination to the appropriated culture. Political correctness started out as one thing, a good thing. 0000007477 00000 n His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 Film, In Algonquian traditions, the wendigo monster emerges not randomly or in violent response to colonialism as it often does in popular media but through a specific set of circumstances that are unique to different tribal groupings. 0000009596 00000 n hb```b``Ub`e``s`g@ ~+ a1fm{s/K5N9MHd@*2Ey]#B}>x,&ucrnhm:HkN=_B }Wzp.S#WCXi;dRa ,.0H*. This article analyses prominent examples of the Wendigo myth in modern North American horror media and the implications of misappropriation by non-Indigenous creators for non-Indigenous audiences. 0000012030 00000 n 0000008549 00000 n Finally, it's just not that hard to do two minutes of. I read some stuff yesterday saying that teepees are cultural appropriation and there was a long post about how wendigos arent cryptids and how stories about them are cultural appropriation. The Witherell House and the Cult of Weird, Movie Review: BIRDS OF PREY (And the Fantabulous Inclusion of Victor Zsasz and a Hyena). Privacy Policy. Western appropriation has long-lasting effects on the perceptions of Native American cultures by the average consumer and even scientific communities. Although well-documented in Western literature, the windigo spirit of stories like . George warns those who are leaving about the Wendigo myth: anyone who consumes the flesh of their enemies takes their strength but becomes a demon cursed by an insatiable hunger for more human flesh. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Scan this QR code to download the app now. 0000000016 00000 n Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Native Americans, Our headquarters are located at: 89 South Street, Suite 401, Boston, MA 02111. startxref I dont know who originally posted it, or where. It was intended to be a lesson on human greed and the damage it can cause. Cooper and del Toro made the conscious decision to tell the story of the wendigo in a way that is respectful to its Native American roots, which in turn helps make Antlers a more authentic horror film. I believe that the Wendigo is far older than that, far more primal. 9'b_X~~@0CKYO~8yOK9I$^I>t But as far as cultural appropriation and the Wendigo goes, dont you daredont you DAREtry to take our monsters away from us, PC wankers! Early folklore described them as tall and impossibly emaciated humanoids with sharp incisors and a heart of ice. i don't think there should be any 'canceling' of Wendigoon or whatever, but definitely something should be said. For resources: http://reddit.com/r/SRSDiscussion/wiki/required. 3 0 obj We do the same thing with a lot of mythological creatures. So yeah, if anyone could offer any insight/information, thatd be appreciated. 0000009484 00000 n i don't know if anyone has talked about this, but i have a special interest in Native American culture, history, etc. In most traditions, the wendigo is human in origin and becomes a monster through a process that results either from acts of starvation-induced cannibalism or from possession by a spirit. The moral lessons contained in wendigo stories are also used to support the task of social critique in the late Native American scholar Dr. Jack D. Forbes book Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wtiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism (1978). Cultural appropriation is the co-optation of elements, customs, or practices of one culture by another culture without acknowledgment or consent. Answer (1 of 8): Yes, unless actively researched with proper resources and talked to with First Nation folks as proof-readers. No one can try to stake a singular claim to it. Handle the characters and the story with respect. Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. This subreddit is about sharing your worlds, discovering the creations of others, and discussing the many aspects of creating new universes. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. stream One example is Ojibwe activist Winona LaDuke who has called for a decisive shift away from what she has termed Wendigo Economics for the sake of the health of the natural world.
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