Episode 03: Indigenous Cultures in Horror
This episode was recorded on July 8, 2023 and posted on July 29, 2023.
Introduction
- Welcome to No Bodies Episode 3
- Introductions to your Ghosts Hosts with the Most - Lonely of Lonely Horror Club and Projectile Varmint aka Suzie of Horror Movie Weekly
- Introductions to our guest - Aukai Ligairi, documentary filmmaker and podcasting legend, aka Wolfman Josh
- Today’s Topic: Indigenous Cultures in Horror
Discussion of Indigenous Representation in Media
- Representation gap of native cultures in film
- Impact of harmful representations and stereotypes like “The Indian Burial Ground”
- Who has the right to tell which stories?
- Access for native creators in film and television
- Ethics of retelling native folklore, like the Wendigo, by nonnative creators
- Ethics of consuming media with “problematic” representations of native cultures
- Eurocentric folk horror connections to native reparations
Worst & Best Representations of Indigenous Cultures in Horror
Spoilers ahead!
Worst
- The Manitou (1978) - Lonely
- The Ghost Dance (1982) - Suzie
- Scalps (1983) - Aukai
- Creepshow 2 (1987) - Lonely
- Wendigo (2001) - Lonely
Best
- The Dead Lands (2014) - Aukai
- Mohawk (2017) - Aukai
- Blood Quantum (2019) - Suzie
- The Dead Lands (2020) - Aukai
- Antlers (2021) - Suzie & Lonely
- Prey (2022) - Aukai
- Slash/back (2022) - Aukai & Suzie
Suzie’s Deep Cuts
- Nightwing (1979)
- Ravenous (1999)
- The Dead Can’t Dance (2010)
Final Thoughts
- Where do you see the future of native storytelling in horror?
Thank you to our guest!
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Follow Aukai on Instagram & Twitter @aukaiviti and on Letterboxd @aukailigari. Stream Cleanflix (2012) on Tubi and Life Below Zero: First Alaskans (2022) on Disney+.
Keep Up with Your Hosts
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Check out our instagram antics and drop a follow @nobodieshorrorpodcast.
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Projectile Varmint - catch Suzie on Horror Movie Weekly with our dear friends Jay of the Dead, Mister Waston, and Channy Dreadful. Suzie also runs the HMW Instagram @ horrormovieweekly.
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Lonely - read more from Lonely and keep up with her filmstagram chaos @lonelyhorrorclub on Instagram and www.lonelyhorrorclub.com.
Original No Bodies Theme music by Jacob Pini. Need music? Find Jacob on Instagram at @jacob.pini for rates and tell him No Bodies sent you!
Leave us a message at (617) 431-4322 and we just might answer you on the show!
Sources & Additional Reading
Anthony, E. (2020, November 28). Native American horror: Exploring the people over the legends. The Emory Wheel. https://emorywheel.com/native-american-representation-in-horror/
Budzinski, N. (2021, December 10). “It’s all an indian burial ground”: Folk horror cinema’s reckoning with Colonial Violence. ArtReview. https://artreview.com/its-all-an-indian-burial-ground-folk-horror-cinema-reckoning-with-colonial-violence/
Echo Hawk, C. (2021, October 11). Indigenous representation is still scarce in Hollywood: “we need more native stories” (guest column). Variety. https://variety.com/2021/film/opinion/indigenous-representation-hollywood-native-stories-1235086445/
Elliot, A. (2017, October 17). The rise of Indigenous horror: How a fiction genre is confronting a monstrous reality. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5323428
Hubbell-Hinton, K. (2021, August 20). The power of Indigenous Horror. Indigenous Goddess Gang. https://www.indigenousgoddessgang.com/indigenous-cinematics/2021/8/15/the-power-of-indigenous-horror
National Museum of the American Indian. (2023). Native knowledge 360°-celebrating native cultures through words: Storytelling and oral traditions. Home Page. https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/informational/storytelling-and-oral-traditions
