Alyssa Wapanatâhk on Indigenous Representation and Reimagining Tiger Lily

It’s time to grab your pixie dust and head back to Neverland. Peter Pan & Wendy premieres on Disney+ on April 28. In it, Disney reimagines Tiger Lily, the warrior princess of Neverland’s Indigenous tribe. To celebrate Peter Pan & Wendy‘s upcoming release, The Nerds of Color sat down with actress Alyssa Wapanatâhk to chat about all things Tiger Lily.

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‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Sinks More than It Floats

When James Cameron’s Avatar premiered in 2009, it represented a landmark moment in visual effects for film. Cameron made some of the most effective use of CGI and motion-capture performances since Andy Serkis’ brilliant portrayal of Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Na’vi, as alien and as CGI as they were, felt real to audiences as their animation took realistic form, as did the stunningly beautiful planet of Pandora. But while these visual effects were a spectacle, the story itself, while moving at times, was simplistic and derivative of other films in the realm of colonists and Indigenous peoples.

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‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Explores Geopolitics and Shows the MCU Can Go Further

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is, at its core, a moving drama about the grief of a nation for their lost King T’Challa and the grief of his closes loved ones. But the film also takes a deeper dive into the geopolitics of the MCU, and really our own world and how the legacy of colonialism, European slavery of Africans, Indigenous genocide, and the pillaging of resources of Black and brown countries continues to this day.

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NOC Review: Amber Midthunder Hits Her Target Dead On in ‘Prey’

The Predator film franchise centered on the clash between its race of a highly evolved race of aliens who hunt alphas for sport versus man. While its predecessors were as bloody and violent as the next, Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey goes back to basics with a primal and bloody David vs. Goliath story that not only is worthy of being a part of the iconic franchise but something could stand on its own thanks to Amber Midthunder’s astonishing performance that subverts tropes in a way that finally makes indigenous cultures the heroes of their own story.

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SDCC 2022: ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Explores the Consistency of Excellence

After Ryan Coogler and the cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever brought the house down in Hall H, some of the film’s stars stopped by our spot on the press line and spoke to Ron from POC Culture about what the new film will mean to audiences, but especially to Black and Indigenous moviegoers.

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‘Prey’ Cast and Crew on Breaking Barriers in the ‘Predator’ Franchise

The Predator movies of the past have featured some soldiers of fortune being hunted by its titular alien race of hunters seeking to add to their trophy case. But in Prey, director Dan Trachtenberg takes a different approach to that dynamic by setting the film 300 years in the Comanche nation and follows Naru (Amber Midthunder), a fierce and highly skilled warrior who will do anything to protect her tribe, including hunting a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal. The result is a primal David and Goliath match unlike anything we’ve ever seen from the Predator franchise.

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Marvel’s ‘Echo’ Begins Production

Marvel’s Echo has begin production in Atlanta and is set to premiere in 2023. The series stars Alaqua Cox as deaf gang leader Maya Lopez aka Echo, who made her debut in the MCU in Marvel’s Hawkeye. The series picks up after finding out the truth about the death of her father — by the hands of Ronin aka Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) — set up by Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio).

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Padma Lakshmi’s ‘Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition’ is Wonderful and Moving

We obviously look forward to the holidays for the food. Whether it’s for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Passover, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Diwali, Día De Los Muertos, Seollal (Korean New Year), Nowruz (Persian New Year), or some other holiday, we always enjoy diving into a scrumptious feast with our loved ones to commemorate these occasions. But how exactly did some of these food traditions develop here in the United States, and what were the specific contributions of Immigrant and Indigenous communities?

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Kristin Kreuk on Ending ‘Burden of Truth’ and 20 Years of ‘Smallville’

For the last four seasons, Kristin Kreuk has been playing Joanna Chang on the hit Canadian series Burden of Truth. While the series wrapped its run back in March on the CBC, the show has been playing to American audiences on The CW, a network that Kristin is very familiar with, having played Lana Lang for seven seasons on Smallville.

I got the chance to speak to Kristin about wrapping her show, the importance of representation, and what it’s like to be back on the network she helped launch.

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‘Reservation Dogs’ Brings Humor and Realness from Indigenous Perspectives

Just in time for International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, FX on Hulu’s new comedy series, Reservation Dogs, officially premiered yesterday. Created by Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo, the show is centered on four teenagers living on a reservation in Oklahoma. They spend their days finding the easiest avenues to make money — even if it means committing theft — in order to leave for California. However, when a new gang arrives in town and one of the teens starts to have a change of heart about their motivations, things start to get a little interesting.

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‘Waikiki’ Doesn’t Pull Any Punches about the Realities of Tourist Hot Spot

The Hawai’i International Film Festival is capping off its 40th rendition with Christopher Kahunahana’s feature film debut, Waikiki. The story follows a woman, Kea (Danielle Zalopany), as she works multiple jobs in order to break away from her abusive relationship and get herself a place to call home. When she accidentally hits a homeless man, Wo (Peter Shinkoda), with the van she’s living out of and later finds her van missing altogether, the two sporadically travel and connect with each other, all the while Kea confronts the traumas of her past.

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Elaine Miles Reflects on Native Representation and ‘Northern Exposure’

On July 12, 1990, the Emmy Award-winning comedy-drama, Northern Exposure, began its run on CBS. Created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, a neurotic Jewish physician (Rob Morrow) from New York is forced to work as a general practitioner in the small, fictional town of Cicely, Alaska, in order to pay the state of Alaska for underwriting his medical school education. Over the course of the series’ six seasons, not only did audiences watch Morrow’s Dr. Joel Fleischman slowly adjust to his surroundings, but they also got to know the quirky residents of the small community and follow their day-to-day lives as well.

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Author Rebecca Roanhorse Makes Her ‘Star Wars’ Universe Debut with ‘Resistance Reborn’

Rebecca Roanhorse is no stranger to writing worlds and realities beyond our own. A speculative fiction writer of both novels and short fiction, she is a recipient of both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. Her work often features indigenous characters as the leads; such as her Sixth World series where a Dinétah monster slayer navigates a post-apocalyptic world filled with gods and monsters of legend. Continue reading “Author Rebecca Roanhorse Makes Her ‘Star Wars’ Universe Debut with ‘Resistance Reborn’”

Netflix is 3% Closer, but Still Fighting White Supremacy Saviors

At this point, it’s damn near impossible to keep up with the onslaught of Netflix original programming. Along with all of the film and series content, the tentacles of the entertainment Kraken inevitably started reaching out for more international collaborations. Around Thanksgiving we were treated to the Brazilian series 3%. In terms of originality, it doesn’t score high: another variation on the theme of a future world where young adults do what they have to do to survive.

It does have its points of deviation though from say The Hunger Games and Divergent with a touch of Elysium. Brazil has had a long and appalling history of income inequality, which I’m sure is where the idea of the tagline came from: “In a dystopian future there is a clear divide between the rich and poor, but when a person turns 20, they have the opportunity to cross the divide.” As implied, by free will all the candidates get to try to make it from the miserable mainland to the utopian island Mar Alto; that looks kind of like Recife to Fernando de Noronha on the map. The tests they undergo are less physical and more psychological until they are whittled down to the fabled 3%. The setting, albeit futuristic, feels closer to present as we undergo our own survival in the collapse.

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The Official NOC #CrossLines Reading List

This past weekend in Washington DC, the Smithsonian’s historic Arts & Industries building was home to the most important gathering of artists you have ever seen. The CrossLines pop-up culture lab on intersectionality brought together over 40 artists and scholars to explore race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, etc.

I was fortunate enough to be invited and helped organize a Reading Lounge and live podcasts — while artist Matt Huynh painted a mural in real time the entire weekend. One of the questions I got asked the most was about the books we included, so after the jump you can find a complete list of books we had in the Lounge!
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Magic in North America: The Harry Potter Franchise Veers Too Close to Home

by Dr. Adrienne Keene | Originally posted at Native Appropriations

Remember back in June when it was announced that the new Harry Potter prequel-of-sorts had an American Wizarding school? Remember how I was concerned? If you don’t, here’s a link to that post.

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An Open Letter to J.K. Rowling about the American Wizarding School in Fantastic Beasts

by Dr. Adrienne Keene | Originally posted at Native Appropriations

Dear J.K. Rowling,

I am unabashedly a huge Harry Potter fan. I first encountered Harry when I was in Junior High, volunteering at the public library (nerd status, I know). The children’s librarian handed me book one, and I was hooked. I even used to frequent Harry Potter message boards back in the day with my friend Kathleen (we were “Parvati” and “Lavender” cause we also shared an interest in divination, ha). Anyway, all this is to say, Harry holds a sacred spot in my heart. But I’m not one of those fans who can recite things verbatim, or remember every tiny detail, so if I’m missing something, I hope one of those fans will help me out.

I’ve been interestedly following the news that there is a new Harry Potter prequel-of-sorts in the works, for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, following “magizoologist” Newt Scamander. I hadn’t been following it closely, but a few days ago, I saw your exchanges on Twitter about the name/location of the American Wizarding School — and I started to get a bit concerned.

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Five Nerdy Movies to Celebrate Columbus Day

Every second Monday in October, many folks across the country get to enjoy the day off from school and/or work to celebrate Chris Columbus, the director whose filmography has grossed nearly $4 billion worldwide. Though, I’ve always found it odd that the federal government would name a holiday after a director who, despite the overwhelming box office of his films, isn’t the most innovative or important filmmaker in American cinema. I mean, shouldn’t Spielberg or Scorsese or Spike get a holiday before this guy1?

That said, it’s Columbus Day, and you’re already sitting at home. So why not fire up the blu-ray player and watch one — or all — of these nerd-friendly movies by the man most famous for teaching  Macaulay Culkin how to shave. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

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Why I Teach ‘The Walking Dead’ in My Native Studies Classes

by Cutcha Risling Baldy

So a friend of mine wrote me a message on Facebook that went a little like this:

Question: how the heck do you get through to someone that thinks natives need to just get over it?

Answer: Shake them? I never advocate shaking people, but maybe something is loose in there. Tell them to take a Native American Studies Course (it ain’t cheap, but it’s worth it).

But if I’m being honest, lately, when this comes up — and isn’t it telling that it comes up often enough that I can begin with “lately” instead of “well the last time, a long time ago, man I can barely remember that time?” — I like to tell them about The Walking Dead.

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