"[39] Lockhard's ideas explain that wendigos are an expression of a dark aspect of human nature: the drive toward greed, consumption, and disregard for other life in the pursuit of self-aggrandizement. [47], Other creatures based on the legend, or named for it, appear in various films and television shows, including Dark Was the Night, Ravenous , The Lone Ranger (2013),[48] and the 2021 film Antlers by Scott Cooper, where the wendigo is portrayed as a deer-like creature with a glowing heart that moves from person to person with a never ending hunger. 12. The Wendigos are the ultimate antagonists of Until Dawn. Those things, the predation on the Indians by Europeans, most certainly happened. wa, which may have meant "owl". I mentioned above that I was guilty of doing the same thing. That's an easy solution and I still keep my freedom to create. While Bieber's locs may be perceived . Native Americans shouldn't be a "niche," and neither should women, LGBT people, or people of color. From Stephen Kings Pet Sematary to the television series Hanibal, the flesh-eating image of the wendigo is often presented apart from its original cultural contexts where it carries deep moral significance. I think if a Native American person were telling me not to speak about wendgos or name them out loud near them, I would comply, as I don't want to unreasonably make someone feel anxious or uncomfortable. Guillermo del Toro, producer of the film, developed the wendigo on the basis that the more the creature eats, the more it gets hungry and the more it gets hungry, the weaker it becomes. [25], One of the more famous cases of Wendigo psychosis reported involved a Plains Cree trapper from Alberta, named Swift Runner. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. [18], A wendigo need not lose the human's powers of cognition or speech and in some depictions may clearly communicate with its prospective victims or even threaten or taunt them. The book's cul-tural importance granted it not one, but two movie adaptations, the first in 1989 and the second in 2019. He was eating the juice (marrow) from the inside of the bones of his legs that were cut off. America is the symbol of inclusion, so as part of the American culture we embrace foreign influences in our society. See more. The Indians then killed him and cut him to pieces. Humans could also turn into wendigos by being in contact with them for too long. (Anything that isnt outright vandalism isnt likely to harm the statue at all, but I wouldnt dare do anything disrespectful around it. I would refuse to be shackled by political correctness. You're just making up a story. No one said it were exceptional that way. It is unknown if it would have been an entire species or a singular creature. First, he gives definitions of the key concepts of "appropriation" and "arts," and delimits his investigation as one concerned with "cultural" appropriation. And that's exactly the problem. Learn how your comment data is processed. As it so happens, I am currently working on a project involving a Wendigo, so this is personal to me. This term only applies to a . As described by the Native American Cree legends, they were humans who have been mutated into cannibalistic monsters after being possessed by the Wendigo spirit, causing them to eat the flesh of other humans. The Wendigo may be a figure from American Indian mythology, but it belongs to all of humankind. The Wendigo is by far one of the most mysterious and feared monsters in not only in the Algonquian folklore which it is attributed to, but also other . I do not know whether Algonquin People indeed consider Wendigo depictions in mainstream media so culturally sensitive or taboo as the "woke" in your lead comment implied I would somehow doubt it but do not know for sure. It can serve as a metaphor explaining any pattern of domination by which groups subjugate and dominate or violently destroy and displace. When I got over my initial bout of self-defensiveness, I realized I was totally wrong. Maybe I'm just not a math person. Cultural appropriation takes place when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way. Now why cant that be said to prudes lurking here. The beautiful maang tikka, or hair accessory falling down the part in the middle of the hair, marks a . During a panel at YES! Only those entitled to them should wear them. 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 mean yeah I see what your saying, personally I do research on what its about even if I don't use it in it's entirety. In my blind quest to represent everyone, all I did was reinforce the problem. The people who get offended over it, on behalf of someone else, are pathetically absurd. And they are worth considering including in one's classroom teaching. Lots of stories have aped Native American folklore before her, including some of mine. Don't tell lies to those Indians." minority cultures deserve a higher level of protection from being put on display than mainstream cultures," Nah, https://forum.deviantart.com/community/complaints/2612415/, https://www.deviantart.com/comments/18/2611618/4878314665, (, literally "goat-sucker") is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas, with the first sightings reported in Puerto Rico. No they ain't. Appreciation is honoring and respecting another culture and its practices, as a way to gain knowledge and understanding. Wendigo Cannibalism in Native American Folklore. [40][41] Joe Nazare wrote that Blackwood's "subtly-demonizing rhetoric transforms the Wendigo from a native myth into a descriptive template for the Indian savage."[42]. Now neither Christian culture is by any means endangered to become a minority (although some US Bible Belt hate preachers consistently claim so) nor is Chinese culture, so both are out of ansatz here. The Windigo also has the power to turn humans into cannibals who suffer the same . Cultural appropriation can be defined as the "cherry picking" or selecting of certain aspects of a culture, and ignoring their original significance for the purpose of belittling it as a trend. In some cases, this entailed killing people with Wendigo psychosis. Ojibwe scholar Dr. Brady Santi has developed this guide for teachers who would like to teach students about her communitys unique belief systems with an emphasis on the wendigo as it appears in popular films. If I can draw my own version of a Chinese dragon, or my own version of angel or demon, I can draw a wendigo. Sentences like "The Native American wizarding community was particularly gifted in animal and plant magic" are cringe-worthy if you give them a little thought, and the notion that only European wizards were clever enough to invent wands, which make magic "more precise and more powerful" borders on horrific levels of cluelessness. The e-book is here, and you can get a paperback copy here.). PSA: These 11 Halloween "Costumes" Will Always Be Offensive. This makes them so ravenous for human flesh that they pounce upon women, children, and even upon men, like veritable werewolves, and devour them voraciously, without being able to appease or glut their appetiteever seeking fresh prey, and the more greedily the more they eat. Lurking in the deep woods of the Northern United States and Southern Canada lies a mysterious and fearsome Native American monster, the Wendigo. [45] Wrist, the 2016 debut novel by First Nations horror fiction writer Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (Lac Des Milles Lacs Anishinaabe),[46] combines the traditional Ojibwe legend with the author's ideas inspired by non-Indigenous writers like Anne Rice and Tim Powers. Cultural appropriation is a huge red flag that the brand has minimal diversity or representation behind the scenes," she explains. The use of the creature in horror stories . The protection of minorities from the materialization of the majority's different thoughts is an asset of democratic constitutionalism. The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation; its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. 1. So for some woke culture types it's considered a form of disrespectful cultural appropriation to make your own Halloween monster or character based on a wendigo. Clunky prose aside, this is the "noble savage" trope repurposed for Rowling's universe, with just a pinch of Magical Negro thrown in for good measure. Have you encountered wendigo stories in films, television shows, or books? Contents 1 History 2 Gallery 3 Trivia 4 Navigation History Cultural appropriation, feel like a real blur to me but I never worry about it I feel it can dampen the creative process. As a concept, wendigo can apply to situations other than some Native American-European relations. Idiots have just made a religion out of being racist about culture and only allowing genetic descendants to participate in cultures. Wendigos, teepees and cultural appropriation I read some stuff yesterday saying that teepees are cultural appropriation and there was a long post about how wendigos aren't cryptids and how stories about them are cultural appropriation. The Wendigo happens to be part of my own (Anishiinaabe) cultural heritage. His line of questioning effectively asks what if the monstrosity we face is actually not an otherworldly presence but our all too human selves?. It will survive on it's own. The Indians asked the Windigo if there was any fat on them. Unlike cultural appropriation, strategic anti-essentialism can be practiced by both minority cultures and majority cultures. Is it Cultural Appropriation if I have a Wendigo character. This form of cultural appropriation is deeply intertwined with systemic and institutionalized racism rooted in capitalism. The cultural appropriation police answer the yoga and banh mi objections with a familiar counter-argument: it's about power. ][22][failed verification], In historical accounts of retroactively diagnosed Wendigo psychosis, it has been reported that humans became possessed by the wendigo spirit, after being in a situation of needing food and having no other choice besides cannibalism. I'm all for respecting other people's cultures, but straight up trying to tell people they can't respectfully depict a fictional creature because it's ,,stealing" or ,,evoking the creature" or something is just way too overboard. I hate that I am defending JKR but I think a lot of people don't really think about how the internet was in in the late 90s and what kind of content was on the internet. In a report from the Contemporary Folklore conference covered in issue 388 of FORTEAN TIMES, the go-to magazine for all things paranormal, weird, or unexplained, a complaint is voiced about the "cultural appropriation" of the Wendigo, likening it to the "sexualization" of the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. I can't even think about bank without getting mad, why did she need to make them like that..EVERY name is filled with stereotypes , well every name from minority .I don't even want to talk about Fantastic Beasts problems. We enjoy liberties today that aren't even a freckle on the face of human history, and yet some individuals would go so far as to throw them all away because something offends them. iii 3 four quarters: Jack D. Forbes' concept of colonialism as a manifestation of wtiko psychosis; ethnographical works that feature fearsome figures from the stories of North American tribal It was created by Mayuki . [57] In the 2018 first-person shooter video game Dusk, wendigos are enemies that remain invisible until they receive damage. But as far as cultural appropriation and the Wendigo goes, dont you daredont you DAREtry to take our monsters away from us, PC wankers! Cultural appropriation by a dominant culture is harmful to underrepresented cultures because it reduces cultural significance and reinforces double standards. It has become something else altogether. Appropriating the Wendigo As it so happens, I am currently working on a project involving a Wendigo, so this is personal to me. "** 40. Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. DeSanti points to the 1999 horror film Ravenous as an illustration of this argument equating "the cannibal monster" to "American colonialism and manifest destiny". And I accept that the Wendigo can symbolize for them that exploitation. Cultural appropriation means using a racial, religious, or social group's customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits without authority or right. Historically, deciding exactly what culture is hasn't been easy. I always thought these are what cannibals are turning into. It turned its hunger on the Americas, a wendigo so hungry that it consumes its own lips if there is nothing else for it to eat. are not cryptids, and don't even traditionally have deer skulls for heads. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Create what you want; let the audience decide its fame. I think she knew that her decision would be challenged and she wanted to let people know that she had valid reasons for doing what she did. :)Looking to buy some stickers or look at some pictures of my art or my other things? He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. I am so offended! The legend of the wendigo has long been associated with real-life problems like insatiable greed, selfishness, and violence. MORTUI VELOCES SUNT! This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Thus I support Scott Cooper, the director of the forthcoming (hopefully by next spring) ANTLERS, in his efforts to seek out consultation from Indian advisors when making his movie, which features a Wendigo. (Not to put too fine a point on it, but you should totally go buy my novella. No it isn't cultural appropriation, as long as it is researched and accurately presented in the story. Latvians have their own version of Thor, so I probably should be offended, as well. He just gave the boy so much time to go there and back. And we merely follow".[38]. That taste of human flesh, which out of that rose the wendigo.. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. In the 21st century, cultural appropriationlike globalizationisn't just inevitable; it's potentially positive. Dont like someones fetish? The Wendigo is a mythical creature that has been reported in many different forms. Exactly!! On the other hand, "The Wendigo" is one of the first representations of the windigo by a I am ashamed I watched all the movies. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. You dont have to be of Afro-Caribbean descent to talk about, write about, or make movies about zombies. teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. Still though, Im not sure I fully get the Native American spirits(?) This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. The wendigo is a terrifying presence that feeds on negative energy and human flesh, making it a natural addition to the horror genre. [49][50] In the 2021 film The Inhuman (L'Inhumain) the arrival of a wendigo symbolizes inner turmoil after a character turns his back on his Indigenous heritage in the pursuit of material success. They are seen as malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural beings of great spiritual power . [20], Among the Assiniboine, the Cree, and the Ojibwe, a satirical ceremonial dance is sometimes performed during times of famine to reinforce the seriousness of the wendigo taboo. Don't miss a beat. The idea of getting down to the nitty-gritty came from the 18th century English slave trade, when nitty-gritty referred to the worthless debris left at the ship's bottom compartment after slaves had been evacuatedand evolved to include the slaves themselves. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. If ANYTHING is disrespectful to woke (does not exist in the real world) culture then I say: DO IT - AND DO IT BIG!!! "Today, many believe the crows to be . A nice summary is found here: The concept of cultural appropriation emerged in academia in the late 1970s and 1980s as part of the scholarly critique of colonialism. Windigo psychosis may well be the most perfect example of the construction of an Aboriginal mental disorder by the scholarly professions, and its persistence dramatically underscores how constructions of the Aboriginal by these professions have, like Frankenstein's monster, taken on a life of their own. People were not really using Google until the 2000s and that kind of info might have not been available in the 90s. She annoys the hell out of me. 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. 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. People can appreciate and draw as many wendigo and other scary monsters as they like, it's all entirely fictional and doesn't hurt anyone. No one can try to stake a singular claim to it. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. [11], This was the end of the wendigo is part of the traditional belief system of a number of Algonquin-speaking peoples, including the Ojibwe, the Saulteaux, the Cree, the Naskapi, and the Innu. Representation in media is crucially important, something I have become very aware of as I've grown older and consumed more entertainment. 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. J.K is weird for using name like that, it isn't hard to google names, i know she wrote books before internet was as "popular" as now, but i honestly doubt that she couldn't find name and surname of east asian person, she could of used names from either celebrity ( use surname of one and name of other or something like that), she could of used name from character from some book, there were ways of finding name that isn't bad as Cho-Chang, also i find it a bit weird that said character is in "smart" house, feels way to stereotypical for me. My Thoughts and Questions OllieOnyx 845 subscribers Subscribe 4.5K 119K views 2 years ago I just posted a new video. In my blind quest to represent everyone, all I did was reinforce the problem. Check it out here:https://youtu.be/fHE4fkvUpWMI really just made this video to express how I am currently feeling about the wendigo doll situation and the questions I have about it. . So, thanks, Dave! Their visitations speak to the inseparability of human experience National identity is irrelevant to this borderless horror. In Ojibwe, Eastern Cree, Westmain Swampy Cree, Naskapi, and Innu lore, wendigos are often described as giants that are many times larger than human beings, a characteristic absent from myths in other Algonquian cultures. Wendigo) from its cultural conte xt and its movement by non-Indigenous . It shouldn't be bad thing if you don't mock culture, make sure to have all information you can ( read books from culture or ask someone who grew up with said culture if they are willing to teach you) but then again they aren't from your culture and unlike creatures like vampires they are a bit more closed i don't know is it good to use them. In addition to denoting a cannibalistic monster from certain traditional folklore, some Native Americans also understand the wendigo conceptually. But Native Americans shouldn't be a "niche," and neither should women, LGBT people, or people of color. These things feel formulaic, quantitative, mathematicbalancing equations and subtraction. It never occurred to me that what I was doing might be offensive, because I've never even met a Native American person in real life. Discover short videos related to wendigo cultural appropriation on TikTok. It's taking those cultural. Chippewa author Louise Erdrich's novel The Round House, winner of the National Book Award, depicts a situation where an individual person becomes a wendigo. For example, dressing up as a Native American while using redface and using the gaudiest, most elaborate costume you can think of (using the stereotypical feathered headress, tribal print tan clothing, holding a spear, etc.). 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.
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