Today, I got to watch the much anticipated new series of Netflix called "Reservation Dogs". Now I'm not going to go into the background with NZ's Taika Waititi as one of the Executive Producers as there's a lot of information already out in the Press but I did want to mention that it reminded me a lot of the 1990's NZ movie "Once were Warriors" that was a trailblazer in terms of Maori movie making coming to the fore.
"Reservation Dogs" is doing the same trailblazing as for some time it has been apparent to me as an 'Indigenous Scholar' (for a better term) in noting that there were many movies about African American experiences in the US but very little story telling was shown regarding Native Americans or First Nations Peoples of the US, Canada, Alaska or Hawaii.
This series begins to give Native Americans the platform to tell their stories and they're not like the often distorted stories of the early Westerns genre of 'Cowboys and Indians' written and shot by non-Native Americans. These stories are far more authentic of Native American film makers telling their own stories. It's also not the story of all Native Americans but it is authentic to those who wrote the stories from their own experiences.
I've only ever visited one Reservation in Seattle when I visited the US back in the 1990s and like many Maori had been displaced in many ways. This movie shares some of the attitudes and gems about their heritages, world views and attitudes towards them.
I'd highly recommend it to those who are interested in learning about contemporary experiences of Indigenous cultures (if you don't mind the swearing). In some places it may be a little raw but it is interesting and I'm looking forward to how the series unfolds after watching the first three episodes...
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