#respect indigenous cultures or fuck off

[vanilla-cigarillos]

Animism - A Breakdown and Brief History

Inspired by a question from an anonymous user on Tumblr, I’d like to make a post discussing animism! I heavily identify with this manner of belief and thinking, so I’d love to share it with you all :)

What Is Animism?

When you first Google “animism”, this is the definition that you’re meant with:

1. the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.

2. the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe. "a village steeped in ancient animism and rituals"

In my own understanding, animism is a very broad term discussing the belief that inanimate objects possess a spiritual essence (soul, spirit, etc.) just as living creatures do. All things — animals, plants, rocks, the weather, etc. — has some form of life (though it may be in ways completely different to our own expression of being alive. 

Animism is largely thought to be “indigenous beliefs”, popularly displayed as so in media about indigenous people. Think the grossly inappropriate Pocahontas animated movie by Disney, where the (wrongfully aged up) Pocahontas describes the spirits of the natural world around them.

History of The Term “Animism”

“Old Animism” Definitions In order to understand where we are now with the understanding of what animism is, we first have to look at where the term originated from. 

The first idea of “animism” (in the old terminology’s sense) was developed by Sir Edward Tylor, an anthropologist who voiced this idea in his 1871 book Primitive Culture. According to Tylor, “animism” often included “an idea of pervading life and will in nature”. Essentially, he believed that animism was the earliest represented form of religion, and fundamentally was viewed as a mistake. He disregarded animism as based on early humanity’s unscientific observations about nature and the reality around them.

Anthropologists grew away from the term “animism” over time, labeling it as too close to now discounted early anthropological theory. Around this time the term began being reclaimed by indigenous people, who in some cases actively chose to identify as “animists” as they felt the word described their sense of beliefs. Thusly, scholars began to recontextualize the term in the rigid academic setting. 

Where Are We Now?

It’s very important to note that animism is NOT anthropomorphism — the two are vastly similar. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to any sort of creature or object that is not human. Think the inanimate objects in Disney movies. 

Animism is a set of genuinely felt beliefs that are tied to a variety of cultures and people. It puts nature and its many creations on the same spiritual platform as other humans, deserving of respect and worship in their own way. 

[ganonfan1995]

not to vague post, but the fact that the loz lore community is made up of mostly white american men (not on tumblr) makes me wanna scream

I swear to god they'll see some random detail about these games and then write an 80 page dissertation on race theory or some lore about savage and barbaric tribes who regressed from their advanced society of godly superiors.

please can u at least pretend to be able to think of anything creative and nice? worlds ur oyster, hyperfocus on something constructive.

[ayphyx]

White vegans stop comparison poc (specifically black people) to animals challenge difficulty IMPOSSIBLE

[friiday-thirteenth]

ngl rant in the tags surrounding football world cup stuff

[zutarawasrobbed]

ALTA Live Action Season 1 Initial Thoughts (Spoilers)

I just finished the season, and holy shit!

Quick things that need to be addressed/debunked:

“Sokka is no longer sexist”

I dont know what people were talking about when they talked about Sokka’s “sexism” being removed. It’s still there! But not in the overly exaggerated comical way it was in the original.

In fact, it’s more in line with ancient practices of indigenous tribes where men are seen as protectors and providers while women are expected to nurture. It’s not the same “boys are better than girls” narrative in the original.

Additionally, Suki still beats the fuck out of Sokka and humbled him really quick. They’re super cute by the way. And I love Suki’s “I like my men a little stupid” vibe. She’s great.

“Aang doesn’t run away like the original!”

That is not true. He does run away, but not because he’s trying to get away from the temple but instead to get some air because he feels overwhelmed. He’s more like taking a quick break and planning to come back. It’s not exactly the same, but almost. It also is done in a way where his guilt feels more justified.

“Katara doesn’t talk about her mom anymore like the original”

This is true… BECAUSE THEY SHOW INSTEAD OF TELL. I was honestly not prepared to see the death Kya in such graphic detail and how Katara was in the room hiding when it happened. It’s honestly really sad and more heartbreaking.

Plot:

The timeline seems to be ambiguous compared to the original series where it was “end of current year.” In fact, they repeat “three years” a few times, which makes me think if the series get greenlit for more seasons, it would be over a three year period.

Jet is still villainized but given more nuance and not a simple "good v bad" way like the original.

Zuko’s story about how he got his scar has additional lore that makes him come across as even more selfless and compassionate. The additional context of the platoon he advocated for in the war meeting, becoming his current crew, really added to the story.

Eradicated the nepotism baby plot point with Pakku only training Katara when he finds out he used to date her grandma. Instead, Katara proves herself and ends up teaching the other male fighters the techniques she learned from watching other benders use their elements and mimics them.

This season doesn’t have Aang learning any waterbending, but rather facing his trauma and the consequences of his actions. He get roasted by all his past lives. Which is an interesting choice, but I think it works well in how they executed it.

This season seems to actually be Katara focused and her journey of learning waterbending which I honestly loved because it really hits home the element of “water” being the story of an untrained waterbender learning her element. But, I do think Aang could’ve learned a little bending. It felt a little off.

Katara ends up advocating for all waterbending women and ends up leading an army of both men and women during the siege. She’s really bad ass and is given the title of master without being formally trained by Pakku. She made herself a master.

I think the timeline is a little wonky because of how much they had to fit in with the limited episodes they had.

Kuruk is given respect! I loved that.

June actually seems into Iroh which I thought was a funny but cool way to flip the script from the original.

The relationship between Zuko and Iroh is really beautifully executed. I love the depth they added with flashback scenes and their bond prior to the Agni Kai. It also wasn’t as frustrating watching Iroh and Zuko’s dynamic because Iroh communicated with Zuko in a way he could understand with straight answers rather than seeming to actively sabotage him with cryptic puns and shenanigans like the original.

They changed the love triangle with Yue Hahn and Sokka to be very healthy. They gave Yue autonomy and a choice in her relationship- which- again- is much more in line with indigenous cultures. Also, Hahn and Sokka’s relationship is really supportive and full of respect and no ill will.

They way they handled grief and the realities of war with the loss of life was very well done and really drove home the point that this is a war and these are child soldiers.

There’s a lot more but these are my initial thoughts. Will probably post more later.

Shipping:

Kataang is all but removed. Literally DOA. There is no indication of a crust on either side. It’s painted like a sibling relationship, which is like the original, but this time everyone seems to be on the same page. But, I swear the writers had to have read ZK fics because damn.

They canonized a popular Zutara theory/hc about the cave of two lovers and how the crystals would light up once it went completely dark instead of a “kiss” activating the crystal glow.

Speaking of the Cave of two lovers. They keep the Oma and Shu story with red and blue coloring. Making it come across more as foreshadowing than a direct link to the present tunnel story.

Sokka is put in Aang’s place with Katara in the tunnels and turned it into a story about the love of family and sibling bonds. Aang wasn’t even present.

Zuko and Katara share a meaningful look when they first see each other and continue to have a Katara centric scene followed by a Zuko centric scene and vice versa.

The scarf scene. I will not be elaborating further. If you know, you know.

Zuko and Katara fight scene in the North is epic. He still taunts her with almost the exact same dialogue but it’s so sassy- I love the banter.

Suki and Sokka were really cute and the actors had great chemistry. I think Yue and Sokka was really rushed and didn’t really feel anything about them, honestly. But I attribute that to lack of episodes to develop all that plot.

[wheeloffortune-design]

re: latinoamerican/hispanic/south american discourse

out of nowhere but i see this often enough online and it bugs me

people fight because the terms latino, south-american, and hispanic, all mostly overlap but the definitions are slightly different and exclude slightly different people.

South-America: Countries from the South American continent. Does not include Mexico and Central America.

Hispanic: Countries and people that speak Spanish. Includes Spain, does not include Brazil.

Latino: This one is the trickiest because the definition is a bit vague, and that creates conflict. Mostly, latinoamerican countries mean the ones conquered by Spain and Portugal, so Mexico and everything south of it. No, I know French is a latin language but it does not include the French colonies (source: I'm from Québec. We do not consider ourselve latinos. Only pedantic people in Youtube comments use this as a gotcha.)

Mostly, it means a culture, but that's also tricky because even though there are similarities, of course Mexico and Chile won't have the same culture. And as I understand, the Carribean coutries are even more unique, but there's a history of racism in the latino community that tends to exclude them and that's not cool. And of course, Indigenous people can decide to call themselve latinos if they want to, or not, and that's alright.

So, you have this mass of countries, cultures, and people, that do have similar traits, but are also different enough to argue about everything. Just ask them what is the word for a drinking straw.

I think the problem is that the world tends to put us all in the same basket. Africa has to live with that too, but I'm starting to hear more and more "Ok but which African country, you can't just say someone is 'from Africa'". And I feel like people understand now that "the Orient" is not a thing and I do see people say that all Asian countries are not the same. Of course there's still a long way to go, but I don't even hear that when talked about Latinoamerica.

And! Mostly, what enrages me, is that we are not kind between ourselves, or with our diaspora! Every day I see comments saying you're not a real latino of you don't speak perfect Spanish, if you don't dance, if you can't recognize a bachata from a salsa, if this, if that.

Colonization, slavery, and then US imperialism fucked up most of our countries, installing dictators and fucking up the economy. Of course you will have a massive exile, and our people will be spread across the world. Of course you will have second generations immigrants that only have what their parents taught them for crumbs of the culture. Of course you will have children that will struggle to speak Spanish because they don't use it everyday, and calling abuelita once a month is not enough to keep a language.

These immigrants, these children, will be told all their lives that they don't belong to the country they now live in. Please don't tell them they don't belong in the culture they had to leave too.

What I mean with all this: The world brushes off too easily, and we deserve to be treated with more respect. But before we come to that, we need to respect each other, and celebrate our differences instead of using them to determine who is and who isn't part of the club.

There may be a lot of differences between me, a pale skinned, black haired, Chilean immigrant in Québec who speaks mostly French; and a Black Puerto Rican who lived in their country their whole life; and a white and blonde Mexican who now lives in the US but still grew up in Quintana Roo; and kids all over that don't really care for their parent's music or food because they got their own things going on; and people who struggle to learn and keep Spanish and Portugese.

But if we decide to all call ourselves latinos, then that's what we are, and that means we're family.

[thethiefandtheairbender]

my hot take is that i would've been fine if natla had changed virtually everything... character names, aesthetics, plot beats, character choices, etc. IF it had been more culturally accurate and respectful.

instead natla changes virtually nothing except the removal of sokka's sexism while increasing pakku's and the general north's, while also not being willing to commit to it (see: yue breaking off her engagement pre-show with zero consequences, which also undersells their new angle of her resenting/disliking the expectations her community has for her). we get one scene of katara doing braiding/weaving with her gran gran and mother. no other elements of water tribe culture are present that weren't there in the show, and others are removed. the water tribes don't even get to explain their own culture and relationship to the spirits, the fire nation does it. iroh being called out for ba sing se by an angrily grieving earth kingdom soldier is undercut by iroh coming off looking better when he spares the man and the man still strikes him afterwards from behind. because, y'know, the show that literally has fire nation characters critique an earth kingdom soldier for being corrupted by war, calls jet an outright terrorist and remove all of his nuance, and have katara say jet is just like the fire nation to his face isn't both sides'ing an imperialist genocidal conflict at all, obviously /s.

like, what the fuck are we doing here?

if natla wanted to radically change character arcs, struggles, backstories, and plot beats (avatars having glimpses of the future and that's why we head to the north, etc) they should've just wholly committed. the httyd movies are nothing like the books, but they change enough to be their own story in their own right (literally, they only keep a father-son relationship and the setting and half the character names; everything else is different). and they told a different, but really fucking good story.

for example: why not have there be zero sexism, and katara fights pakku for the right to learn any waterbending (healing or fighting) because they see her as an outsider who can't understand their culture, the same way there are stories about indigenous people working hard to reconnect to their culture after being separated from it due to colonization? why are we doing the same things, but worse, every time?

i'm not mad at natla for not being a 1:1 adaptation. i'm mad because every single unnecessary change it makes to the characters' core backstories and personalities are less effective than the OG, are not adequately addressed in story at any point, or has things ham-fisted in for no reason (yue being able to go into the spirit world has no bearing on the actual plot, for example; it's just There, because...?).

it's not more culturally sensitive than the og; instead, in many ways, it's less, and i think that's the biggest waste of it all.

[rs-hawk]

So just saw your post about not voting for trump. Good post. He's not a white nationalist though. Real white nationalists respect indigenous people. Place for every race and all that. He's just the run of the mill politician who says what he thinks will give him the most voters. Anyway, you'd probably be better treated by a white nationalist government lol.

This has been sitting in my ask box for like a month but just... Damn. This is wild.

You're telling me that I, a queer mixed Indigenous AFAB person who technically can be considered disabled, am respected by... White Supremacists? White Supremacists want me dead. I live in Texas. I come in contact with White Supremacists literally on a near daily basis.

They are the first ones to throw slurs at me. They are the first to say I should go back to my own country (and then say Reservation when I say that this is my country). They are the first ones to literally throw things at me at my day job. I have had people who I know for a fact are literally, LITERALLY, in the KKK, come into my job and ask why someone like me is working up front in a public establishment.

Again, I am mixed race. White Supremacists often either hate me off the bat because they know I'm mixed or see me as a minority and me simply existing in the same space as them is an affront. However, when they think I'm full White (as I am Italian and have been told I pass as Italian), and then find out I'm mixed it's so much worse. They take it as I lied to them. I had one customer at work a few years ago that we kind of flirted, and he was talking about taking me out when my job slowed down. I mentioned something off handedly about turquoise jewelry a few visits later, and he asked if I was "Indian". When I said yes, a total 180. He started accusing me of lying to him, saying I wanted to taint his blood line, blah blah blah.

Here's what you need to understand, sticking up for White Supremacists is just as fucked as being one. White Supremacists don't respect Indigenous Peoples. They want us gone. They want us somewhere they never have to see us. Reservations are not something we got out of respect. We have Reservations because we were forced to and it was all we were allowed. This is my ancestral land, and they still think I should be forced to live in another state because the government decided over a century ago (as the Nation I'm registered with was one of the last to be forced onto a Reservation) because they want to live here, in America, on traditional land, without wanting to see us.

White Supremacists don't respect us or any minorities. They want us out of their face. "A place for all races" just means out of their face or in what they consider in our place. A White Supremacist government is what created Reservations in the first place. A White Supremacist government is what forced my great grandmother's grandfather to be born on the side of the road during the march to the Reservation.

I am a firm believer that America is a Melting Pot. I am mixed race. I am proud of every aspect of who I am. I can list every ethnicity/race I am as I and my family are firm believers in knowing where you come from. As a child, my mom would quiz me on what I was and what side of my family it came from. It is important to know who and what you are. I have no issue with people being proud of who they are. There is no issue with wanting to only date/marry inside your culture imo. I don't have a problem with that. What is a problem is that White Supremacists (which is what I was calling Trump in my previous post) don't do that. They think they are better than other races. They don't want to even interact with other races. They. Are. Racist. And so is Trump. He called on the Proud Boys, a known White Supremacist group. Be serious.

[voidstateho]

okay. about race changing.

it shouldn't even be called that. some ppl like me are mixed, i have a tribal card but i feel weird with it but am proud of my heritage so im adding like literally 20% to my original percentage but still being white and acknowledging it, so I can feel comfortable like I don't have to seek validation to prove my indigenousness. CALL IT AS IT IS, who you're really talking about. RACE FETISHISATION, those weirdos. not the same as some people who race change. LETS BE AGAINST THOSE 🗣️🗣️🗣️ and not others wanting to feel valid in their own skin who feel like they have to prove their identity. (This is coming from someone with a Cher pfp who acknowledges that her Cherokee thing is weird. I have the card but she apologised, i think im being pretty damn respectful i just appreciate her aesthetic ☝🏻 )

it is not the same as an adult shifter shifting for a minor and staying as an adult (fucking gross btw- don't do that, that is a crime)

like its not even changing either. it already exists. if ur doing it for validity reasons you are very valid. IF YOU ARE BEING A WEIRDO WITH IT. Stop it and don't be weird. Doing it to feel valid is good and actually caring abt the culture and not being a freak- It's the same as changing your age to be older or something. Or to be skinnier or whatever. Or your hair color, hair type. Let's not judge others right off the bat. But the weirdos who sexualise race and do it for that? YEAH WE JUDGE. leave normal ones alone, we're not being weird and are just existing to feel natural 👍🏻 the reality already exists you didn't create it, just is 👍🏻 don't be racist with it though and treat everyone there with respect, don't do crime shit.

end the tiktok bs 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

[sickness-stricken]

I was originally just gonna reply to someone else’s post with this but it got kinda long and I feel like it’s worth being its own thing, so:

(CW for potentially triggering talk of MMIW [missing/murdered indigenous women] under the cut)

The fact that Lily claims to be indigenous while writing off “paying attention to me” as “stalking me” is honestly such a slap in the face to MMIW. My indigenous friends have had their family members stalked. People I’ve known on the rez near my hometown were stalked. My friend’s grandmother was left notes by her stalker professing his love of her beautiful long hair and tan skin and was only stopped because her nephew was a cop that told him to fuck off. When it comes to indigenous women there’s an additional layer of fetishism that walks in tandem with it, so to have Lily constantly make jokes about how her “””stalkers””” want to “fuck her so bad it makes them look stupid” is fucking disgusting and she should know better if she’s claiming Cherokee heritage.

I think that’s the secondary reason people take issue with her claims to heritage. Any time she brings up being Native outside of using it to avoid criticism, it’s almost always in a sexual or romanticized connotation: she’s flashing her tits with a fake “Indian” necklace. When she got Mikaila to start drawing her with skin tight clothes and mommy milkers was when she decided to add the feather earrings to the design. She clings onto the shitty dollar store dream catcher the mom she supposedly hates gave her and apparently never once thought “hmm, maybe I should buy one from a powwow booth or buy one from a museum where the funds go to nearby reservations.” Even her new puppet, which is styled after Yahtzee13 who uses arguably the least sexed up design philosophy in history, STILL manages to have an hourglass figure and the earrings. When she reviewed Pocahontas she made absolutely NO reference to the fact that the character herself is an aged up and sexualized version of the real life Matoaka who was abducted, raped and enslaved as a child and instead opted for “okay the movie is bad but it’s funny!!! Colonizers bad!!!” and just left it at that.

It’s obviously not a crime to be comfortable and sexy in your own skin while being indigenous (I might be a sex repulsed asexual and part Chawathil and even I know that) but to have THIS much of a sexed up view of yourself while having no respect for the history of fetishization in the culture you claim to have is just… fuckin yikes tbh

[aeonianlunartine]

No joke when I first saw this design in a video with Natlan lore, I legitimately thought the video creator was using some random game to represent Natlan.

To say I’m surprised would be a lie considering how I saw this coming even before Sumeru came out; the moment I read in the wiki that Natlan was inspired from precolonial Latin American and some tribes in Africa, I stopped playing Genshin for around a year.

Often, the moment authors start meshing together countries and regions together, it starts to become… murky and harder to execute with proper acknowledgment to the sources of inspiration. Especially since the thing is… these are two continents oceans apart which did not have significant/apparent enough interaction between each other prior to colonialism.

As a mestizo (mixed) Latino, I cannot speak entirely for the various indigenous populations/groups represented within this one region, but the lack of care for skin tone and respect for the cultures it is based off—it’s sad. It’s depressing for me.

This company and many others are using less represented cultures as exotic and fun cosplay.

A fantasy costume party for their pale-skinned, idealized white characters—parading around names which erases real life deities from people’s immediate knowledge and now are replaced with some gacha-ass looking dude with barely a drop of melanin. Now when I search up Ororon, all I get is that dude, which is not fucking good since the name is of a Yoruba deity.

I want people to actually commit to not playing Genshin and other Hoyo games if they really care to boycott. I’ve been discovering the extent of how the other games are just as disgusting as Genshin; it’s not enough to just boycott one game, if you want to get your message across to a company, do it to all their products.

I’ve seen people say to do it, yet go on and still play.

Do it.

Fucking do it if you actually are enraged by the blatant racism in this game and in this fandom.

Those who are bystanders are just as culpable as the ones who perpetuate it.

I will now be changing all my socials if they involve Hoyoverse content; I will no longer interact with Hoyoverse content, whether that be fan-made or official, unless it is discussing this matter or redesigning characters whether that be from Natlan or Sumeru.

I know likely many others won’t do the same; it’s an interest, it’s many people’s favorite game, a comfort. And many people are comfortable—fine—with racism in their interests, as long as it can be sugarcoated and excused, y’know… “it’s not bad because there’s some white people there too in real life!” Yes! But it’s majority brown.

Especially before colonization happened.

[vanilla-cigarillos]

what is animism? i've seen it alot in witchcraft posts but i do not know what it means. i dont meant to ask any questions that are annoying or stupid! you seem very open to answering questions and i wanted to ask you.

Hi there babes!

I was inspired by your ask to make a breakdown and history post about animism :) you can find it here if you're curious: Animism - A Breakdown and Brief History

[brothermoth]

Outing myself as a fucked up little guy but I am deeply fascinated in both a sexual and conceptual way by cannibalism.

It occupies such a weird place in the world because we're obsessed with the concept as a species but only a handful of cultures actually adapted it into their life. It's both beautiful and taboo. Dirty and pure. Like some acts of cannibalism are deemed okay because it's for a reason, but it's all the same thing in the end.

Consuming the dead is not a new thing. It's not morally good or bad, it's just a thing that happens sometimes. It's one of the oldest practices of humanity and it occupies so many spaces. If you are hungry it could just be food. Nothing more, nothing less. You rightfully defeated someone and now it is only natural to make sure you and your family are fed.

It's the most respectful act in the world. Like for the indigenous people of West Papua. A funerary rite, a way to mourn by holding them just one last time, theoretically forever. Someone you loved who can give you one last act of giving.

The most common cultural cannibalism (not counting Eucharist, of course. I'm not letting y'all off the hook. Catholicism is kinky as hell and a lot of it was very much on purpose) was in wartime. Consuming your enemy both to show you have defeated them and reap the rewards, but also to show them the respect of deserving being eaten. [Also worth pointing out that the Aztecs were a deeply communal society and sacrifice was literally the highest honor you could achieve. Many sacrifices were willing because their culture felt very differently about death and sacrifice and it's disgusting how much fucking racism targets a society that was genuinely incredible].

It's a fetish and a crime and a thing you must do to survive, sometimes. I'm certain that most sexual people have fantasized about biting their partner(s). Showing devotion by literally devouring someone??? Taking their body into your own and absorbing everything that made them what they were? It's natural. It's not an evil urge. Hell, it's a pretty tame kink most of the time. Vampires? You don't think the average middle aged white woman in a bland marriage doesn't want some hot guy to bite her neck? There's a whole genre of books for it.

I think it fits in a similar category as monsterfucking. The idea of doing something so horrible it's hardly human, but also so deeply human that its marks are found on bones from the first homosapiens. The idea of being so coveted that you're akin to a fancy dish in a restaurant. A 6 oz sirloin served up with those Texas Roadhouse rolls that make everyone tingly.

anyway kink and sex is deeply important in human behavior and it always has been. The practice of BDSM is older than the Bible and "kinky" sexual acts are found in every society in the world.

Be freaky guys. Be safe and consensual, but be freaky. You're making the bone fragments of your ancestors proud.

[yourdailykitsch]

Taylor Kitsch Never Expected a Happy Ending From American Primeval

Spoilers follow for the Netflix miniseries American Primeval, which premiered on January 9. 

In American Primeval, Isaac Reed is a classic western hero and a classic Taylor Kitsch character. He’s laconic and no-nonsense, good with a gun and his fists, and ultimately a gentleman, the kind of hard-edged, squishy-cored character Kitsch has been playing since his breakout role as the loyal, tortured, smoldering Tim Riggins on beloved series Friday Night Lights. Isaac has a traumatic past and a secret sensitivity that endear him to the travelers he’s guiding west, Sara Holloway (Betty Gilpin) and her tween son, Devin (Preston Mota), and each come to see him as the husband and father, respectively, they wish they had. But in a finale scene that has viewers pissed, Isaac is killed defending Sara and Devin, an ending that denies the suffering character a second chance at life and love. Kitsch has seen the various complaints — and he’s taking them as compliments.

“We’re all flattered that people are that receptive to this show,” says Kitsch, whose starring role in American Primeval is another entry in his nearly 20-year collaborative relationship with director Peter Berg. (They worked together on Lone Survivor, Battleship, Painkiller, and yes, Friday Night Lights, the reboot of which Kitsch is simultaneously weary and willing to talk about.) “I’d rather have you fucking truly upset that I die than not feel anything at all. Then I didn’t do my job.”

The six-episode miniseries from The Revenant writer Mark L. Smith is set in the Utah Territory in 1857 and traces the violence and tension between various groups grappling for power. Mormon settlers will stop at nothing to overthrow the U.S. government, and travelers Sara and Devin are only able to escape their murderous attack with Isaac’s help. The U.S. military is trying to contain the Mormon threat while forcing Native tribes off their land and onto government-mandated reservations. And the Shoshone, who raised Isaac after he was sold to them, are facing a two-pronged threat of extermination by the Mormons and harassment from the U.S. government. Kitsch’s character straddles the series’ white and Shoshone worlds, and he learned about the tribe’s customs and rituals by visiting Wind River reservation and working with the series’ Indigenous consultants. “They were incredibly open with me, which helped a lot,” Kitsch says from his home in Montana. “One thing you can’t screw around with is getting that right.”

The show is structured so we get little pieces of Isaac’s backstory throughout. We eventually learn he grew up among the Shoshone and that his wife and child were killed. Did you come up with any other history for him, either individually or with Peter and Mark?  We chatted a lot about it. I’m in my little office and a lot of my research is around here. I remember flying to L.A. with probably ten books and all these notes to sit down with Pete and talk about how I wanted to root Isaac. With anybody that I’ve worked on, I hung my hat on his upbringing because those are the most formative years of anybody’s life. With the Shoshone aspect, it’s trying to understand that culture and the way he would have grown up and anchor the weight of the loss of his family and the weight of mourning. The only way he could see them again is to cross over honorably. That’s an aspect of the Shoshone community, and that’s what I really paid attention to. That led me to the Wind River reservation and working with them. They don’t really care — they shouldn’t — about me, and I’m coming in and talking to this elder and another adviser and asking these really intense personal questions. I think 20 minutes in, I was like, “The way you guys honor and bury your loved ones, is it different if it’s a warrior?”

What were some of the books you consulted?  I’ve got one here, it’s called Becoming Brave: The Path to Native American Manhood. This one explains that everything is circular. There’s no ending in life or death. You cross over. When Devin said, “They’re dead,” I added, “They’ve crossed over.” That line meant an enormous amount to me. Pete was fine with that, and so was Smith. I have this as well: Native American Clothing: An Illustrated History. We were really working on the wardrobe and including the Shoshone colors. I wanted a couple things my wife would have made me that I’m holding on to. He’s an amalgamation of a white guy and the Shoshone, and I wanted to represent that.

You went to Wind River and also worked with a Shoshone language specialist. How did you approach learning the dialogue?  There’s a very easy stereotype you can go into, that all Native tribes speak in this cadence, and they broke that quite quickly. That was day one. Then, it’s phonetically. I have massive whiteboards that I started using for Waco, for these crazy monologues and all the written Bible verses that DaveKitsch played cult leader David Koresh, who died in the controversial 1993 siege on the Branch Davidians’s Texas compound, in the miniseries Waco. would knock out. For this, as well, I’d write them on my whiteboard all over my house, with the English version of it. I was always trying to add more Shoshone, because I loved it and I felt more like Isaac when I got to do that than I did when I was speaking English.

As far back as Friday Night Lights, you and Peter have talked about your collaborative partnership. He’s open to you suggesting dialogue and motivations for your characters. Here, you pitched the scene in episode two where you and your mother, White Bird, played by Irene Bedard, speak in Shoshone about the emotional pain you’re living with. Tell me about that.  For me, that was the most beautiful scene of the show for Isaac’s journey. It’s so important to show he is so fucked up by this whole thing. Otherwise, you’re just playing this lazy, grumpy guy. As an actor, you’re always trying to give more to these characters. With every character I’ve played, I’ll write a whole document on who are you when you’re speaking to someone? Who are you by yourself? When you pitch, you gotta bring all the ammo. You gotta have it prepped. Originally it was about Red Feather and him having gone rogue,In American Primeval, one of the conflicts within the Shoshone community is between Winter Bird and her son Red Feather (Derek Hinkey), who has broken away from his family and is leading his own renegade band called the Wolf Clan. Winter Bird believes that Red Feather’s guerrilla warfare against the Mormons, settlers, and other white people in the Utah Territory has made the situation more dangerous for the rest of the Shoshone, and the pair’s arguments about tactics provide different Shoshone perspectives within the series. and more exposition. I felt this moment could be a lot heavier for Isaac. It’s the first time I go back since I’ve lost my family. He’s carrying guilt he doesn’t know what to do with. I got it written in Shoshone and FaceTimed Pete. Mark was incredible with me. He was like, “With the research you’ve done, you’re now Isaac. I trust you.” That’s really empowering, because he’s such a great writer. But it was best idea wins.

Some fans of the show are angry that you die in the finale. It goes from being a very soft moment with Betty Gilpin’s character, in which you two kiss, to a very sad moment after you defend her and die in front of her. How did you film that?  It’s the time, right? That’s 1857 in a nutshell, pure survival, moment to moment. There are not many happy endings. In the scene right before the kiss, where she’s saying about California, “Are you sure you don’t want to go?” — it’s a guy who just couldn’t let go. It felt more organic to be that way, rather than, “Let’s just go to California, and maybe we’ll strike gold and get rich.”

Pete and I, there’s such a trust. We had rehearsed, and that’s one of the last scenes we shot. Pete gave me a sick note. He was like, “Isaac is this fucking raw animal.” You hear about how, in a wolf pack, sometimes they’ll leave the pack and go die. He was like, “I want that moment with Gilpin, but it’s also watching this guy go die and come to terms that he’s crossing over, and as honorable as it is, there’s still this fear of did he do enough to go to his family?” That’s where the emotional part of it is, the way I played it. There are two cameras handheld by Brett and JohnnyA-camera operator Brett Hurd and camera operator John Garrett., and they’re right there with me following, and Pete is like, “End up at that rock, and we’ll get it.” We did four or five takes. You live for those scenes, of trying to end on a real note.

You’re a photographer and you’re a fan of wolves, so I’m going to ask you a silly question. The scene in which the wolves break through the walls of the cabin to try to eat Devin and Two Moons: Did it feel to you like anti-wolf propaganda?  It felt like movie magic, man. [Laughs.] I was tracking yesterday, by the way. I didn’t get to him, but I did get some tracks. Look at this. [Moves camera to show a photo of wolf pups hanging on his wall.] I took that photo.

Did your interest in photography start because of The Bang Bang ClubIn the 2010 film, Kitsch played photojournalist Kevin Carter, who died by suicide in July 1994, months after winning a Pulitzer Prize for his feature photography coverage of the 1993 famine in Sudan.? Yeah. I was interested but intimidated so I never engaged. I’m going to Patagonia in early February to try to get some puma shots with two of my best buddies. It’s a great escape, and creatively, no one’s telling me what to do, what shot to take. I love that part.

For the wolf part, I do remember doing cowboy camp and meeting the 70/30 wolf dogs they had. It’s funny, because there are carcasses out front that Isaac had killed. They probably would have stopped if they saw those carcasses before breaking and entering.

I have to, of course, ask you about Friday Night Lights.  Mm-hmm. I know.

You’ve said that maybe you would play an opposing team’s coach on the reboot in development. Do you have a dream story line for Riggins?  You guys give this so much more thought than I do. A dream scenario — I see Rigs divorced, maybe a kid or two. I’d like to see where Billy and him are at. There aren’t many options. I do think he would probably end up coaching. Maybe still battling alcoholism, knowing him. Obviously a little older and wiser. I think he would make a good coach, and I think Riggins would care maybe too much.

You’ve joked you “need to do a fucking rom-com.” Do you have a favorite rom-com, or a certain rom-com story line you would want to play?  Damn. [Pauses.] There are two ways to go about this. I’d love it if it’s something with Danny McBride, doing a comedy like that. Eastbound and Down, that would have been a blast. But a rom-com, shit. It’d have to be obviously opposite a terrific actress. What are the Linklater ones? It’s not very rom-com-y, the long walk-and-talks?

The Before trilogy.  Yeah, something like that. I don’t see myself running through an airport to stop her from getting on a plane. [Laughs.] I think I’d just let her and be like, “Fuck it, I gotta move on.” You’ll know when you know, when one comes. I got a concussion from the last job, a broken foot. It’s like, I gotta give my body a break here. I got a heat pack on my lower back as we speak. I’m kinda beat up.

[starlitvases]

I can't tell if it's just me, but it very much feels like the @snowchester-system is pushing harmful stereotypes against Mexicans, those with Mexican heritage, and native Spanish-speakers.

Their story is that WitSec (Witness Protection) moved them to Mexico in order to escape their programmers. They claim to have a DSPM script. I find these claims very hard to believe, but that isn't the point.

They publicly state that since they're located in Mexico, they are attempting to learn Spanish. My issue is not it feels very apparent that they aren't making a genuine effort to learn.

1. They have a Quackity introject. Quackity is a real-life YouTuber that lives in Mexico and speaks Spanish fluently. When scrolling through every single one of their posts (yes, I scrolled to the very beginning), there are only four instances in which Spanish is spoken on their page, which is by their Quackity. In these posts, Quackity is aggressive and frequently curses out who they are speaking to. This pushes the stereotype that only Mexicans speak Spanish as well as the stereotype that Mexicans and Latinos overall are loud, aggressive, and dangerous.

2. When Spanish is spoken, it's very broken, with the exception of one post, which I will get to in #3. In these posts, it's an entirely English sentence with one or two words replaced with Spanish. I feel this is making a mockery of Spanglish, which has a deep cultural influence on Spanish-speaking Latinos. It's often used when certain phrases in a language make more sense to say, when one forgets the respective translation, and can be used to signal to others their heritage and bilingual skills. Some use Spanglish because they may feel vulnerable, which I know is the case for me. Simply replacing a couple words in an entirely English sentence is not how one learns Spanish.

3. In the third instance of the Quackity introject speaking Spanish, it is again used to cuss someone out, reflecting a harmful Latino stereotype mentioned in point #1. This post is entirely in Spanish, but it's clear to me it was written in English, then translated to Spanish using Google Translate.

English Translation using Google Translate: "Fuck off. How did you know that? That is one of the triggers of our program and the protectors have been very busy in the inner world. We don't have anyone capable of coping that won't be activated except me. I'm the only headmate able to speak up front at the moment and there are no alters around to translate for me. It's good that he lives in Mexico. - quackity"

Plugging the English translation back into Google Translate gets virtually the same thing. Nevermind the fact that if someone did indeed post a program trigger for them, they should not have replied to the person and posted it. Now, a program trigger is publicly available, and anyone can use it against them. My point here is that they say, "No one is available to translate for me." English is their first language. They are learning Spanish. They have every ability to respond in English, even though they should not have responded at all. I highly suspect Google Translate was used due to the discrepancies in their statements. Again, this is not how one learns Spanish. You should learn from native Spanish-speakers. There are many free resources online made by native Spanish-speakers that one can use. Google Translate is not the answer.

As someone with Mexican and indigenous heritage to Mexico, someone whose family immigrated from Mexico for better opportunities, and as someone that is actively learning Spanish to connect more with my culture, I find this system's behavior abysmal and abhorrent. I have asked other Latinos, and they agree with my stance on this system's behavior. I want to know what other Mexicans, Latinos, and native Spanish-speakers feel about this system and their pushing of negative Mexican stereotypes.

Snowchester, if you are reading this, I need you to take an internal look into your behavior. Even though you think your page is anonymous, the page is still very much public and is open to public-forum. People can, and likely will, notice this behavior of yours and have their own thoughts about it. They may post about your behavior on other platforms, in which someone may recognise your page (previous friends, teachers, etc.) and call you out, publicly. They may know your name and state that publicly. There is already a post of yours in which someone knew a direct cue for your system. Bad people are out there and you've already seen evidence of that. Even if those people aren't directly connected to your case, they can still find and harm you. Right now, the issue is contained to Tumblr, but that likely won't be for long if you continue the reckless and discriminatory behavior. Please talk to your therapist.

[wakandamama]

You ain't raise the Federal minimum wage.

You ain't erase student debt

You didn't place rent or interest caps

You didn't protect affirmative action and positions of Diversity and Inclusion at a federal level

You didn't protect our rights as citizens to our personal bodily autonomy

You didn't protect People of Color

You didn't respect and act accordingly to tribal treaties with MULTIPLE Native American tribes.

You allowed the 90% complete erasure of the separation of Church and State violating MILLIONS of citizens religious and cultural freedom rights

You allowed, as defined by both domestic and global law, cruel acts of inhumanity against immigrants, refugees, and minority citizens of this country. At federal, state, and local levels

You allowed those immigrants interment camps to remain

You allowed further millions of Americans to die from a public health crisis

You allowed further degradation of our already fragile and corrupt systems of regulations for the things we need to have in order to survive and provide for our familes

You allowed the continued progress of militarized police brutality and the devaluing of justice

You allowed the economy to turn to absolute shit for anyone not a fucking millionare

You are ACTIVELY FUNDING AND BACK MULTIPLE GENOCIDE THAT AMERICAN PEOPLE DO NOT FUCKING WANT TO DO!!!

You are ACTIVELY ALLOWING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DOMESTIC MILITARIZED FASCISM AGAINST AMERICAN CITIZENS

You are ACTIVELY ALLOWING THE POWER OF VOTING TO BE RENDERED NEAR NULL AND VOID BY IGNORING AND NOT FEDERAL BANNING ACTS OF GERRYMANDERING

You are ACTIVELY AVOIDING THE REASONABLE MEASURES THAT NEED TO HAPPEN AT A NATIONAL LEVEL TO PREVENT OUR PLANT FROM BEING UNHABITABLE IN 40 YEARS

Every campaign promise you declared, has failed. Spectacularly and Exponentially, fallen on your face, failed to accomplish. To the point you have grossly lied and coved up most of atrocities and violations of citizens rights, then have the nerve to gaslight the nation as evidence is live streamed to us.

This statement covers more than either of those two old white privilege fucks about to thumb wrestle over whose turn is it to helm the final stage of America's fascism. This about all the politicians in Congress, in State Houses, in Mayors Office, who fill their pockets, lie, and sell out the citizens that trusted them to do the right thing. To actually want to improve our nation and communities for the longevity of our nation.

And for any blue or red coated muthafucka wearing the white glazed goggles of white supremacy wants to argue me bout "lesser of two evil" as the Black ass and Indigenous ass daughter of a man who march in the Million Man March and has been protesting since shes was 11 please fuck all the way off.