The rock I am living under does not have air conditioning

...Not in a "this is good horror" way. In a "who gave you the fucking right to ruin our spiritual legends" way.

Some context, first: I am a Mi'kmaw person, and my people are among the Algonquians who have traditional legendary stories about ice cannibals. My people call them J*nuaq (singular: J*nu) also often anglicized as Ch*nook (singular: Ch*noo), but they are most commonly known under the Ojibwe name, W*ndigoag (singular: W*ndigo). Now that I've shared those names, I will for the rest of this post simply refer to them as "ice cannibals" out of respect for those who practice the avoidance of referring to them by name, which some people do and some don't.

Obviously there are variations among nations in how these beings are depicted, but I can guarantee you that this thing from Until Dawn...

...Is not very accurate. It may not be as bad as the whole antlers thing commonly tacked on by white horror writers, but ice cannibals are not stereotypical zombies either, or whatever the hell this thing is.

The ice cannibal I am personally familiar with is described as a giant, emaciated person with an icy heart and incredible Power. They used to be one of the People, but were transformed through either cannibalism or through an evil spirit. Now they are monstrous beings who kill and eat people.

But let's for a second pretend that Until Dawn is 100% accurate in its depiction of these ice cannibals. That doesn't change the fact that the writers, as white people, have no fucking right to even so much as touch these spirits in their story. Algonquian peoples have made it clear time and again that these beings are not for outsiders to fictionalize. They are not your cryptid. They are not your aesthetic. They are not anything that is yours.

And writer Larry Fessenden? He's a repeat offender. This motherfucker is obsessed with ice cannibals. He wrote the 2001 film W*ndigo. He wrote the racist 2008 Fear Itself episode "Skin and Bones" featuring them again. And his biggest claim to fame is Until Dawn, which of course, he pulls out the same shit a third time.

On top of all this, the whole "totem" collection theme in the game is more appropriative bullshit and a classic case of the Tipis and Totem Poles trope. Supposedly the mountain the story takes place on is a sacred place to the Cree in the lore of the game. And yet it's full of Pacific Northwest Indigenous totem-like things?

You all will do anything to not give us our land back huh

Dissecting the real life cultures that influenced show. First up is Katara’s trademark ‘do!

Hair Loopies

So this first fact actually comes from the Twitter poster, Low Arctic (https://twitter.com/LowArctic). The reference pictures used are screenshots from Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Inuktitut: ᐊᑕᓈᕐᔪᐊᑦ).

While braided hair is common in many cultures, Katara’s trademark “hair loopies” are uniquely unique to Inuit people in the land now known as Canada. According to Tumblr user Atagotiak, who is of Inuk descent, hair loopies are known as qilliqti in Inuktitut. While her “loopies” are drawn un-braided in the show for ease of animation, I’d love to see them thinly braided and decorated with bright blue beads in the live-action adaption.

Here is another examples of qilliqti or “hair loopies” in real life and Avatar:

The young woman photographed is Nancy Columbia, an Inuit-American beauty queen, actress, and screenwriter from the Silent Film Era. When I try to imagine Katara as a real person, she ends up looking a lot like Nancy.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

Atanarjuat: The Faster Runner Hair Loopies Twitter Post

Bryke describe Atanarjuat as the primary inspiration for the Southern Water Tribe in Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series artbook (Page 42).

Nancy Columbia: The first Inuit screenwriter had ties to Labrador | PNI Atlantic News

Portrait of Nancy Columbia, a young Native American girl from Alaska,… News Photo - Getty Images

Grace, haltingly on the keyboard Rocky built for him: Wassup bitches. Fucking jazzed to—

Going off my earlier post…

Because Pocahontas was raped.

The only child that she had of her own free will was with Kocoum before he was murdered and before she was kidnapped.

Any children or descendants of the children she had with white men were conceived from the rape of a young woman who was kidnapped, abused, and later murdered.

Really, REALLY sit with that information. Because Native women and girls are STILL being abused, kidnapped, raped, and murdered all the time to this day.

"YES I'm doing racism and appropriation

NO I don't care

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.