There’s a revolution occurring in Hollywood, and Zahn McClarnon is on the forefront. The Hunkpapa Lakota actor, who has starred in tv hits together with Westworld and Reservation Dogs, lately completed his first season of yet one more well-liked collection, Dark Winds, the place he is not solely the star but additionally the manager producer.
To say that McClarnon is altering the narrative of onscreen Native illustration can be an understatement.
“I think we’re in a pretty unique time right now for representation, and people are finally hearing our stories,” McClarnon says throughout an interview for Yahoo’s . “We have our own storytellers, and we’re writing our own stories, and we have our own directors and we’re getting showrunners and producers now. So there’s been quite a big turn in Native representation in TV and film in the last few years.”
When it involves Indigenous illustration on the massive and small screens, the numbers have been significantly stark. In truth, for movie, Native folks stay underrepresented, touchdown lower than 1% of the share of high roles, in addition to director and author positions, in keeping with UCLA’s 2022 , which lined the highest 200 movies launched theatrically and on main streamers in 2021.
For TV, the numbers are solely barely greater. Native illustration grew from the earlier yr and accounted for two% of broadcast scripted roles, however lower than 1% on cable and digital, , which lined the 2020-21 season.
That makes McClarnon’s work on Dark Winds particularly significant. The 56-year-old actor/producer stars as Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo detective fixing crimes on the Navajo Nation. While the present is based mostly on novels written by non-Native creator Tony Hillerman, McClarnon, as an govt producer, insisted on casting Native actors in addition to writers, administrators and crew.
“What we’re doing and trying to do is bring in Native writers to come at it from a bit of a different perspective, more from a Native perspective,” McClarnon says.
That means centering the Native storylines and even utilizing the Navajo language in the script.
After all, shining a highlight on the Native perspective comes after years of dangerous onscreen stereotypes and even erasure. That’s one thing McClarnon is working to fight.
“We grew up with these stereotypes and these tropes about Native Americans,” he says, “and the public is learning that we’re not all on horseback and yipping and yelling in buckskin, and that we’re human beings, that we’re three-dimensional characters.”
McClarnon himself has proven that multi-dimensional vary via his characters. While his tribal police function on Reservation Dogs leans extra towards laughs, his Dark Winds detective and sci-fi function as Akecheta on Westworld have extra gravitas.
All of that goes to point out why the actor-producer says that “telling our own stories” is essential. That, and extra illustration in the boardroom, too.
“Getting more people at the studio level and more producers is the next hurdle,” he provides. “And the more we get Native representation in these positions, the better off we’re gonna be.”
The tide appears to be turning, as Dark Winds has been renewed for a second season and Reservation Dogs, from Indigenous co-creators Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee), for a third. Not solely that, however the Native-centered Predator prequel, Prey, delivered .
With so many current successes, what does McClarnon hope the long run appears to be like like for Native illustration in Hollywood?
“What I hope it looks like is that we just have more storytellers, more writers, more doors opening up for people in front of the camera and behind the camera as well,” he says. “And I hope that shows like Dark Winds and Reservation Dogs and Rutherford Falls and the other shows that are in pre-production are gonna be produced, are gonna just open and crack those doors even wider for future talent.”
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