AMC 's Thriller "Dark Winds" Takes a Deep Dive into Navajo Culture

First off we39ve got to talk about the show39s lead Zahn McClarnon pictured at top I first saw his work during his stint on HBO39s Westworld as one of the wild west theme park39s robot attractions Akecheta Even in the midst of that scifiretro aesthetic McClarnon still came with a level of authenticity that heavily informed his performance as a robot whose role was one of an Old Westperiod Native American warrior that ran with the quotGhost Nationquot McClarnon manages to bring the same kind of gravitas and respect for the culture that he brought to the screen over there to Dark Winds His Leaphorn is intuitive intelligent and openminded on top of the fact that he39s extremely loyal to his people and respectful of the customs he grew up surrounded by despite his western education He39s definitely up there as one of the great TV cops of our timeOf course it doesn39t hurt that almost every shot of this show is beautifully framed The desert its rock formations and the visual elements of Navajo culture all blend together beautifully to create a captivating backdrop for the thrilling crime drama taking place in the foregroundSpeaking of Navajo culture there39s a scene I found pretty interesting in regard to the history of some of the interactions that people specifically women from reservations had with white doctors In the first episode Leaphorn39s wife and local nurse Emma Deanna Allison is translating for a pregnant Native American woman while she gets a checkup The doctor tells Emma to ask the young woman a character we39d later learn is named Sally Growing Thunder Elva Guerra if she39d like to have her baby at the hospital especially since according to him home births on the reservations are so quotdangerousquot When Emma does translate what she actually says is quotHe wants you to have your baby here but after you deliver he will operate on you to prevent you from having more children while you39re under anesthesiaquot Sally39s response is quotFor what reason is the government complaining They should make jobs available to us Tell himquot Emma turns to the doctor and says quotShe39ll think about itquotThe government involving itself in the reproductive futures of the people it39s trying to suppress is not a new thing and while that39s something I39d normally be talking about in relation to Black people in America this scene makes it clear this type of fkery affected other nonwhite groups as well going all the way back to at least 1971 As recent reallife headlines have unfortunately shown the government is still trying to take body autonomy rights away from every American woman to this very day although in Sally39s case they were being exponentially sneakier about itAnother high point for the series is the number of actors in it that are actually of Native American decent A good chunk of the Dark Winds cast has actually worked on FX39s Reservation Dogs which might point to how small this particular pool of actors really is The level of talent across the board which includes the likes of Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito the aforementioned Elva Guerra as Sally and Eugene Brave Rock as Frank Nakai among others is so high that buying into the reality of what39s being shown to you is so easy it39s almost second nature This becomes especially true when the show takes a dip towards the more spiritual aspects of its plotThat brings me to the one gripe I do have with the series its spiritualism Ninetyfive percent of Dark Winds is pretty grounded but that other five percent definitely veers into some questionable territory from time to time For example most of the series revolves around Leaphorn trying to solve a very real double homicide that took place on Navajo territory while the FBI is trying desperately to solve a major bank heist that involved a helicopter last seen flying into the airspace over Navajo land Meanwhile there39s a whole side thing going on with a mining company and land rights and mineral rightsThe point is all of that is very tangible and realistic But then we have a scene in which a hair clip is buried by one woman in a ceremony meant to harm the woman who owns it Then by quotcoincidencequot the owner of the hair clip is bitten in the neck by a black widow spider and falls into a coma which is the soap opera equivalent of being put on the bench by the way Does this imply that the spiritual beliefs of the Navajo are literally consequential in the Dark Winds universe Or is everything still as real and grounded as the illegal sterilization practices of the white doctor depicted earlier in the seriesAs television continues to evolve the need for the proper onscreen representation of all groups is simultaneously growing and continuing to be met Just look at Ms Marvel on Disney which is also infused through and through with accurate cultural references as well as a pretty plotdependent history lesson about the bloody 1947 partition which happened at the end of British colonial rule in India and led to the creation of Pakistan and India as two separate nations Not unlike my learning of the Tulsa Massacre via HBO39s Watchmen so have I continued to learn more and more about the US government39s shitty treatment of various nonwhite groups over the years by watching scripted television This historical accuracy in our fiction and the themes that connect it all to the present day seem to lie somewhere in framework of everything new and progressive on TV and Dark Winds is no different in that respect Good thing it has already been greenlit for a second seasonDark Winds is telecast Sundays at 9 pm on AMCClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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AMC 's Thriller "Dark Winds" Takes a Deep Dive into Navajo Culture

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Ainsley Andrade

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AMC 's Thriller "Dark Winds" Takes a Deep Dive into Navajo Culture

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