Kavya Varma / Staff Reporter

Indigenous representation in the media has always been lacking. Or better yet appropriate media representation. Indigenous people in the media may have been represented, however, incorrectly through stereotypes and assumptions. 

A lot of people who have not learned the realities of Indigenous people, still believe that image of them wearing feather crowns and headbands along with a lot of other things. One heavily romanticized idea was the idea of the ‘native warrior’. The native warrior was an idea heavily used in old Western movies. These characters used to regularly be the people who fought against the enemy. Some Indigenous people were represented as savages who were usually the villains who had to be defeated.

These are just some of the examples of a huge range of misrepresentations that occurred. However, in this day and age, as people are becoming more aware, there are a lot more characters and stories that are appropriate representations. For example, there are movies like The Grizzlies, Reel Injuin, and Indian Horse which respect and value the stories being shared. There are also series like Reservation Dogs that fulfill the expectation of real storytelling. 

At the start of this year, one of the biggest cinematic universes in modern-day cinema made their contributions to Indigenous series, through ‘Echo’. This series which was released on January 9, 2024, follows the stories of the character Maya Lopez who is an anti-hero, with the persona of Echo. 

Echo is an Indigenous-Latin American leader of the Tracksuit Mafia which is a criminal gang run by the villain Wilson Fisk also known as Kingpin, who is the surrogate father to Maya. In the series, Lopez is a deaf woman and an amputee who wears a prosthetic leg. What makes her powerful is her ability to mimic the physical reflexes of enemies precisely. 

This character had always been an existing character in the Marvel comics however, despite all the other characters portrayed in the movies, Echo was never one of them. However, recently, Marvel got the opportunity to do so through the series ‘Hawkeye’ which focuses on Clint Barton, the hero also known as Hawkeye training his protege Kate Bishop to take over his responsibilities. In this, they introduce Kingpin and his gang, which Lopez is a part of.

It is through this series that Echo gets the opportunity to have her own spinoff series.

What makes this series a perfect example of realistic Indigenous representation is the actress who plays Lopez – Alaqua Cox. Cox was born deaf to Elena and Bill Cox. She was born and raised in the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, and is of the Menominee and Mohican nation. She is an amputee with a prosthetic, however, she has not disclosed the reason for that. 

Since the character she was going to play had so many similarities to who she already was, Cox was the perfect person to cast for this life-changing role. 

The character of Echo was originally introduced in the copy of Daredevil #9. In that comic it was mentioned that Lopez was Blackfoot, however, she was Blackfoot just by name. There were no specifics of her culture or language or traditions. This was where changes needed to be made. And they were.

The 43-year-old filmmaker, Freeland, made sure that she would be able to represent this character in the right ways. She knew how to as she was raised on a Navajo reservation.

She also made sure to get the blessing and help of the community. The production was trying to be as authentic as possible with their portrayal of the Choctaw language, culture, and experience without even accidentally being disrespectful. They knew that they wanted this to be an accurate portrayal of every aspect of their main character. It is known that people tend to jumble all Native tribes and cultures into one big group and they wanted to show otherwise. Every tribe, language, and culture is different with its own unique specificities. 

Throughout the series, Echo presents many different aspects of Choctaw culture, some easily identifiable, some smaller and more detailed. Echo begins with an alteration of the Choctaw creation myth. 

In the show, a woman named Chafa emerges from a pool and leads her fellow people from a collapsing cave into the surface world. According to actual myth, the Choctaw people crawled from a cave near Nanih Waiya, or Mother Mound, not a supernatural pool. However, there are very easily identifiable similarities in the representation in the show as well as in the real myth.

 A major theme throughout Echo is the importance of matrilineal society, an important cultural detail that is important to the Choctaw. A few examples of this are the flashback sequences which stress the symbolism and importance of hair as the Choctaw were known among other Native peoples for having long hair.

“For Echo to be released and for us to be able to champion a really badass character who happens to be Choctaw [Nation], who happens to be Indigenous, it’s just — it’s awesome,

Devery Jacobs


All these little things, like the actress, her history, the use of real myths, and a lot more things, help ensure the realism in this series which respects the character and the people and groups she is based on.

 
A lot of people were pleasantly surprised with how well Marvel managed to pay homage to specific groups and people. With them being a torch for bigger cinematic universes, there will surely be an influx in the number of projects that are made with Indigenous people and also how they are represented.

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