Indian Comics Irregular #181

A new Native TV show has debuted on Canada's Aboriginal Peoples Television
Network (APTN). As the Native Times reported:

'Cashing In' is a 6 x 30 minute dramatic comedy about casino life
on a fictional Aboriginal reserve in southern Manitoba. Card
sharks, fast dealers, high rollers and an eclectic crew of local
characters make up the scene at North Beach Casino, a successful
gaming palace recently purchased by Matthew Tommy [Eric Schweig].
Embarking on his mission to make it North America's no. 1 First
Nation Casino, Matthew quickly finds out some members of the
community have other ideas.

In The Walrus magazine (3/24/09), "Cashing In's" writers talk about how the show
presents Natives in a different light:

While there are lots of jokes about bingo, life on the reserve is
largely ignored by the five novice native writers who wrote
"Cashing In" as part of a joint training program between the
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and the National Screen
Institute. The centre of the action is the opulently kitsch North
Beach Casino, with its fake palm trees, blackjack tables, and
beautiful people. There is some social commentary about
compulsive gambling and the disparities between rich and poor
natives, but overall the storylines are light and the tone goofy.
"We're playing with the assumptions people have about Aboriginal
culture," says Trevor Cameron, a Metis stand-up comic who started
writing the comic animated children's series "Wapos Bay" before
working on "Cashing In." "We don't all use bedsheets for
draperies. We have our own upper class."

"Cashing In" writer Mike Gosselin, a Metis from Saskatoon,
believes humour is naturally present in cultures with strong oral
traditions. Spinning a tall tale or telling a good joke is what
native people do when they get together, he says: "It's in the
Aboriginal nature to make fun of each other and to tease and laugh
heartily. There is nothing like going to visit people on the rez
or sitting around with a mix of Metis, Aboriginal, even Inuit
people. It's incredible how many jokes there are."

According to CBC.ca (3/11/09), the show's writers and producers think it could
be an Aboriginal "Cosby Show":

Denny explains: "The issues are still there, but they're dealt
with in a different way--much more upbeat and sexy."

Strutt also believes audiences will respond to the show's
representation of aboriginal characters who are affluent and
powerful. "I definitely think this show is depicting a side of
our reality--that there are successful aboriginal people owning
vineyards and banks and casinos," Strutt says. "Not a lot of
content has been produced on that."

But Brad Oswald of the Winnipeg Free Press (3/3/09) thinks the superficial and
"sexy" approach is a mistake. "Cashing In" "comes up snake eyes," he writes:

[T]he narrative foundation on which it's built seems a bit shaky.
Rather than being content with examining the people and events at
the fictional North Beach Casino on the equally whimsical
Stonewalker First Nation, "Cashing In's" producers feel the need
to overlay the out-of-the-way storyline with a Toronto-based
mega-casino corporation that runs North Beach from afar and sends
big-city operators to rural Manitoba to run the betting-parlour
show.

Hmm. TV shows have featured well-off Indians at casinos before. It remains to
be seen whether "Cashing In" will succeed.

For more on Natives in TV shows, go to http://www.bluecorncomics.com/natv.htm .

Movie Premieres

Two Native movies premiered at Sundance in January: "The Only Good Indian" by
Kevin Willmott ("CSA: Confederate States of America"), and "Barking Water,"
Sterlin Harjo's followup to "Four Sheets to the Wind." You can read about them
at http://www.bluecorncomics.com/namovies.htm .

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics