The Inuit Demi-Goddess Nelvana of the Northern Lights - a Cowgirl?

Nelvana of the Northern Lights, a comic book created and drawn by Canadian artist Adrian Dingle in 1941, adheres to many of the tropes contained within the cowboy genre but fundamentally the character Nelvana subverts many of the traditional characteristics of the Cowboy.

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, Nelvana was written during the Second World War when Canada could not obtain comic books from the United States due to the War Exchange Conservation Act.  This unique heroine Nelvana--who predates Marston's WonderWoman--was a demigod born of a mortal mother and an unseen Inuit God/father by the name of Koliak. However, she was represented as the familiar archetypal white bombshell beauty, modeled off of Hedy Lemar, in lieu of the more exotic and foreign Inuit female. Additionally, Nelvana had her own super-powers, and was the rescuer of her people; the Eskimos (Inuit).

Nelvana, the feminine protagonist, certainly does not fit many of the traditional cowBOY characteristics but as you will see Nelvana of the Northern Lights--at least in the earlier story-lines--fits the western genre. The first multi-episodic story arcs were set in the Canadian Arctic. Nelvana is summoned by her people, a politically matrilineal culture, to protect them from the external threat at the hands of the evil Kablunets.* The Kablunets were attacking the Canadian North for its resources in an effort to win the war.  In one episode we see the Kablunets hunting all of the whales to destroy a food source for the Northern Canadians and to obtain an alternative form of fuel, and in another indenturing the "Eskimos", forcing them to mine an ore of strange powers.** In all of the early stories, Nelvana most definitely protects her people (the Inuit/Eskimos) from an outside threat, but rather than gunslinging skills, she relies upon her near omnipotent superpowers. 

What is interesting, particularly given the era this was written (1940's) , Dingle paid particular attention to the process of colonization and in doing so, he subverted the Cowboy/Indian motif. In Nelvana, the threat is provided by the warring non-Indigenous foreigners exploiting the unknown lands, rather than the traditional warring "Indians" threatening the settlers' new homesteads, whilst the hero--the cow"boy" as a girl--and her Inuit people are the "good guys" protecting themselves from the foreign threat. Dingle slyly places us, the readers, in the position of an as yet unconquered people who are fighting back against the invading antagonists/colonizers, whilst bringing the thrill of World War II to the shores of Canada. Additionally, by placing the threat in the Canadian Arctic, Dingle creates a jonbar point and asks the question "What if the War came to Canada?" (keep in mind, the war never actually touched Canadian soil). Readers experienced the thrill of this alternative possibility from a safe and still "foreign" distance, and from the colonizer's perspective, even though Canadians were at risk, it was never "real" Canadians at risk due to their Indigeneity, and thus not "quite" as threatening to Dingle's intended audience. 

     (Page 4, Panel 4 of Death Stalks the Arctic)                     

However in choosing to use an Inuit Demi-Goddess, Dingle created a challenge for himself; very few Canadians knew much if anything about the Inuit culture. In order to rectify this Nelvana is at times a didactic reader of sorts, providing an introduction to how the Inuit lived, including nominal translations of Inuit words.

(Page 2 of Death Stalks the Arctic)                

Dingle incorporated many attributes of the Western in his war-time anti-Western. He uses the Arctic for the setting; a barren, largely uninhabited, and by nature of the extreme climate, threatening terrain for the protagonist and her people. Very few Canadians have ever experienced this landscape, even today, let alone in the 1940's, despite being "Canadian". Due to its remoteness, Dingle created a romantic foreign setting also typical to the western. He capitalized on the public's knowledge of the war to both criticise the Germans and the German ideology that threatened our real daily lives, and to drive his story of the Kablunets*** threatening the way of life for the Inuit. In order to make Nelvana yet more relatable to his readers, Dingle re-envisioned the popular Canadian built  DeHavilland Mosquito--a plywood bomber--with the "Plastex Dragon-flies". 

                                                                      (Page 5, Panel 6 of Battle of the Arctic) 
 
Throughout  the short lived run of Nelvana, Dingle penned a strong, independent, and appealing character--with super-powers--who fought, and defeated, a recognizable enemy that threatened our daily lives. Looking at Nelvana today, we are transported back in time, and can read Nelvana in the same romantic light as we do the traditional Cowboy Western, albeit with a unique... Canadian twist. 
 
*Germans and/or Whites/Non-Indigenous people depending upon where in the series you happen to be, there is some confusion as to the usage; variation on the spelling of Qallunaat that means "white people"

**Presumably Plutonium 

***This is where the intended meaning of Kablunet gets blurry. Was Dingle referring to the Germans threatening Canadians, or was Dingle taking a stand on colonialism and the White threat to Indigenous livelihoods?

Works Cited:

Dingle, Adrian, Nelvana of the Northern Lights. Nicholson, Hope (Ed.) & Richey, Rachel (Ed.). Canada, IDW Publishing. 2014. Print.

 

Why Pop Culture

I discovered when I returned to University as a mature student five years ago that I really missed the story arc of a novel, but I did not have the time to devote to a novel. This is when I discovered the beauty of the Graphic Novel. I have many favourites (such as Essex County by Jeff Lemire, Ed the Happy Clown by Chester Brown, and anything at all written and drawn by Joe Sacco). However, one that I am particularly partial to is a Kickstarter compilation put together by Hope Nicholson, called Nelvana of the Northern Lights by Adrian Dingle.

Nelvana was a serial comic book (actually one of the first to use the multi-issue story arc format) created in response to the War Exchange Conservation Act during WW2 that was enacted in Canada to preserve the Pound Sterling. As a result of this embargo, popular American comic book heroes were not available to Canadians and the "Canadian Whites" were born. Nelvana as it turns out, was both a Demi-Goddess and a Super-heroine born of Indigenous birth (Inuit, but at the time called "Eskimo") yet was fashioned after Hedy Lemarr. This is itself an interesting aspect to consider within the context of Pop Culture. Why did Dingle draw her as a "white" and "American" bombshell beauty instead of a mysterious and/or exotic Inuit woman? Why would that not have sold comics back in the 1940's? What does this reveal about Canadian culture in the 1940's?

Continuing in the vein of my Pop Culture interests, I am also a guest reviewer for a Canadian online TV review web site (much like the popular SpoilerTV) called Tv-Eh. The program I review is called Mohawk Girls, created and produced by the award winning Tracey Deer (who also happens to be Mohawk). Links to my reviews can be found here: http://www.tv-eh.com/category/mohawk-girls/ (you have to scroll down a bit if you do take a look as the Canadian Emmy's--Canadian Screen Awards-- were recently announced and Mohawk Girls received four nominations. YAY, I am so thrilled for them! That news will appear first).

I started reviewing this show, as a bit of a personal experiment. As I am a white Canadian (or as is becoming popular up here, "settler") of British ancestry, I wanted to be sure my head was in the right space to proceed with my thesis. I knew, if I wrote about a television program that was written, created, acted, and produced by Indigenous artists, and that aired on a television network designed specifically to market for Canada's Indigenous populations, if I got it wrong, Social Media would flame me. My "wrongness" would be immediately known. I was however very fortunate to have my reviews well received by the people directly involved with the show (and if any of those people end up reading this entry THANK YOU, again!)

Ultimately though, for me, I feel that Pop Culture is such an interesting political tool capable of challenging the discourses embedded in our policies, especially when the public becomes involved through social media. Additionally, with the availability of technology so close at hand for the general person, art, music, and self publishing make media artifacts readily available to the world. A well marketed Kickstarter and you have a successful book published. A few carefully worded tweets and a little independent band has a viral video. This also means that the public has a very powerful platform to promote ideas that could challenge marginalizing discourses. We as consumers no longer have our tastes and desires shaped by big corporate businesses. We now have both the power to choose and to create without depending upon those same large corporations. I feel that this power, when properly utilized has the ability to disrupt the hierarchies that are present in society. If the little unknown guy (or girl) promotes their message of equity within their art/media, new discourses can gain popularity and promote change (Squeaky wheel gets the oil!!).  It is however necessary to be aware of what Pop Culture is and how Pop Culture works in order to take advantage of the power and influence that is contained within this ever shifting beast that is Pop Culture... AND, that is why Pop Culture!

-cheers!