Alternative Indigenous Narratives and Gender Constructions in Sydney Freeland’s Drunktown’s Finest (2014)

Abstract

  In this article, I will examine how alternative narratives of gender and sexuality update and diversify the catalog of images of Indigenous people through the 2014 drama Drunktown’s Finest, written and directed by the Navajo filmmaker Sydney Freeland, and how this film interrogates the possibility to assume a Two-Spirit identity on and off the reservation.

 Sydney Freeland’s film achieves to remind the audience of the tribal tradition of deep respect that has characterized relationships with Two-Spirit people for a long time through the story of one of its characters, transgender woman Felixia. Living with her traditional grandparents – a medicine man and his wife, she is completely accepted by them, because the concept of third and fourth genders is part of the Navajo/Diné culture, whereas the younger generation does not seem so tolerant. This pattern allows Freeland to participate in a larger project which is the fight against homophobia that replicates the dominant cultural norm and penetrates Indigenous communities. Ultimately, Felixia learns from her grandfather about Navajo nádleeh and finds her inner balance. Therefore, in this artwork, the enactment of what Qwo-Li Driskill calls “sovereign erotic” becomes a trope for Indigenous survivance.