Latest news with #BadArm
Winnipeg Free Press
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘#Skoden' doc shows ‘kind and gentle' side of unhoused Indigenous man who became a meme
Pernell Bad Arm never asked to become a meme. But in the early 2010s, a photo of the First Nations man — clad in a windbreaker with his fists up in a fighter's stance, his gaze slightly vacant — spread across the internet. Shared on message boards such as 4chan, the picture was initially used mockingly to perpetuate stereotypes of Indigenous people. 'It was being shared mostly by non-Indigenous people to kind of ridicule and make fun of us,' says filmmaker Damien Eagle Bear. But Indigenous users soon reclaimed the photo, captioning it with the rez slang word 'skoden' — as in 'let's go, then' — and transforming it into part meme, part rallying cry. Still, when Eagle Bear first saw the photo in 2013, his reaction was anything but celebratory. 'I was horrified,' he says. He immediately recognized the man in the image as Bad Arm, an unhoused member of his own community — the Kanai Nation in Alberta. 'It made me sad. It also got me angry in terms of 'How was this photo taken? And now people are sharing it,'' recalls Eagle Bear. 'I didn't quite have the reaction I think a lot of other Indigenous people had to the photo.' Bad Arm died in a Lethbridge homeless shelter in 2015 at the age of 52. Eagle Bear says he felt compelled to reframe the image of Bad Arm that had gone viral. His film '#Skoden,' premiering Tuesday at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, aims to humanize the man behind the meme. 'I'm trying to change how people perceive him and to really tell the story of southern Alberta and the city of Lethbridge and its treatment of Indigenous people and people on the streets,' says Eagle Bear. 'There are many people like Purnell on the streets who live very similar lives, who are (similarly viewed) as being a violent person, but underneath all that, they're just a kind, caring person.' Eagle Bear first crossed paths with Bad Arm while working as a security guard at a homeless shelter in Lethbridge. With aspirations of becoming a filmmaker, he began shooting a documentary about the shelter — and Bad Arm was one of the first people to sit down in front of his camera. That conversation, along with interviews with Bad Arm's family and friends, is featured throughout '#Skoden.' 'He was just always a really nice person. He was very kind and gentle,' says Eagle Bear, who was a co-writer and producer of 2018 Indigenous horror series 'The Bannocking.' He recalls an instance when Bad Arm went out of his way to look after an elderly war veteran staying at the shelter. 'You could just really see his caring nature from that. It was very different from the photo that everyone sees.' The viral image of Bad Arm is never shown in '#Skoden' at the request of his family, who say it captured him during one of the roughest periods of his life. Bad Arm hopes the film spurs conversations about the way Lethbridge and cities across Canada regard their unhoused populations. 'We really need to change how we think of the people we see on the streets. We come up with our own stories and make our own assumptions. Largely in the media, they get used as a scapegoat, like they're just hoarding tax dollars,' he says. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. 'As you're driving by, you see a moment in a person's life, but you don't see their entire life or the complexity of who they are as humans.' Eagle Bear says as Indigenous communities have learned more about Bad Arm's story, the term skoden has taken on new meaning. 'It's kind of become an act of resistance, like confronting colonialism and settler governments. Like, let's go then!' he says. 'It's pretty cool to see the life this meme has had.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2025.
Hamilton Spectator
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
'#Skoden' doc shows ‘kind and gentle' side of unhoused Indigenous man who became a meme
Pernell Bad Arm never asked to become a meme. But in the early 2010s, a photo of the First Nations man — clad in a windbreaker with his fists up in a fighter's stance, his gaze slightly vacant — spread across the internet. Shared on message boards such as 4chan, the picture was initially used mockingly to perpetuate stereotypes of Indigenous people. 'It was being shared mostly by non-Indigenous people to kind of ridicule and make fun of us,' says filmmaker Damien Eagle Bear. But Indigenous users soon reclaimed the photo, captioning it with the rez slang word 'skoden' — as in 'let's go, then' — and transforming it into part meme, part rallying cry. Still, when Eagle Bear first saw the photo in 2013, his reaction was anything but celebratory. 'I was horrified,' he says. He immediately recognized the man in the image as Bad Arm, an unhoused member of his own community — the Kanai Nation in Alberta. 'It made me sad. It also got me angry in terms of 'How was this photo taken? And now people are sharing it,'' recalls Eagle Bear. 'I didn't quite have the reaction I think a lot of other Indigenous people had to the photo.' Bad Arm died in a Lethbridge homeless shelter in 2015 at the age of 52. Eagle Bear says he felt compelled to reframe the image of Bad Arm that had gone viral. His film '#Skoden,' premiering Tuesday at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, aims to humanize the man behind the meme. 'I'm trying to change how people perceive him and to really tell the story of southern Alberta and the city of Lethbridge and its treatment of Indigenous people and people on the streets,' says Eagle Bear. 'There are many people like Purnell on the streets who live very similar lives, who are (similarly viewed) as being a violent person, but underneath all that, they're just a kind, caring person.' Eagle Bear first crossed paths with Bad Arm while working as a security guard at a homeless shelter in Lethbridge. With aspirations of becoming a filmmaker, he began shooting a documentary about the shelter — and Bad Arm was one of the first people to sit down in front of his camera. That conversation, along with interviews with Bad Arm's family and friends, is featured throughout '#Skoden.' 'He was just always a really nice person. He was very kind and gentle,' says Eagle Bear, who was a co-writer and producer of 2018 Indigenous horror series 'The Bannocking.' He recalls an instance when Bad Arm went out of his way to look after an elderly war veteran staying at the shelter. 'You could just really see his caring nature from that. It was very different from the photo that everyone sees.' The viral image of Bad Arm is never shown in '#Skoden' at the request of his family, who say it captured him during one of the roughest periods of his life. Bad Arm hopes the film spurs conversations about the way Lethbridge and cities across Canada regard their unhoused populations. 'We really need to change how we think of the people we see on the streets. We come up with our own stories and make our own assumptions. Largely in the media, they get used as a scapegoat, like they're just hoarding tax dollars,' he says. 'As you're driving by, you see a moment in a person's life, but you don't see their entire life or the complexity of who they are as humans.' Eagle Bear says as Indigenous communities have learned more about Bad Arm's story, the term skoden has taken on new meaning. 'It's kind of become an act of resistance, like confronting colonialism and settler governments. Like, let's go then!' he says. 'It's pretty cool to see the life this meme has had.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2025.
CBC
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
#Skoden documentary explores life of Blackfoot man and the dangers of labels
A documentary premiering at the HotDocs Festival in Toronto this month aims to change the way we look at a controversial social media meme. #Skoden profiles the late Pernell Bad Arm, a fluent Blackfoot language speaker from the Kainai Blood reserve in southern Alberta, who lived most of his adult life unhoused in Lethbridge, Alta. Bad Arm died in a Lethbridge homeless shelter Nov. 27, 2015, at the age of 52. Director Damien Eagle Bear met Bad Arm while working at a shelter in Lethbridge and said he wanted to rewrite the narrative caused by the "#skoden" meme, which features Bad Arm with his arms raised in either a defensive or offensive position. The term "skoden" may not make sense to some, but for many Indigenous people it's a contraction of "let's go, then" and is a battle cry, a motivational speech, and a call to action all at once. "It was a good jumping off point to find out who Pernell really was," Eagle Bear told CBC Indigenous. The image of Bad Arm that's paired with the word skoden is difficult for his family. When some of them talk about it in the documentary, they're brought to tears. The image is not shown in the documentary at the request of the Bad Arm family. They say the image was taken during during one of the darkest times of his life and those that knew him say he was misunderstood. Mark Brave Rock, who met Bad Arm while incarcerated, said he lived with him on the streets of Lethbridge for years. "With Pernell, we stuck together and he became my brother. That's just what happens on the streets," he said. Brave Rock described Bad Arm as a proud person, someone with feelings and a conscience, and shared stories about Bad Arm giving away what little money he had, or whatever he could. "I saw the true charity he had that nobody would see," Brave Rock said. Fond of stuffed animals Amber Jensen, a support worker who worked with Bad Arm in Lethbridge, said Bad Arm loved stuffies and would give stuffed animals to people. Jensen was confused when she was told about the "labels" written in Bad Arm's files by his support system in Lethbridge, like hard to handle or violent. Brave Rock said Bad Arm was labelled because he wasn't afraid to speak up for himself, and when no one listened, Bad Arm would often assert himself further. "We had to survive the way we did," he said. "You're marginalized; they look down on you not only because you're homeless and addicted but you're also Native." Eagle Bear said the underlying message of the documentary is to reconsider the stories we tell about people, "especially those who live on the streets, who struggle with addictions." Jensen said she still thinks of Bad Arm fondly. "He taught me a lot — he doesn't know it and I guess he never will — but we can use those lessons to help other people," she said.
