Content warning: This article discusses depictions of violent transphobia committed against a fictional Two-Spirit character.
Misha Green, the creator and showrunner for the acclaimed HBO sci-fi series Lovecraft Country, has apologized for what many critics and viewers condemned as a transphobic and anti-Indigenous portrayal of a Two-Spirit character in the September 6 episode entitled “A History of Violence.”
On Indigenous Peoples Day (over a month since the episode aired), Green addressed the longstanding criticism of the show’s handling of Yahima Maraokoti, an Arawakan Two-Spirit character, who appears briefly in the episode.
“I wanted to show the uncomfortable truth that oppressed folks can also be oppressors,” she tweeted in response to a viewer. “But I didn’t examine or unpack the moment/portrayal of Yahima as thoroughly as I should have. It’s a story point worth making, but I failed in the way I chose to make it.”
“A History of Violence” follows the show’s protagonists as they embark on a rollicking adventure in search of a book of spells. During the final leg of the journey, the characters encounter a corpse who magically comes to life and announces that their name is Yahima. Played by the cisgender actress Monique Candelaria, the character initially appears naked, wearing a prosthetic phallus. One of the protagonists then blurts out, “What are you?,” apparently more shocked by the sight of a trans/intersex body than the literal revivification of a centuries’ old corpse. From there, the transphobic and anti-Indigenous demonstration continues, climaxing when, after a little over five minutes of screentime, Yahima is violently and inexplicably murdered by the main character Montrose (Michael K. Williams).
Before the episode aired, Lovecraft Country had garnered praise for its daring and inventive treatment of mid-20th Century American racism. Considering the show’s sensitivity to issues of race, gender, and power, many viewers were especially surprised and hurt by Yahima’s storyline.
“As a Two-Spirit person who was so excited by the first few episodes, I am so fucking disappointed in the last episode of Lovecraft Country,” writer Sasha Irby tweeted in response to “A History of Violence.” “Like, WHY? Why did you feel the need to show me yet another instance of violence and murder of 2SP folks? WHY? The treatment was callous and felt disposable, how most [portrayals] of Natives by non-Natives feel.”
Other viewers called out the show for what they read as a fumbled attempt at demonstrating the danger of internalized queerphobia; Montrose, the character who murders Yahima, is hinted to be struggling with his own queerness earlier in the episode.
