Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) is defined by director, Jeff Barnaby, as a revenge fantasy and an “unflinching fictional account of Indigenous agency in the face of the horrors of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools” (Carleton, 1). The film is a fictional portrayal of Aila, a young artistic girl who is able to avoid the assimilationist Residential School by selling drugs and paying a ‘truancy tax’. Like individuals who are taken away to the Residential Schools, Aila was raised parentless after her mother killed her brother, committed suicide, and her father was imprisoned. She was forced to grow up quickly and take care of the adults who are supposed to be taking care of her (namely her uncle and grandmother figure who fronts the grow-op).
It is estimated that over 100,000 aboriginal children were forced to attend Residential Schools – children were stripped from their families, their culture and their individual identities.
Although Residential Schools are talked about today, no one realizes that these schools didn’t close completely until the late 1990’s and individuals who were able to escape were left with physical and emotional scars. By providing a visual of the “tragic past” that would have been experienced by survivors, Barnaby gives the audience a fictional perspective into “a generation that know no parents” (Barnaby). It is extremely difficult to watch the scenes inside the school because it is difficult for us to acknowledge the poor living conditions and lack of safety that existed not so long ago in Canada.
This film unsettles the history of the fictional Mi’gmaq Red Crow reserve and depicts the effects of the development of the Indian Act. The way that Barnaby portrays the characters in the film are as drunks and drug dealers, which reinforces a stereotype about Indians. Many people identify the heavy drinking and drug use as a coping mechanism, which becomes “the art of forgetfulness” (Carleton, 2). Once a window leading into the horrors of the school experience is created through film and media, it is easier to grasp why Aboriginals must find ways to cope with the abuse that they faced for so many years during colonialism. When Aila is forced to go into St. Dymphna’s after her money is stolen and she is unable to continue paying the ‘truancy tax’, she is aggressively told by Popper that, “from here on in, it’s the Queen’s fucking English. Relish it!” and is stripped of her long braids, her clothes, and her self-esteem as she is thrown into a dark cell (3).
Films that portray aboriginals in a hyperrealistic way rarely depict the aboriginal peoples fighting back against the white Europeans. Carleton mentions Frantz Fanon who states that “decolonization occurs as a result of a colonized person’s realization that the ‘deployment of violence,’ in different forms, is often crucial for liberation” (4). When Aila, Joseph and the rest of her posse break into the school to steal her money, they sneak around and try to hurt Popper in order to liberate themselves from the torture that he has placed on Aila and Joseph. Once Aila and Joseph are out of the school and Popper tries to rape Aila and kill her father, Joseph picks up the gun and shoots Popper in the head.
This moment was extremely disturbing, yet so powerful – Joseph does not speak a lot in the film, but it becomes evident that the only way for him to seek out revenge on the man who put him through so much violence was to reciprocate the violence. This fighting back is not something that happens in every situation and makes a statement as to how this young boy will grow up and perceive the world around him, especially the white Europeans who he may eventually have to interact with.
My perception of the Residential School system has always been very vague – I learned about what happened in school, but I never realized until this year how abusive and poisionous the system was. In my Health Controversies course, we learned about the poor health conditions that led a lot of aboriginals to become very ill while in the school systems and the lack of medical access that Aboriginal people had on reserves and how little access they still have today. We see that the reserve is very secluded in the film, and the only institutions that are heavily present are the police and the church via the Residential Schools.
I think that films like Rhymes for Young Ghouls are so important to help educate our generation of proud Canadians who are unaware of the horrible things that happened in the past. Although the story is fictional, the lives of so many people that had first-hand experiences are far from fiction and the only way to truly educate ourselves is to engage in the stories and share them to ensure that history never repeats itself. Canada needs to stop denying that we have evolved from these absolute horrors to the diverse, multicultural embracing of cultures that we experience in today’s society.
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