Echo Cast Talks Doing Indigenous Representation The Right Way
Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox)’s villainous behavior in Hawkeye catches up to her as she faces her past and reconnects with her Native American roots when she tries to return to her hometown in Echo.
In a press conference for Echo, Cox shared that she and her character Maya are both “warriors” and have dealt with similar life experiences. “I was raised with some trauma. We both have childhood trauma,” she said. “I grew up as an amputee. I went through many different kinds of surgeries as a child. And so, that made me a warrior, in a sense. Maya, she had the death of her mother and all these tragic events that happened in her life. We both have different traumatic experiences. So, it kind of makes us very similar in a way because we're both warriors and we're tough and we're badass and I believe that's how we're the same.”
A huge theme in this series is family in all ways, including biological, adoptive, and found family. Devery Jacobs, who plays Bonnie in the series, noted that her favorite part of making the show was the community feeling they had on set that helped bring authenticity to the series. “The fact that it's an ensemble cast filled with Indigenous folks and that there is such a sense of family in the whole arc and through the whole series of Echo, I think just lends to how authentic our storytelling is in it, that we had so many community members,” revealed Jacobs. “In so many of our cultures, it's not just about you being an individual. It's you being a collective of your nation. When we introduce ourselves, it's like, I'm Kanien'kehà:ka, I'm from the Mohawk Nation. So when it comes to Echo and seeing that Maya is one of many Choctaw community members, I think that just fills me with so much sense of pride and makes it feel that much more real. That's kind of some of the textures and flavors we get when we're able to tell stories from our own communities.” Indigenous communities are known for being extremely tight knit and family doesn’t mean just one singular thing, and Echo reflects that.
Director Sydney Freeland knew that in telling a story about Native and Indigenous people, she needed to not only get their story right, but to get their permission to tell it. “One of the things that was important for us was being able to engage with the Choctaw Nation very early on. I remember we came to present to you all at the Choctaw Center. For myself, there were two things. One was to ask permission from the Choctaw Nation to be portrayed because I feel like a lot of times what happens with Native and Indigenous stories is that people come in and they say, ‘We're gonna tell you what story we're gonna tell.’ And we wanted to take a different approach and we wanted to engage you,” she said. “The second part was like, ‘Can we create a dialogue?’ We want to be as authentic in our portrayal of the Choctaw language, the Choctaw culture, the Choctaw experience as we can. That came from the Choctaw Nation.”
Freeland and the Marvel team wanted to ensure that they were telling a story that was true, accurate, and supported by the people they were depicting. “I think a lot of times people tend to jumble all Native American tribes and cultures into this one big kind of monolith, and that's not the case,” Freeland continued. “Every tribe is different, every language is different, every culture has its own unique specificities. I'm Navajo and we're telling a Choctaw story, so, for me, it was an absolute necessity that we engage the Choctaw Nation to tell that story.”
Echo breathes new life into the Marvel universe with its diversity and representation. They don’t force these aspects upon you, but rather let them naturally unfold as the story goes on. Alaqua Cox is absolutely incredible and serves as a new generation’s role model and superhero blueprint. It seems that with this series, Marvel is giving the people what they want with new unexpected moments and authentic storytelling.
