Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
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D E PA R T M E N T 37 KEYFRAME IN THE PRESENT An all-Native American writing room is one of many firsts for pre- school series Spirit Rangers. When Karissa Valencia took hikes with her dad in the Los Padres National Forest as a girl, they read plaques that described how the Samala Chumash used to live on this land. "And we're like, we're literally right here," she says. Bringing her culture into the present was one of many things that led her to create Spirit Rangers. Valencia is also the Executive Producer and Showrunner behind the preschool series about the Skycedar family living in a fictional California national park. Mom, the Head Ranger, is from California's Samala Chumash tribe, while Dad, a scientist, is from Washington state's Cowlitz tribe. The kids—Kodi, Summer, and Eddy—are Junior Rangers and also Spirit Rangers. Spirit Rangers are land and water protec- tors with the ability to transform into bear, red-tailed hawk, and turtle spirits, respectively, to help other spirits in need. Growing up, Valencia says, "it was hard to feel proud about my culture." If she shared it with others, "I would get so many dumb questions like, 'Can you sage my apartment? Can you make me a dreamcatcher?'" By watching the Skycedar children, she hopes that Native youth will feel a sense of pride and "that they can be loud and proud Natives," she says. One of the reasons Valencia loves doing the show for such young children is that "preschoolers are just so earnest and come with open hearts. They're building their own communities, figuring out their place in the world. That's exactly what the Spirit Rangers are doing. They're new at everything, too, and I think that's a universal thing." With the Skycedar children learning about new spirits, and as a result, new tribes in California and around the country in each episode, the series has the oppor- tunity to introduce viewers to a wide range of Native American culture and history. To do this, it was important to Valencia to get approval from the tribes the series portrays. When it comes to the representation of Native Americans in film and TV, "a lot of these tribes have never been invited into the process," she says. Spirit Rangers images courtesy of Netflix, Inc. WINTER 2022 37