qathet film society presents
3 Ears Indigenous Film Festival

#skoden

#skoden

Sunday September 28 – 7pm

Zoom discussion and Q&A follows the film with director, Damien Eagle Bear and Mark Brave Rock, community advocate

Moderated by Courtenay Harrop, Tla’amin Housing Support Coordinator

Written & Directed by: Damien Eagle Bear
Producer: Damien Eagle Bear
Featuring: Mark Brave Rock, Charlene Brown Weasel, Deanna Vincent, Dennis Bad Arm, Travis Plaited Hair
Genre: Documentary
Not rated – 1 hour 15 min
Released: 2025

Every meme has its story. #skoden delves into the origins of NDN country’s most iconic meme to redefine the man at the center of it all, Pernell Bad Arm. In the early days of social media, a notorious image circulated of an Indigenous man with raised fists, ready to strike. The photo was initially shared to mock and reinforce stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, but one word added to the image would change it forever.  SKODEN – an Indigenous shortening of “let’s go then” – ignited an instant Indigenous pop culture icon that spread like wildfire across Turtle Island and beyond.

Fellow Kainai First Nation member Damien Eagle Bear creates a three-dimensional portrait of Pernell Bad Arm, the Blackfoot man whose image was stolen for a meme. Originally circulated in racist circles, the First Nations community reclaimed the image by adding the now-iconic slang word, “SKODEN.”

If you were young and spending too much time online in the late 2010s, you’re probably familiar with the meme. An older Native American man, looking much the worse for wear, raising his fists as if to hurl himself into a fight. It was generally used in a mocking way, often with the deliberate intention of perpetuating a racist stereotype. In places where that stereotype was less familiar, people found comedy in the idea that the man was pathetic. Few seemed to see his humanity.

The #skoden tag came into being as a means of trying to reclaim the image, to take ownership of the meme and restore the balance of power. It’s a contraction of ‘Let’s go then,’ but many people outside Native communities seemed to miss this, finding it mysterious and confusing, at which point it became a sort of rallying cry and a means of trolling back. White people’s frequent failure to recognise that Native people have humour made it even funnier. When it was painted on a water tower, it prompted a panic among local white townsfolk. To Native people used to mistreatment, this was delicious.

Damien Eagle Bear wanted to go further. His documentary sets out to restore the dignity of the individual at the centre of it all, whose family had been deeply saddened by what they experienced as an act of bullying against someone they loved. For complex reasons predominantly attributed to their historical experience of racist violence, Native Americans are almost twice as likely to develop alcoholism as the average person. What happened to Pernell Thomas Bad Arm, a Blackfoot man from the Blood Tribe and a member of the Kainai Nation, was already a tragedy; that he became a meme added insult to injury.

Repeatedly forced to survive on his own resources whilst coping with his condition, Pernell was ingenious. He found a space under a building and made a good camp that he was proud of: warm, dry, hidden, convenient. Other people facing similar struggles admired him. By approaching him on these terms, Eagle Bear is able to craft a documentary that forces viewers to recognise the weight of disadvantage he faced without presenting him simply as a victim. We have the privilege of seeing him as a three dimensional human being, and #skoden becomes a tribute to his fight for justice.