IN AN EPISODE of Showtime’s new black comedy The Curse, Indigenous artist Cara Durand hosts a performance art piece during which she invites participants, one by one, into a tipi. There, she uses a meat slicer to shave pieces off a hunk of turkey and distributes the slices to participants. “As a Native person, that’s basically what you’re doing every day — just fucking slicing off pieces of yourself. And it’s exhausting,” Durand later explains.
The Curse is a series by Nathan Fielder, whose shows Nathan for You and The Rehearsal have defined the cringe comedy genre, and Benny Safdie, best known for his work in the critically acclaimed film Uncut Gems. With two non-Native showrunners, The Curse might seem an unlikely contender for raising the bar on Indigenous representation. But the show, set in Española, New Mexico, touches on serious real-life issues, including gentrification, tribal sovereignty and sustainable development.
