'Twilight' films focus attention on tribe
The surge of interest "was a surprise, a good surprise," says the chairwoman of the Quileute Nation.
SEATTLE - The leader of the Quileute Nation in northwest Washington first began hearing her tribe had a role in a popular series called the "Twilight Saga" from fans clamoring to know more about the place where a vampire tale of teenage love unfolds.
Some fans sent e-mails. The most dedicated among them made trips to the remote reservation that is home to the series' heartthrob werewolf Jacob Black.
"The interest in our tribe was a surprise, a good surprise," tribal chairwoman Anna Rose Counsell-Geyer said. "I thought to myself, people are going to actually get to know the Quileute and we are going to be recognized as a people. The real Quileute."
That was a couple of years ago. With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the series' third movie in theaters now, the 750-member Quileute Nation is reveling in the Twilight spotlight, attempting to capitalize on the blockbuster's massive financial pull, and welcoming new interest in the tribe's culture.
At its Oceanside Resort, the tribe is opening a cabin decorated in a wolf theme, a shout-out to Jacob and the Quileutes' own origin story, which begins with a transformation from wolves to people.
At a Quileute store in the reservation town of La Push, handmade beanie hats with "Jacob" stitched on them sell for nearly $35. There's also a "Jacob's Java" espresso stand.
"This is historical. This is going to be imprinted on people's lives for generations to come," Counsell-Geyer said.
Central to the Twilight Saga is a love triangle among human teenager Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner).
The Quileutes' homeland - the place where they have lived and hunted for centuries - serves as the backdrop to author Stephenie Meyer's saga, with the stunning imagery of rocks and cliffs rising along the Pacific Ocean.
Four hours west of Seattle, the Quileute reservation is on the far and remote side of the rain-soaked Olympic Peninsula. The reservation is confined within a square mile.
In the movies and books, the tribe's folklore is meshed into the role of the Wolf Pack, a group of young Quileute men who shapeshift into wolves. Jacob and other Wolf Pack members guard the reservation from vampires.
For Chris Eyre, a Cheyenne and Arapaho filmmaker, the key aspect of the Twilight series is that it shows American Indians in a contemporary light. Eyre directed the well-received 1998 film Smoke Signals, which focused on a coming of age story of two teenagers living on the Coeur D'Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho.
Like Smoke Signals, the Twilight Saga marks a departure from Hollywood's long tradition of portraying American Indians as a people from the past.
In the saga's second chapter, New Moon, Jacob talks about going to school on the reservation and rides motorcycles. In Eclipse, Jacob's friends emerge from a small house in their opening scene shirtless and wearing shorts - a now-signature look for the Wolf Pack. They laugh and tease Jacob about his crush on Bella.
"I think as long as the werewolves aren't wearing loincloths, it is a good step forward," Eyre said from Los Angeles, where he is finishing an episode of the NBC show Friday Night Lights.
"It's so important to have native people in contemporary roles . . . that's where I think we're lacking. We want to see native people in 2010. I think we're tired of seeing native people in 1860," he said.
Several members of the Quileute nation attended the movie's premiere in Los Angeles, and some attended the red-carpet premiere of New Moon in Los Angeles.
"This is historical," chairwoman Counsell-Geyer said.