The Hunt – Interpreting a Native American Legend
The story of the “Hunt” is inspired by a Native American legend explaining the origin of the autumn colours. It centres on a monstrous bear that frightens villagers. Some hunters decide to track it down in order to kill it and save the villagers. The chase ends up in the sky where the bear’s blood drips onto leaves, changing their colour to red.
This story has a few variations:
| Tribe | Legend |
| Algonquin legend | The bear often attacks the village, pillaging and destroying homes. He gets shot and flees into the sky, creating the Big Dipper’s stars (Miles and Peeters II, 2002). |
| The Iroquois and Cree legend | The Iroquois and Cree legend is a bit longer, detailing the men’s journey. When they find the monstrous bear, he gets scared and jumps into the sky (Eidt, 2011). |
| The Musquakie legend | It revolves more around the confusion that pushes the men to follow the bear into the sky (First People, 2014). |
| The Iroquois legend | It gives more explanation on the particular magic the bear holds and how difficult it is for the hunters to find the trail (Native Languages of the Americas, n.d.). |
| The Haudenosaunee legend | It tells how many parties of hunters fail to find the bear’s trail until the bothers finally find him (Oneida Indian Nation, 2009). |
I used parts of all these stories to create our own. However, these legends depict the bear in a negative and monstrous way, reflecting what the hunters see in the bear rather than what it really is like. I thought it could be interesting to tell the story from a different perspective, focusing on the bear and what pushes it to act a certain way
; which allows for a different twist on the legend. In order for the audience to empathise with the bear, the entire animation would revolve around it and its emotions would be enhanced in the design of the environment and the colours used in the shots.
After attending a talk by Eric Shaw on Writing for Animation at BFX, I looked more into traditional story structure and how it could apply to the legend. I tried to take example from it, to give more ups and downs to the story. I felt some parts were unclear, such as how and why the bear jumps into the sky or when exactly he gets shot.
| Story structure | Bear’s emotions |
ORDINARY WORLD: The bear lives in the forest, she is a part of it and can hide easily. INCIDENT: She is seen as a threat by the villagers. They decide to send hunters after her. FIRST CRISIS: They find her scratches on a tree; they are on her tracks. They continue to follow her for many days, journeying through different landscapes. They do not give up. |
Intrigued by the humans and worried about her cubs, she follows them. She does not understand they are after her. |
SECOND CRISIS: Suddenly they see her through the trees. CLIMAX: She gets shot. ESCALATING ACTION Her blood contrasts with everything around her. She cannot hide, leaving a blood trail as she runs. POINT OF NO RETURN: She reaches the end of the cliff and realises she is going to de. |
As she receives the first arrow, the bear experiences pain for the first time. And with it, an incontrollable fear of what is going to happen.Blinded by her pain and fear, she runs everywhere, unable to think of a plan to escape. She has completely lost hope. |
HELP OF AN ALLY: the leaf flies past her, distracting her from the situation. By passing over the moon, it shows her an alternative. There is a way out, she can be in control of the situation again. RESOLUTION She jumps into the sky. NEW WORLD She turns into stars, becoming a real part of the environment. She is hidden again. NEW CONFLICT: The hunters follow her into the sky, and the chase continues. |
The leaf distracts her from her present situation and a strange calm overwhelms her. She has way to escape and to lead the humans away from her cubs. |
It was also decided that the bear would be female and we defined her personality in a character profile.
I wrote the first draft of the story from all the variations, re-structuring it to have stronger beats. Then Maya edited it the syntax, to make it more poetic.
The story portrays a misunderstanding between characters. The humans are scared of the bear, they feel threatened so they go after her. The bear is intrigued by their presence and follows them to make sure they do not approach her den too closely. She does not weight the danger and feels pain for the first time, which pushes her to run madly. Everything calms down as she is forced to face death and decides to take control, jumping into the night sky. In the end, the morale enhances the cyclic nature of the legend.
This story is told by a narrator, which helps retain the idea of the tale transmitted orally.
