Why The MCU's Devery Jacobs Was Never The Same After Rhymes For Young Ghouls
Before Devery Jacobs came to prominence in Hulu's critically acclaimed "Reservation Dogs," she was acting in short films and taking on bit television roles in series like "The Dead Zone." An Indigenous actor from the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, Jacobs was frequently offered parts that resembled docile Native caricatures.
It wasn't until her breakout performance in Jeff Barnaby's 2013 film "Rhymes for Young Ghouls" that Jacobs saw herself and her community in a role. In the 1970s-set revenge drama, Jacobs played Aila, a Mi'kmaq teen who is sent to an abusive residential school.
"That was the first time I played an Indigenous character directed and written by an Indigenous filmmaker, so that was the first experience where I really recognized the character," Jacobs explained to The Cut. "It was a career-defining moment for me." You can trace a direct line from "Rhymes for Young Ghouls" to Jacobs' future roles, which are similarly rooted in the Native experience, most famously seen in "Reservation Dogs," and next in Marvel's forthcoming series "Echo."
When Barnaby tragically passed away in 2022, Jacobs credited the director with saving her career. "Jeff had an ineffable impact on my life," she wrote in a statement. "I wouldn't be an actor today, if it weren't for Jeff. Having nearly given up on this career, he not only took a chance on me, but fought relentlessly to cast me in his debut feature 'Rhymes for Young Ghouls,' my first leading role."
Rhymes for Young Ghouls was liberating as a queer Native actor
In "Rhymes for Young Ghouls," Devery Jacobs not only saw her Native community represented with tact and humanity, but it also gave her the opportunity to explore her queerness on-screen. If not an explicitly queer film, "Rhymes for Young Ghouls" gave Jacobs "permission in my own life to try on more of a masculine shape," she told Vulture.
"I had performed heteroness very well," she continued. "I saw what I got positive reinforcement for in my community, and I leaned into that really hard." Still, there was a certain amount of pressure to be perceived in a heteronormative light on-screen. "There are only, I want to say, about 50,000 Mohawk people left in the world. There's enormous pressure to get married to a Mohawk person and have Mohawk babies."
As Aila, Jacobs got to be assertive and self-possessed. As the leader of a gang otherwise made up of boys as part of her revenge plot, she's also liberated by being referred to as "boss."
Jacobs brought that boss energy to "Reservations Dogs," where she fought for her role, then for a seat at the writers' table. Next, she's following in her career champion Jeff Barnaby's footsteps by directing an episode of "Reservation Dogs" Season 3.