When the Santa Claus parade rolled through the streets of downtown Vancouver yesterday afternoon, the sight of a big blue bird lolling about in the bow of a massive cedar canoe caught some observers by surprise.
The bird was Raven, a cartoon adaptation of the mythical trickster from the native legends of the Pacific Northwest. And if you were to compare the principal figures of pre-Christian oral folklore, Raven really should rank right up there with jolly old Saint Nicholas.
The glittery float was built by the creators of Raven Tales, a computer-animated television show for school-age children that gives ancient aboriginal stories a modern spin, as told through the wacky adventures of lazy Raven, worrywart Eagle and wise, old Frog.
The 13-episode series has won numerous international awards and will soon reach audiences around the world, including the Middle East, when it begins broadcasting in February on the Al-Jazeera Children's Channel.
So why hadn't anyone heard about this comical character and his colourful cast of friends here in Canada, where the groundbreaking television series is produced by an all-native team of writers, directors and actors?
"That's why we're in the parade," said Simon James, a renowned Kwakwakuwakw carver and co-producer of the series. "We're hoping to catch a lot of eyeballs so maybe Raven Tales can finally take off here and get the respect it's earned."
The story of Canadian artists needing to achieve international success before being recognized at home is almost as old as Raven himself. But Raven Tales has certainly earned its wings.
The 22-minute pilot episode, How Raven Stole the Sun, was originally commissioned as a short film by Access Alberta, the province's educational television network. It cost $150,000 to make and has won more than 20 international awards, including best animation and native film at the Santa Fe Film Festival, and was also a finalist for the prestigious Japan Prize for educational television.
Last spring, the film was held up as an example of mainstream success for indigenous media when it was screened at the fifth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
And last winter, the filmmakers earned high critical acclaim from several U.S. critics when the video was featured as part of Changing Hands 2, a contemporary native art exhibit at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York.
" Raven Tales blends the stately ancestral style of Native American art effortlessly with the hip, vernacular pizzazz of today. . . . Children are not the only ones in danger of getting hooked," Matthew Gurewitsch wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
No one in the United States is going to get hooked in the near future, since the series has yet to be picked up by any programmers there.
In Canada, Raven Tales premiered last month on the Aboriginal People's Television Network. Although APTN is a national network, it airs only on cable and is hidden high up on the dial (on Shaw Cable in Vancouver, it's Channel 100).
"They've been great to us, but a lot people in Canada aren't even aware that there is such a thing as APTN," said Mr. James, who flagged the network logo large and loudly on his float.
Despite its lack of local recognition, Raven Tales is selling well internationally. The show is airing on ZDF in Germany and Maori Television in New Zealand. In the next few months, dubbed versions will be rolling out in Japan (NHK), France (Canal J), Norway (NRK) and all across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, on the Arabic-language Al Jazeera Children's Channel, a free satellite channel that reaches 50 million viewers.
"At first I thought it was a joke," co-producer Chris Kientz said of the letter he received from Al Jazeera's head of acquisitions "urgently" requesting VHS screening tapes and international versions.
Mr. Kientz is of Cherokee descent and now based in New Mexico, where the main characters in the series will be travelling in later episodes that introduce Coyote, Roadrunner and other mythical figures from Cree, Cherokee and Lakota legends.
The early episodes are adapted from Haida myths, with elements borrowed from the Salish, Kwakiutl and other native bands of the Pacific Northwest.
For every traditional story told in Raven Tales, the production company has been careful about getting express written permission from the tribal councils and hereditary chiefs from which it hails.
These days, however, the producers say it sometimes feels like Raven is pulling one of his pranks.
"Overseas, people seem to like the show for what it is," said Mr. Kientz, who owns the production company with Mr. James and Colin Curwen of Calgary's New Machine Studios.
"But here in North America, there seems to be this idea that if it's native American, the only audience will be native American," he added, noting the series has been turned down by programmers at all the larger Canadian networks and affiliated stations, among them CBC, TVOntario, Teletoon and YTV.
"These are universal stories that would appeal to anyone. No one has any problem with telling the Brothers Grimm fairy tales over and over again. But if you add a native element, they say, 'Oh, no. That's a special audience. Or it's religious programming. We don't have a mandate for that.' Sometimes I think we should drop the native American moniker and just sell it as plain folklore."
In a twist of irony, the show has also come under criticism within the native community for not being native enough.
"There are people in my family who have never watched it and won't," said Mr. James, explaining that some are offended because the stories had to be simplified and the characters jazzed up for cartoon.
Mr. James said he has no qualms about adapting traditional lore for a commercial medium, noting that neither he nor his partners have yet to earn a dime. The first 13 episodes cost $2-million to make.
"My grandfather told me that you have to have one foot in each world. 'Keep your native roots,' he used to say, 'but adapt to the modern world.' These are the stories I grew up with up. We want to get them out there so the next generation can enjoy them. We're not giving up on Canada or the U.S. We're going to build our international audience until we're impossible to ignore."
Mr. James notes they still have time on their side. "These stories have 5,000 years of market development behind them. How can we go wrong?"
Alexandra Gill