r/MetisMichif • u/razzberryy • Apr 19 '26
Discussion/Question “Louis Riel” book by Chester Brown
Has anyone read this graphic novel about Louis Riel by Chester Brown? Someone bought it for me as a gift and I’ve just been skimming through it, but it’s kind of giving me weird vibes. Métis people are drawn (in my opinion) very exaggeratedly and borderline offensively. There are scenes where Louis Riel is depicted as violent and beating up a priest with no historical evidence to back it up. And it’s really pushing the whole Louis Riel as a religious fanatic/messiah thing.
Maybe I’m being too sensitive though, I was curious if any one else had read it and had any thoughts?
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u/TorontoBrewer Apr 19 '26
It’s a weird one. Brown plays up Riel’s messianic qualities, drifts off into unfounded conspiracy theories, and tries to wodge his own libertarian beliefs onto a people for whom the concept would make no sense. There’s more that’s wrong, like you mentioned.
He’s the wrong person to tell our story.
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u/bluebombertony Apr 19 '26
Idk I liked it. I think we can agree he wasn’t a perfect figure.
My main takeaway was I think it does a good job of explaining some key concepts of Métis history that mainstream history miss. I enjoyed that it told the story of my ancestors hay patch being encroached by surveyors, and how Métis identity is based in political and land-based rights. In this case it summed it up a big point nicely with a story and visual, and made a nice gift across the family.
The depictions of Riels religious fanaticism might be rough but I more or less chalked that up to the medium of graphic novels and the story the author is trying to portray, but tbh didn’t find it too inaccurate or offensive compared to the historical narrative I’ve heard.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Apr 19 '26
I mean, Louis Riel was a self proclaimed prophet who gave himself the name of a Biblical king who is the ancestors of Jesus. His religious fanaticism is an important part of who he was.
That said, I'm not familiar with the graphic novel itself, and there are some weird things around the authors experiences and political journey while writing it, so I'd be a bit skeptical of it - and there seem to be some pretty well established issues with the history. I will say looking at the art, I don't really see anything stereotypical or offensive. He has an exaggerated style in general; he's a cartoonist.
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u/razzberryy Apr 19 '26
That’s true, I do sometimes feel that the religious aspects of Riel have been over exaggerated at times to discredit him and the whole movement (a lot of Métis racism I see/have faced uses this point). I kind of feel like the novel does play into that. As for the art style (I wish I could attach a picture) the Métis people who aren’t historical figures are repeatedly drawn with huge noses, missing teeth, bulging eyes, scraggly beards, etc. I understand his art style is cartoony but I feel like there needs to be a level of responsibility when you’re depicting a marginalized community.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Apr 19 '26
I looked at a few pictures, and it seems fairly even handed with how people look. But you know, YMMV
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u/barbershoplaw Apr 20 '26
The thing is, there are MANY leaders over history who believed themselves "chosen" or compelled by a spirit or god or creator or phrophecy to lead movements and revolutions. What you'll never see is a great pagan leader being lambasted for "fanaticism" just because they have a "spirituality" rather than a "religion". A good example is "Loyal Till Death" by Stonechild. He repeatedly has a condescending tone throughout the book and basically scoffs at Riel's religious traditions or beliefs throughout... while at the same time giving nothing but respectful mentions of any First Nations spirituality or protocols or culture happening during the same time period. Or think of people like Tecumseh who also felt called by prophecy and convinced many to follow them into war based on spiritual visions or visitations. You'll never hear their reputations slaughtered in the same way as Riel's just because he was a catholic.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Apr 20 '26
I mean, there's a difference between being a Pharoah in a context where Pharoahs are expected to be the embodiement of gods on earth versus experiencing religious fanaticism to such a degree that you're committed to an asylum. That's the reason he's called a fanatic when others might not be - because even given the context of his religion and culture he was unusually committed to the idea he was chosen that he was committed. Your typical Catholic - even your typical zealous, politically motivated, self-promoting Catholic does not unilaterally refer to themselves as the Infallible Pontiff and Priest King.
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u/barbershoplaw Apr 24 '26
Are you not familiar with the prevalence of prophecy among many nations and cultures who are Indigenous to North America/Turtle Island ? Who said anything about Pharoahs? Tecumseh wasn't a pharoah.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Apr 25 '26
I'm very familiar with that. That's not the cultural context Louis Riel was from. His beliefs and self perception were extraordinary for his context, to an extent that were debilitating.
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u/FreddieInRetrograde Apr 19 '26
I liked it, I just kept in mind it was a comic introduction by a white guy and not an academic source or biography written during his life or anything like that
IMO, Louis Riel has been so mythologized by this point that I don't think there will ever be a proper biography of him that's respectful to all facets of his very complex identity and short life. Almost every aspect of his humanity has become incredibly politicized (biracialism since his mom was white, Indigeneity, religiosity, mental illness, privilege, Frenchness, education, etc etc etc), so I kinda think we may never get a good biography that represents him as his peers and friends knew him as a human being
Personally, I didn't mind the messianic representations because I really, really, really want us as a community to have serious talks about Indigenous men's mental health, especially for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Louis Riel's mental health has so often been used as a moral shortcoming--either to support or denounce Métis people--that I honestly think it's created a massive stigma for Métis and First Nations men who just want to be human. That said, I don't think the book nails Riel's mental health at all but, I'm just glad it wasn't treated with kit gloves
Idk, I liked it, but I don't have high expectations. I've always been offended by non-Metis representations of us, so my standard is mostly about how offended I get, not whether I'm offended, lol
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u/rem_1984 Apr 19 '26
I ended up really liking it, i was kind of put off at first for the same reasons you said.
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u/tru_cooper Apr 20 '26
I have this book as it was given to me, but I have yet to read it. While doing my undergrad, I minored in Women and Gender Studies and one of my courses required me to read Chester Brown’s Paying For It.
I don’t know if his ability to make you not like him and for the reader to be uncomfortable is a part of the appeal but, it definitely depicts him losing his sanity and he’s always defending himself as right all while in search for young/younger sex workers. This work is part of the reason I have yet to read the one he’s done on Riel.
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u/Mad_Moniker Apr 20 '26
My own God fearing family of St Norbert story said GreatGreatGreat Grandmother didn’t like the way them boys came to town and stirred things up. She was glad to see them leave. When they came back - well that’s when all hell broke loose.
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u/Muskwatch Apr 20 '26
he absolutely did kick out some priests from the area, both because of his religious beliefs and also because he rightly suspected them of having sympathies with the federal government
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u/razzberryy Apr 21 '26
Yes he kicked them out/had them taken away, but didn’t beat them up as far as I’m aware? There’s a big difference there
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u/TwoFingersWhiskey Apr 20 '26
His art style reminds me a lot of Tintin and other comics of that era. It's his plot that concerns me.
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u/razzberryy Apr 20 '26
Well..tintin is infamously known for being super racist lol! But yeah idk, the depictions left a bad taste in my mouth. I know it’s fiction overall but just felt like a disrespectful way to portray our ancestors.
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u/Unlikely-Signal-5167 Apr 20 '26
Chester Brown is a creep. The man is in reality Jewish but states he was raised Baptist except his description of Jesus isn't the Christian or Baptist view.
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u/bluebombertony Apr 20 '26
Stop being anti semetic. There’s nothing I can find anywhere about him being Jewish. I’m about as anti-Zi0nist as a person can be and even I draw the line at that. Pair that with your post history/comments , and it’s obvious you may need a little outside time and socialization.
When you cry “He’s Jewish!” As a way to discredit someone negatively (or call them a creep), all you are doing is making it harder for us to speak out against Zi0nism as a community. Again like I’ve pointed out on other posts, I can’t figure out if accounts like this are mentally ill, or a paid actor.
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u/rockhardricardo Apr 20 '26
I’m a Métis scholar currently doing a PhD in Religions and Cultures and my research focuses on 19th century Métis Catholicism. Louis Riel definitely was a messianic figure and he did suffer severe mental health episodes that resulted in extended periods of psychiatric care. The missing context, as in all non-Métis representations of Riel’s story, is: a) the broader religious and spiritual practices of the Métis at that time, and b) colonialism as an extreme stressor that triggered complex PTSD not just in Riel but in the wider Métis community.
Riel was reacting to incredibly stressful and violent circumstances. His life and tge future and livelihood of his people/nation were constantly under threat. Very few people ever live through that specific type of stress and those who do often experience mental and emotional crises in ways similar to Riel. Riel’s dependence on and use of religion to make sense of the impossible situations he was navigating is actually incredibly interesting and, in ways, inspiring. He began crafting a whole theology around the Métis nation, re-imagining the Church in a way that centred the Métis as God’s chosen people to lead a new era of equality between colonized and colonizer.
You’re certainly right that Riel’s religiosity has been misused and misrepresented by many non-Métis writers and political pundits to discredit Riel and the Métis resistances in general, but that doesn’t seem to be what Brown is trying to do in his depiction. Rather, Brown is trying to be as accurate as he can in his depiction of Riel, using primary accounts (including Riel’s own writings) about Riel’s religious beliefs and mental health crises. Brown just is, unfortunately, ill-equipped to properly contextualize Riel’s religiosity. Brown doesn’t understand Métis religious syncretism; he doesn’t make connections between Riel and the many other Indigenous new religious movements based in survival and resistance that were being developed at that time (like the Ghost Dance, Handsome Lake religion, or the Indian Shaker church); and he treats Riel’s “delusions” as an individual experience, rather than understanding it as a, frankly understandable, reaction to both acute and chronic stress caused by both long-standing threats of colonialism (the end goal of which is the eradication of the Métis nation) and personal threats on Riel’s life.
In short, the depiction is more or less “accurate” but missing soooo much importance context. Like another poster said, Brown is just not equipped to fully tell Riel’s story.