Documentary aims to humanize First Nations man who was made infamous in meme

While some relish an iconic Indigenous meme on social media, Damien Eagle Bear is doing his best to give a late member from his First Nation some respect.

Eagle Bear recalls he was angry when he first saw what has become a popular meme. It showed a middle-aged Indigenous man with his fists raised in front of him looking like he was ready to fight. Many felt that image was being shared to mock Indigenous people.

The meme took off when the Indigenous word skoden, which translates into ‘let’s go then’ or 'let's do this', was added to the picture.

When he first saw the meme, Eagle Bear immediately recognized the man as Pernell Bad Arm, an individual from Kainai Nation in Alberta, Eagle Bear’s Nation.

He met Bad Arm while working at a shelter in Lethbridge, located near Kainai. Bad Arm died in 2015.

Through his work at the shelter, Eagle Bear was aware of the interactions that those who lived on the streets had with members of the public.

“There was a lot of people sharing certain types of videos and photos of people that live on the streets or people who have addiction issues in a public format to shame them,” he said. “When I saw that photo (of Bad Arm), that was kind of my immediate thought in terms of the context of how that photo was likely taken.”

But the meme continued to be shared widely online. And Eagle Bear was not pleased to see what he felt was Bad Arm being portrayed negatively. Bad Arm’s family members have condemned the original photo and have expressed their desire that it not be shared.

Eagle Bear knew Bad Arm had encountered a number of challenges in his life, the effect of which compounded by the fact he had spent plenty of time living on the streets.

Eagle Bear has now written, directed and produced a film titled #skoden about Bad Arm’s life. The documentary will have its world premiere at Hot Docs 2025, a Toronto film festival, on April 29. A second screening of the documentary will be held at the festival on May 1.

Eagle Bear said his desire to make the film was an attempt to humanize Bad Arm, “because of this meme and this photo that just kind of shows him only in one light.”

Eagle Bear said he first saw the meme about a dozen years ago, shortly after finishing film school.

“It just got me angry,” he said. “It kind of got me sad because I knew this person. Because I just finished film school, I felt like I should do something. But I didn't quite know how or what to do.”

Fast forward to 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, when Eagle Bear heard that TELUS was accepting pitches for documentaries.

“I had this story about my grandpa that I was actually working on at the time,” he said. “But because it’s animated, it’s not really something TELUS deals with.”

The next idea was the one that had been stuck in his mind for several years to make a film about Bad Arm.

“I thought, ‘I know there’s this famous Indigenous meme and I have a personal connection to it’,” he said. “It’s from my community.”

He wondered if TELUS representatives would be interested. They were.

“That conversation just kind of spurred it and the wheels started turning,” Eagle Bear said.

The film #skoden includes numerous interviews with individuals who knew Bad Arm.

“I want to change people's perception of him. Since he was in the Indigenous community, so many people know him and celebrate him because of the meme and the popularity of the meme. I want people to understand Pernell on a much larger scale.”

Eagle Bear said he knows plenty of people, including friends, who had shared the meme of Bad Arm.

“I had plenty of conversations with friends about it,” he said. “Definitely not heated, but I was saying we shouldn’t be sharing this. I knew this person. Most people would listen to me. But there's a section of colleagues and other people that saw something else in it.”

Following its Toronto screenings, #skoden will also be shown at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival, which runs May 1 to May 11 in Vancouver.

“Hopefully we get into more festivals,” Eagle Bear said. “I'd like this film to have a lengthy festival run.”

Tickets for #skoden at the Toronto festival are available at https://hotdocs.ca/whats-on/hot-docs-festival/films/2025/skoden

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.