Silly demons, a goat, and a girl trying to raise the dead? This story is the perfect kickoff to spooky season and a great first movie to the Involvement Center’s new series “Representation Reanimated.”
In a collaboration between BSU and the Involvement Center, the film “Wendell and Wild” made its debut in the MSC’s outdoor theater at UW-Stout on Friday, Oct. 4. Movie-goers enjoyed hot chocolate and welcomed the fall weather while watching the film. The movie was chosen as the first for the “Representation Reanimated” series because of its representation for people of color. The film features a lot of diversity, and clever antics from its characters that reflect real-world issues in an understanding way for younger audiences. This stop-motion kids movie tells the story of Kat, an orphaned teenager that goes back to her hometown years after her parents’ death and faces the demons of her past, while dealing with the confusing antics of her literal demons.
“Representation Reanimated” is an ongoing series from the Student involvement center, hoping to collaborate with diversity clubs, on showing films and media that represent people of different origins in settings we don’t normally see.
“When we were planning our fall events last spring, we wanted something that was going to represent people where they usually didn’t have that. We decided on ‘Wendell and Wild’ because it’s a movie that didn’t get a lot of traction in the box office. It’s a female black character in the main lead in a place you usually don’t see people: in stop motion films. We thought it was such a cool thing, then we found out Jordan Peele helped in making it. The main character is very alt, and you don’t usually see black characters as alt, or in alternative spaces, it gives this rebellious undertone and it just clicked a lot of our boxes,” said Chris Sander, president of BSU, when asked for her input on the film. “We thought it would be such a cool thing to bring to campus. It was just the perfect intersection between a lot of parts of identity that we wanted to cover, especially in film.”
With its spooky undertone and relatable characters, this movie makes a great weekend or late-night watch. Captivating its audience with a constantly moving story, setting, and small background details, this film not only surprises but delightfully ensnares its watchers.
