There are countless depictions of the boomerang across film and TV - and mostly it is completely divorced from its cultural context. The boomerang has also featured as a twist on a murderous souvenir in BBC Sherlock. It’s a friendly limo driver’s weapon of choice in Crocodile Dundee, and even the Easter Bunny’s in Dreamwork’s Rise of the Guardians, and Dwayne Johnson’s “special skill” in the new Jumanji reboot. There are countless depictions of the boomerang across film and TV – and mostly it is completely divorced from its cultural context. Its most popular use is as a weapon in the hands of non-Indigenous characters - so much so the trope ‘Battle Boomerang’ is listed on TV tropes. However, looking at the use of the boomerang outside of most Australian-made media, the boomerang’s cultural significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples appears long lost. Boomerangs have specific cultural uses and significance to First Nations peoples that vary across the continent, but they range from use as hunting and building tools to playing significant roles in ceremony and even feature in sacred sites and creation stories within the Dreaming. The word itself was recorded by European colonisers and settlers in the early 1800s, derived from Aboriginal languages they heard at the time. While many cultures the world over have documented the use of throwing sticks, the use of boomerangs is specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While some may brush all this off with the claim that as an antagonist and villain, he’s not meant to be a “good guy,” the continued use of the character in pop culture perpetuates anti-Aboriginal racism and cultural appropriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. First Nations peoples are never acknowledged as the boomerang’s creators, nor acknowledged by Captain Boomerang himself beyond the use of slurs. In the comics, Captain Boomerang’s skill with boomerangs is not even one learned from Aboriginal people, but a hobby he picked up to channel the anger he felt toward his abusive parents. The creators’ apathy and total lack of respect for Aboriginal cultures is also visible in the total absence of acknowledgement for the boomerang’s significance within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. However, the pair did enough research to learn what a boomerang was and have their brand new character use racial slurs for Aboriginal people throughout his appearances for decades. Neither of them consulted any Indigenous peoples when they created the character back in the 1950s. Neither John Broome nor Carmine Infantino, the two men who created Captain Boomerang, were Australian, let alone First Nations. Jordan's Killmonger Is The Real Hero of 'Black Panther'
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