In "Rhymes for Young Ghouls," Devery Jacobs not only saw her Native community represented with tact and humanity, but it also gave her the opportunity to explore her queerness on-screen. If not an explicitly queer film, "Rhymes for Young Ghouls" gave Jacobs "permission in my own life to try on more of a masculine shape," she told Vulture.
"I had performed heteroness very well," she continued. "I saw what I got positive reinforcement for in my community, and I leaned into that really hard." Still, there was a certain amount of pressure to be perceived in a heteronormative light on-screen. "There are only, I want to say, about 50,000 Mohawk people left in the world. There's enormous pressure to get married to a Mohawk person and have Mohawk babies."
As Aila, Jacobs got to be assertive and self-possessed. As the leader of a gang otherwise made up of boys as part of her revenge plot, she's also liberated by being referred to as "boss."
Jacobs brought that boss energy to "Reservations Dogs," where she fought for her role, then for a seat at the writers' table. Next, she's following in her career champion Jeff Barnaby's footsteps by directing an episode of "Reservation Dogs" Season 3.
