Revised spectacles: Literary transformations of Hollywood's Pacific narratives

Abstract

This article examines literary revisions of Hollywood's filmic narratives of the Pacific as seen in Sia Figiel's novel, They Who Do Not Grieve (1999), Tusiata Avia's poetry collection, Wild Dogs under my Skirt (2004) and Victor Rodger's play My Name is Gary Cooper (2007). It argues that in order to question Hollywood's spectacular narratives of exotic islands and dusky maidens, these authors engage in a process of contestation through the ironic re-enactment and consequent transformation of these stereotypes. These responses can be interpreted as “revised spectacles” – that is, alternative postcolonial spectaculars which appropriate and manipulate the original material, in the metaphorical sense of the phrase, becoming a corrective lens for neo/colonial visions of their cultures.

Keywords:

• Pacific literature
• representation
• Hollywood's classical cinema
• Tusiata Avia
• Sia Figiel
• Victor Rodger

Notes

1. Bordwell, Staigher, and Thompson (1985) understand this period as encompassing films produced from 1917, when the classic narrative and stylistic conventions became dominant, to 1960, when alternative styles and modes of production appeared. The films referred to here were made during this classical period.

2. For an account of the most relevant film-makers from the Pacific, see Hereniko 1999.

3. This is the case of most of James Michener’s works. His Tales of the South Pacific (1947) was the basis for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s musical South Pacific (1949) and was adapted into a film directed by Joshua Logan in 1958. His Return to Paradise (1951) inspired Robson’s movie, and Hawaii was first turned into a film by George Gray Hill in 1969, and reworked into a sequel, The Hawaiians (1970), directed by Tom Gries.

4. The most relevant filmic revision is Sima Urale’s documentary Velvet Dreams (1997) about the Polynesian dusky maiden in the velvet paintings of Charlie McPhee. For an analysis of Urale’s work, see Pearson, “Darkness and Light” and J. Smith. For critical analysis of the dusky maiden see O’Brien; Pearson, “Darkness and Light”; Sturma; Suaalii; Taouma; Tamaira; Van Tright.

5. The first documentaries were filmed in the Pacific in 1898. The production of feature films started at the turn of the century, growing exponentially from the 1920s and reaching its peak during the classical period.

6. Until the 1960s, leading female roles were mostly played by North American actresses, conveniently disguised to appear ethnic. Dorothy Lamour popularized the famous “sarong roles” in several classical productions and the sarong soon acquired an iconic status as a convenient attire to reveal and cover the actress’s ‘indigenized’ body, according to the moral and racial requirements of the time. Actresses of Hispanic origins, such as Dolores del Rio, were also popular for these roles.

7. The Motion Picture Production Code was released in 1930 by the main Hollywood studios to regulate the contents and moral standards of their productions. In 1956 the original Code was substantially rewritten to allow for the appearance of what had previously been taboo subjects such as miscegenation.