Next Meeting and Film
Next South Seas Cinema meeting is later this month, Sunday April 20th. For those members on the Island of O'ahu the usual hang out at Dan's Shack 5:30pm - remember it's pot-luck. For all the other members who reside outside of the Hawaiian Island of O'ahu and any non-member (you are invited to join in) we will be viewing the critically acclaimed movie from Japan titled HULA GIRLS. Those of you who can rent, borrow or buy it, please do so because we will try for the first time a discussion on the movie on this Blog on the following weekend, April 26 and 27th. This in a sense will be the Society's first world-wide meeting, so you distant members please log in on the Blog. We will also discuss other news from the meeting if any.
Upena haku
Summary and comments on HULA GIRLS from the last April 20th meeting: A enthusiastic shaka sign (Hawaiian thumbs up) from the membership that was there for the screening. Confusing at first for South Seas Cinema (Polynesian or Pacific Island movie and TV) fans because it was set in a small gloomy coal mining town in 60s Japan and not set in Oceania. The confusion and impatience wore during the meat of the movie when the average viewer, figures out what the town is doing to salvage their fragile economy when the whole coal mining operation shuts down, that is, to build a Hawaiian visitor's center to attract the tourist dollar. The audience as well as most citizens of this town were confused and impatient about the mining company's obscure proposal to save the town. Eventually a few families let their teen daughters try to learn the Hula and it was still a little hard to shallow for the parents and the audience. First it was a foreign film with subtitles then the characters where trying to learn something very foreign to them - Hawaiian and Tahitian dance. But as the girls gained experience, the better they preformed and the reality that this crazy ideal struck the audience as well as the township, that this, just might work. At the end it did work. The Hawaiian center opened to a full house and the girls were ready to preform admirably.
It was also a bonus to learn that this was a true story and the Hawaiian center is still open successfully today, saving the now former mining town. The important thing to some of the SSC membership at the meeting (especially the Hawaiian members) was that at the end they preformed the Hula well enough to be proud of the movie and that their culture is so loved on another parts of the planet. It is as though, if the dances were bad the movie would be bad for the Hawaiian members. The average viewer in the world would not know the difference between a good hula performance and a bad one (see case in point below) but it shows that the producers of the movie wanted to please the Hawaiian audience as well by drilling their own actresses to do it right and that attention to detail is what makes the movie enjoyable to watch and highly recommended. Good acting as well.
CASE IN POINT: In the 1987 Miss America Pageant where supposingly the talent portion of the contest was worth 51% of one's total score, Miss Minnesota did the worst Tahitian dance number ever witnessed, insulting not only to Tahitians but to all of Polynesia and laughable to all the general citizenship of all their islands. Well Miss Minnesota won the competition and was crowned Miss America. Ironically that same year the Miss Hawaii Pageant organizers decided that because the State of Hawaii has sent many beautiful women to the Pageant who had danced the hula beautifully but was never recognized for it , that they coach that year's beautiful Hawaiian hula dancer to sing instead. Hawaiian Miss Hawaii sung and lost, anglo Miss Minnesota danced Tahitian badly and won. Another irony, in the year 2000 a Miss Hawaii won the Miss American Pageant and she nervously danced the hula for her talent but she wasn't of Hawaiian ancestry. POINT OF INTEREST: What was the song that the 1987 Miss Hawaii sung in the Miss America Pageant? South Seas Sadie of all things and she wore a sultry, glittered and sequined Hollywood South Seas dress to match.
Upena haku
Summary and comments on HULA GIRLS from the last April 20th meeting: A enthusiastic shaka sign (Hawaiian thumbs up) from the membership that was there for the screening. Confusing at first for South Seas Cinema (Polynesian or Pacific Island movie and TV) fans because it was set in a small gloomy coal mining town in 60s Japan and not set in Oceania. The confusion and impatience wore during the meat of the movie when the average viewer, figures out what the town is doing to salvage their fragile economy when the whole coal mining operation shuts down, that is, to build a Hawaiian visitor's center to attract the tourist dollar. The audience as well as most citizens of this town were confused and impatient about the mining company's obscure proposal to save the town. Eventually a few families let their teen daughters try to learn the Hula and it was still a little hard to shallow for the parents and the audience. First it was a foreign film with subtitles then the characters where trying to learn something very foreign to them - Hawaiian and Tahitian dance. But as the girls gained experience, the better they preformed and the reality that this crazy ideal struck the audience as well as the township, that this, just might work. At the end it did work. The Hawaiian center opened to a full house and the girls were ready to preform admirably.
It was also a bonus to learn that this was a true story and the Hawaiian center is still open successfully today, saving the now former mining town. The important thing to some of the SSC membership at the meeting (especially the Hawaiian members) was that at the end they preformed the Hula well enough to be proud of the movie and that their culture is so loved on another parts of the planet. It is as though, if the dances were bad the movie would be bad for the Hawaiian members. The average viewer in the world would not know the difference between a good hula performance and a bad one (see case in point below) but it shows that the producers of the movie wanted to please the Hawaiian audience as well by drilling their own actresses to do it right and that attention to detail is what makes the movie enjoyable to watch and highly recommended. Good acting as well.
CASE IN POINT: In the 1987 Miss America Pageant where supposingly the talent portion of the contest was worth 51% of one's total score, Miss Minnesota did the worst Tahitian dance number ever witnessed, insulting not only to Tahitians but to all of Polynesia and laughable to all the general citizenship of all their islands. Well Miss Minnesota won the competition and was crowned Miss America. Ironically that same year the Miss Hawaii Pageant organizers decided that because the State of Hawaii has sent many beautiful women to the Pageant who had danced the hula beautifully but was never recognized for it , that they coach that year's beautiful Hawaiian hula dancer to sing instead. Hawaiian Miss Hawaii sung and lost, anglo Miss Minnesota danced Tahitian badly and won. Another irony, in the year 2000 a Miss Hawaii won the Miss American Pageant and she nervously danced the hula for her talent but she wasn't of Hawaiian ancestry. POINT OF INTEREST: What was the song that the 1987 Miss Hawaii sung in the Miss America Pageant? South Seas Sadie of all things and she wore a sultry, glittered and sequined Hollywood South Seas dress to match.
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