For the era it was filmed in, Hawaii was not yet the 50th State, so you can see why some of the portrayals might be depicted as they were: natives who live in grass huts, wear grass skirts, dance in front of big fires at a luau, and speak a different language. It is the portrayal of the language that I found bothersome. While you could detect the use of some actual Hawaiian language words, such as "a'ole" and "wiki wiki", it was the rest of the gibberish that is presented as the Hawaiian language that implies it to be silly and nonsensical sounding. This is insulting to the Hawaiian culture where preservation of the Hawaiian language is so important.
While viewers of this movie on the mainland would have no idea what was being said even if the language was accurate, it still presented the idea that the Hawaiian language is silly sounding. The movie also presents English as a language that is easily adapted by the native girl from her island visitor as she quickly learns to communicate using his language rather than he adapting hers. Though in the end, it is her ability to understand both languages that allows her to make the ultimate sacrifice for her love.
I totally agree with you! I may have been born in Hawaii and all but once my cousins start speaking in Hawaii with eachother I only catch 5 or 6 words that I know in their whole conversation. So for me it would make since why he would stick to his own language. But it also dosnt help the fact that they weren't even speaking a real language in the movie, probably because they didn't recruit a local to translate.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree about the language. I can appreciate the minor usages of some of the more importnat words, but it was still annoying hearing this "cavewoman" gibberish. I dont understand why they couldn't have put a Hawaiian girl to play this. The language could have been more authentic that way. Overall, it did insult Hawaiian culture and did put a rough start for Hawaii.
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