The year 1958 brought another fantastic (insert sarcasm) film to the big screen in Roger Corman's She Gods of Shark Reef. This fascinating tale of two brothers, wanted by police for the crimes by one brother, wash ashore after a shipwreck on a uncharted island populated by beautiful island women. Lest anyone think they had died and went to paradise, there is much mystery and suspense surrounding the customs of the women and their shark god.
The island women are shown dancing a relatively authentic hula, with the exception of young Mahia, whom one of the brothers falls for. As is typical of these movies, there are many scenes underwater not only including the shark, but also a very ominous looking tiki that marks the area where the young virginal women are sacrificed to the shark god. The movie poster (seen above) also displays the tiki artwork. Tiki is present in many movies and television shows whenever Hollywood wants to indicate something as taboo or forbidden. Yet the tiki itself spawned an entire culture as a theme that represented an escape for people in the 50's and 60's.
In another example of tiki in film, The Brady Bunch took their viewers to Hawaii in in 1972. Among all the different aspects of Hawaiian culture encountered by the Brady's in Hawaii, Bobby finding a tiki at work site they were visiting. At first believing it was a good luck charm, the Brady boys quickly decided it was actually bad luck when one accident or incident happened after another, especially to those wearing the tiki.
In an effort to rid themselves of the bad luck, they visit Mr. Hanalei, who tells them the legend of the tiki and how it must be returned to its rightful place in order to stop the bad from happening. As a local who grew up on the legends of Hawaii, I am always frustrated when visitors would take for granted the stories of Hawaiian culture and believe themselves immune to such warnings of bad luck. It shows a disrespect for the culture.
In 2008 the article "Tiki Doen't Have To Be Tacky" in the Wall Street Journal shared the history of the tiki culture and how it had waned by the mid-80's but has since experienced a resurgence in popularity. Writer Eric Felton identifies "good tiki" as grace and elegance and "bad tiki"as steel & glass totems, plastic lei, in other words "camp". I think campy tiki is unavoidable as it represents an escape to those who need to be away from their 9-5 worlds and imagine themselves in a place where the alcohol flows freely on a beach in Waikiki. I can appreciate the appeal tiki culture has, the value of the art of tiki, but it is still important to understand and respect the culture it originates from.
Nice explanations. I do think they took tiki a bit too much. Tiki art is beautiful, and it really is important to see the roots of the culture. Hawaii became too "tiki" because of it, even though there arent that much tikis here. Overall, I think you're doing a great job in summarizing the sections and love your storytelling-like way you're wording your blog with.
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