Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
White Lens on Brown Skin
The Sexualization of the Polynesian in American Film
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
From the earliest accounts of contact with Europeans, Polynesians have been perceived as sensual and sexual beings. By the late 1800s, publications, lectures and stage plays about the Pacific became popular across Europe, and often contained exotic and erotic components. This book details the fusion of truth and fiction in the representation of Pacific Islanders, focusing on the sexualization of Polynesians in American cinema and other forms of mass communications and commercial entertainment.
With messaging almost subliminal to American audiences, the Hollywood media machine produced hundreds of tropical film titles with images of revealing grass skirts, scanty sarongs, female toplessness and glistening exposed male pectorals. This critical filmography demonstrates how the concept of “sex sells,” especially when applied on a large scale, shaped American social views on Polynesian people and their culture. Chapters document this phenomenon and an annotated filmography of sexualized tropes and several appendices conclude the book, including a glossary of Polynesian terms and a film index.
About the Author:
Matthew B. Locey worked for many years in the Hawaii film industry as a member of the prestigious Directors Guild of America. He is also a founding member and president of the South Seas Cinema Society. Having lived in Hawaii for the majority of his life, he currently resides in Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Press Reviews:
"A powerful study… A very interesting and recommended reading for anybody interested in film history, Americans Studies and Polynesian culture."—popcultureshelf.com
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
> On a related topic:
Orientalism and Reverse Orientalism in Literature and Film (2023)
Beyond East and West
Dir. Sharmani Patricia Gabriel and Bernard Wilson
Subject: Sociology
Techno-Orientalism (2015)
Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media
Dir. David S. Roh, Betsy Huang and Greta A. Niu
Subject: Sociology
Ancient Egypt in the Popular Imagination (2012)
Building a Fantasy in Film, Literature, Music and Art
Subject: Sociology
Envisioning Asia (2010)
On Location, Travel, and the Cinematic Geography of U.S. Orientalism
Subject: Sociology
From Rajahs and Yogis to Gandhi and Beyond (2010)
Images of India in International Films of the 20th Century
by Vijaya Mulay
Subject: Sociology
Lost in Translation (2010)
Orientalism, Cinema, and the Enigmatic Signifier
by Homay King
Subject: Sociology
Egyptomania Goes to the Movies (2017)
From Archaeology to Popular Craze to Hollywood Fantasy
Subject: History of Cinema
Karloff and the East (2021)
Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and Oceanian Characters and Subjects in His Screen Career
by Scott Allen Nollen and Yuyun Yuningsih Nollen
Subject: Actor > Boris Karloff
Hollywood Goes Oriental (2010)
Caucasian Performance in American Film
Subject: Countries > United States
Back
