South Seas genre
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The decision was made last night; I shall write of my first ship, the Bounty, of the mutiny on board, of my long residence on the island of Tahiti in the South Sea, and of how I was conveyed home in irons, to be tried by court-martial and condemned to death."--Mutiny on the Bounty (1932) by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall "The Romans ranked swimming with letters, saying of an uneducated man, "Nec literas didicit nec natare." He had neither learned to read nor to swim. The sea is the book of the South Sea Islanders. They swim as they walk, beginning as babies to dive and to frolic in the water. Their mothers place them on the river bank at a day old, and in a few months they are swimming in shallow water. At two and three years they play in the surf, swimming with the easy motion of a frog. They have no fear of the water to overcome, for they are accustomed to the element from birth, and it is to them as natural as land."--White Shadows in the South Seas (1919) by Frederick O'Brien |
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The South Seas genre is a genre spanning various expressive forms including literature, film, visual art, and entertainment that depicts the islands of the South Seas through an escapist narrative lens. Stories may sometimes take place in tropic settings like the Caribbean or Bermuda. Many Hollywood films were produced on studio backlots or on Santa Catalina Island. The first feature non-documentary film made on location was Lost and Found on a South Sea Island, shot in Tahiti.
The genre was known for its portrayal of tropical men as savages and cannibals, and women as shapely, innocent, exotic beauties. The genre was seen as financially lucrative by the movie studios in the 1940s, despite criticisms that the genre was unrealistic and not well-informed. Typical examples include 1941's South of Tahiti and White Savage (1943). Island themed films also served as a kind of travelogue for a middle class film going public that could not afford what was deemed the ultimate once in a lifetime romantic getaway. Those that could afford tropical island vacations had to endure a weeks long ocean liner journey. Later in the 20th century and with the advent of jet travel such lengthy treks to island paradises would be more feasible.
Noted authors
- J. Allan Dunn: The Island of the Dead (1915), Beyond the Rim (1916), etc.
- Robert Dean Frisbie: The Book of Puka Puka (1929), etc.
- Jack London: Adventure (1911), South Sea Tales, etc.
- W. Somerset Maugham: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), "Rain," etc.
- Herman Melville: Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), etc.
- James A. Michener: Tales of the South Pacific (1947)
- Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall: Mutiny on the Bounty (1932)
- Frederick O'Brien: White Shadows in the South Seas (1919)
- Henry De Vere Stacpoole: The Blue Lagoon (1908)
- Robert Louis Stevenson: In the South Seas (1896)
- Charles Warren Stoddard: South-Sea Idyls (1873), Summer Cruising in the South Seas (1874), etc.
See also
