Hula Girls, Imagining Paradise

Clip 1: Missionary Hawaii

Taken from the documentary Hula Girls, Imagining Paradise (2005)

Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be PG

This clip contains low-level nudity.

Curator’s clip description

Stephen Eisenman, author and Professor of Art History in Illinois, explains the negative impacts of colonialism and imperialism on traditional Tahitian life. English missionaries reformed the ‘sinful natives’ of Hawaii and French missionaries converted many Tahitians to Christianity. The invention of photography was used by Europeans to document the customs and traditions of Pacific Islanders, but the voice-over narration also implies that it was used to disguise a ‘prurient interest in the women as sexual objects’.

Curator’s notes

The role of late 19th century photography in documenting non-European cultures was greatly influenced by colonial and anthropological perspectives on ‘primitive’ or native peoples. Photographic images such as those exampled in this clip held great power over the Western imagination at a time when the only access general European society had to non-European cultures was through photographic representations. Photography had a powerful role in documenting and presenting images of Indigenous cultures as primitive peoples and the traces of their colonial history can still be seen.

Lauren Williams, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

This page is printer friendly

This clip shows footage of modern-day Polynesians worshipping in a Christian church as well as black-and-white images of 19th-century Hawaii and Tahiti. The images depict a port scene, Hawaiian women dressed in European attire, a French ship firing its guns, whaling boats, a beach scene and Pacific Islanders in traditional dress. These images are accompanied by a narration outlining the history of European colonisation on the islands and footage of US art historian Stephen Eisenman reflecting on the effect of colonialism on traditional island life. Hymn singing accompanies part of the narration.

Educational value points

Polynesian people are shown taking part in a contemporary Christian church service, emphasising one of the long-term effects of colonisation on island society. The discovery of new island countries in the South Pacific coincided with a spiritual revival in churches in England. This revival resulted in the founding of missionary societies in the late 18th century. The London Missionary Society began evangelising in the South Seas in 1796 and decided to establish its base at Tahiti. By 1815, with the support of the island’s powerful ruling family, the British missionaries secured a strong influence that further compromised traditional Polynesian culture.

The arrival of US missionaries in Hawaii in 1820 brought Protestant Christianity to the island. When the missionaries arrived, the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau (temples) and burnt images of their gods. The ancient kapu system, which had regulated all aspects of Hawaiian life, had also been abolished. As a result of the spiritual and cultural vacuum that was left, the people of Hawaii were receptive to the ideas of Protestant Christianity brought by the missionaries.

The French annexing of Tahiti, which consolidated the influence of France in Polynesia, is referred to in the clip. By 1842 British missionaries had established a strong influence on the island of Tahiti. While George Pritchard, a British missionary and acting British Consul, was away from the island, Admiral Dupetit-Thouars was able to persuade Tahiti’s Queen Pomare IV to accept a French protectorate. In November 1843 Dupetit-Thouars landed sailors on Tahiti and formally annexed it to France. The island remained a French protectorate until 1880 when King Pomare V was forced to abdicate and cede the sovereignty of Tahiti to France.

The influence of whaling and trading was significant in the history of islands in the South Pacific. Hawaii had established foreign trade, primarily in sandalwood, under Kamehameha the Great. Both Tahiti and Hawaii were favoured places for European ships to restock and for crews to relax. In 1821 the first whaling ship arrived in Maui. Hawaii’s harbour in Lahaina attracted 400 whaling ships in 1846. Whaling boosted the island’s economy, but the visits of foreign sailors also brought health and social problems such as prostitution, venereal diseases and alcohol abuse.

The invention of photography coincided with the European colonial presence in the South Pacific. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851) is believed to have invented photography, showing his invention to members of the French Académie des Sciences for the first time in 1839. The first photographs had a dual function, of artistic expression and of providing a scientific record. During 19th-century exploration and colonisation there was a demand for information about exotic peoples and places. Photography helped to meet this demand with the images it provided.