LITR 5734: Colonial & Postcolonial Literature

Student Film Presentation 2005

Samantha McDonald

18 October 2005

Film Highlight: Hawaii (1966)

Based on a 1959 novel by James Michener

Director George Roy Hill

Cast: Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, Richard Harris, Gene Hackman, Carroll O'Connor

Set in the early 19th century, Hawaii is a powerful movie about a group of missionaries from New England who journey to Hawaii to convert the natives to Christianity. One missionary couple, Reverend Hale (Max von Sydow) and his wife Jerusha (Julie Andrews), spend their entire lives living among the Hawaiians, teaching them to read and write English and ultimately converting them to Christianity. The Hales find themselves immersed in an old, rich culture with many beliefs that violated many of the most fundamental Christian values. By the end of the film, the Hawaiian culture has been irreversibly changed: laws governing adultery and a variety of other Christian values are established, religious practices in place for hundreds of years become criminal, and the native population is virtually eradicated by syphilis and a measles epidemic.

Unique aspects of this film not represented in texts read to date:

Native figure in power is female

Missionaries and whalers were welcomed by the natives

When two distinctly different cultures interact, it is inevitable that both the colonized and the colonizer will change with that exposure. In the scenes being studied, Queen Malama, the spiritual leader of the Hawaiian people, converts to Christianity on her death bed and her children step into their parents' place to lead the Hawaiian people. Malama did this not only for herself but also because she recognizes the power the white settlers possess. Though she submitted to the missionaries, Malama is unwilling to completely dismiss the Hawaiian gods, customs, or beliefs.

In A Passage to India, do Aziz or any of the other natives submit to British rules and laws, but covertly maintain customs that run contrary to those same British rules?

Is this the only way for a colonized society to maintain their unique culture during an occupation?

Much of the commentary available on Hawaii centers around the edits made to the movie between the VHS and DVD releases. Approximately 28 minutes of the film were removed including the entr'acte and a number of scenes that were used to develop the character of Jerusha. A number of class discussions and at least one 2003 midterm discussed whether or not Heart of Darkness should be removed from standard reading lists due to its biased, one-sided perspective.

Is the study of colonial and post-colonial literature enhanced or diminished by editing/censoring texts that contain texts or beliefs offensive to contemporary audiences?