Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Myths of Paradise According to One High School Photo Class


 In thinking about portrayals of Hawaii, I’ve included my high school photography students in the conversation. We’ve been discussing the role images play in shaping reality. My readings of Camera Lucida and On Photography have helped guide our discussions about representation, reality, and truth. With these larger concepts in mind, we’ve discussed how Hawaii has been portrayed via photographs in the media, pop culture, the travel industry, etc. I asked students to list 10 myths or stereotypes of Hawaii and then for each myth, find one image via the Internet that perpetuated (or “proved”) the myth and one image that debunked it. An example that came up repeatedly is the idea of Hawaii as an endless stretch of pristine, empty sandy coastline.  You know the postcard – gorgeous white sand, turquoise water, swaying palm tree. While this striking scenery does exist, the stereotypical image of paradise certainly doesn’t include the daily commute of H1 traffic that both my students and I travel on everyday nor does it include the beaches overflowing with homeless makeshift housing. What other myths of paradise exist? Which ones are true, partly true, or entirely inaccurate? What we found is that many of the stereotypes were in fact embedded in some sort of partial truth. For every image available to debunk a myth, another photograph was available to validate it. When we worked to compile all of the images in a venn diagram (3 categories: true, false, sometimes true or false), we discovered that many of the images fell into the sometimes true/sometimes false center section. (Image below is not the final display but I wanted to show an idea of what we were working with.) Sorting and organizing the images was an engaging process but also somewhat problematic depending on how the stereotype was phrased. (Words like "everyone" or "all" tended to automatically be false given their absoluteness.) Nevertheless, the activity did provide interesting debate about topics ranging from identity, island culture, food, family, and local political issues like affordable housing, traffic, and environmental issues. We still have a number of images to sort…and I hope to eventually involve more classes on the venn diagram project.
Draft of Venn Diagram: Images that perpetuate/debunk myths of Hawaii

Next, I am most interested in working with my students to consider what role images play in shaping the perception of Hawaii.  And in the context of their own practices, as photographers, what is their responsibility in portraying a subject authentically? Is this even possible? Is it important?

Tomorrow, I am taking this class on a field trip to Haleiwa to the legendary North Shore. They are each doing independent projects but I’ve asked them to keep our recent discussions on the myths of paradise in the back of their minds as they shoot. I’m looking forward to seeing their work on these concepts, as there will be ample opportunity to explore them tomorrow.

Below is a compiled list of my students’ thoughts on the myths of Hawaii. 
  • We live in grass huts.
  • It's always sunny, beautiful weather in Hawaii.
  • Everyone can dance hula and hula dancers exist everywhere.
  • There is no traffic on the islands.
  • The beaches are deserted and pristine.
  • Everyone is happy, has no problems, and in "permanent vacation mode."
  • All water is clean.
  • People from here don't go to college.
  • People wear grass skirts and coconut bras.
  • Everyone can surf and goes to the beach everyday.
  • We walk (swim, surf, or paddle) everywhere.
  • People are laid-back and "super-chill."
  • We go barefoot everywhere.
  • Volcanoes exist everywhere in Hawaii.
  • Everybody is rich with beach front property.
  • We only eat Hawaiian foods like poi.
  • Everyone is beach blond surfers.
  • Everyone is Hawaiian.
  • Plumeria flowers are native to Hawaii.
  • Everyone knows how to play ukulele.
  • Everyone speaks Hawaiian on a daily basis.
  • All women in Hawaii are ugly.
  • All women in Hawaii are beautiful and exotic- looking.
  • Everyone has a hula dancer car dash ornament.


Lastly, this week marks the 50th anniversary of Blue Hawaii starring Elvis Presley. We watched the beginning of this film to see how Hawaii was being portrayed in the 1960’s. Some of the stereotypes (both racial and sexual) were offensive. However, in general, as a learning exercise, it was informative  and fairly entertaining to critically examine this film in the context of Hawaii stereotypes. It’s serendipity that the film’s 50th anniversary is this week.


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