WASHINGTON — “Ua mau, ke ea o ka aina, I ka pono, o Hawai`i.”
“The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness,” chants Israel Kamakawiwo`ole, known locally as “Braddah IZ,” in his popular song “Hawai`i ’78.”
He sings of modern day Hawai`i and questions how the kings and queens of old Hawai’i would react to the highways and high rises that now cover their sacred land.
Many recognize the “Aloha State” for its beautiful beaches and perfect weather, a picture largely painted by Hollywood. But when you move past Waikiki, the palm trees, leis, and hula skirts, you find a much different Hawaii.
“All the fighting that the king had done, to conquer all these islands now these condominiums. How would he feel if he saw Hawai`i nei?”
The history of Hawai`i is a dark one. Many are unaware of how the islands lost their lands to the white missionaries who washed up on the shores of Oahu from the United States. Hawai’i, under the rule of a Hawaiian monarchy, welcomed these men who would eventually overthrow the Hawaiian Queen, Lili`uokalani, in her own palace. The queen was arrested in 1895, and held until she was freed in 1896. After being freed, she headed to Washington with documents signed by Hawaiians asking President Grover Cleveland to restore their kingdom.
It was too late.
In the end, annexationists won, with President Cleveland writing, “I am ashamed of the whole affair.” Hawai’i’s sovereignty was formally transferred to the United States in 1898, and Stanford Dole was appointed the governor of the Territory of Hawai`i. That year, the Hawaiian people lost their land, their monarchy and their independence.
Hawai`i went on to be the 50th state in 1959, and it wasn’t until 1993 that Congress and President Bill Clinton issued a joint resolution apologizing to the native Hawaiian people for the overthrow of the Kingdom in the 1800s.
“Cry for the gods, cry for the people. Cry for the land that was taken away, and yet you’ll find Hawaii.”
Movies and television have been showing Hawai’i to the world before it was even a state. In the Best Picture winner “From Here to Eternity” (1953), Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, and Burt Lancaster play soldiers stationed in Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu just before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Fast forward to 2001, and you have the blockbuster romance “Pearl Harbor,” starring Ben Affleck and Josh Harnett, who are also stationed in Hawaii before the tragic Japanese attack.
In the following years, we saw movies about surfing (“Blue Crush”), a girl who can’t remember what happened the day before (“50 First Dates”) and families divided on selling their land (“The Descendants”). Television has done it too, most famously in the late 1960s hit, “Hawaii Five-O,” which was recently remade under the same name.
“Could you just stay imagine if they were around … How would they feel about this modern city life?”
This week, the newest movie shot in Hawai`i, “Aloha,” starring Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, and Emma Stone, has been garnering a lot of attention from the Hawaiian community for its use of the word “aloha,” used as a way to say hello, goodbye, or a sign of love. In the Hawaiian community, the misappropriation between how we see things and how Hollywood sees them is always debated.
If there is one thing the movie “Aloha” gets right, it’s that the Native Hawaiian people do not like developers coming in and destroying their land. In the past, the U.S. military and Hawaiian activists have fought over land use, saying that training practices have destroyed sacred landmarks.
The movie gives us a glimpse of this frustration with a cameo by Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele, a native Hawaiian sovereignty activist, who also heads the Nation of Hawai`i group. In the film, he makes a deal with Cooper’s character to keep Hawaii’s skies clear, for a mountain and better cell service. The movie does nothing to teach us of Hawaiian culture.
“As a local, it offends me that these studios can’t accurately portray Hawaii, demographically, culturally or historically. Hawaii is prostituted and appropriated in every film,” says Samantha Nakamoto, a local resident from the Big Island or Hawai`i Island.
Through film, we perceive people, places and cultures we may never get the chance to see ourselves. That’s why external sources of information such as film and media play a big part in shaping our notions of different places. For example, films made in Hawaii portraying a positive role of the military would not be completely correct because of Hawai`i’s past.
“It’s not about being Hawaiian, it’s about respecting Hawaii as it is, not perpetuating what big business wants it to be,” Nakamoto says.
On the other hand, should we be bashing a film that never claimed its purpose was to reflect Hawaiian culture? Some believe critics are being too sensitive.
“If people think they have a correct notion of Hawai’i based off a film that was made for entertainment purposes rather than historical (purposes), that’s on them,” says Oahu native Wednesdei Lauer. “I would like people to have a correct understanding of Hawai’i, but that is not what this film set out to do. I’d be more upset if a film claiming to teach about Hawaiian culture blatantly gave false information.”
Another big issue that came up with this film is the use of white actors taking the place of local people. The movie hardly uses any Hawaiian, Japanese or Filipino characters as extras in the film, however, the film does take place mostly on an Air Force Base.
“My Dad is a member of the native Hawaiian roll with ancestors on both his mother and father’s side, but I popped out looking just like my mom from Ohio who met my dad in the Air Force,” says Tescily England, of Kauai, who doesn’t see any harm in using white actors to portray locals in films. “My grandpa looks white and his last name is Maguire, but he grew up in Hauula with a 100 percent Hawaiian mother and only spoke Hawaiian growing up. To say the people in the film can’t be Hawaiian simply because they’re fair skinned is ignorant.”
But what about taking a look at both sides, and agreeing there is truth on both ends? There is no sense for locals to get worked up over the unintentional ignorance as a result of Hollywood, and Hawai`i will never be completely represented to satisfy all parties.
Unfortunately, movies make the biggest impact on the general public’s understanding of Hawai`i, and for the most part, it is seen as a “tropical paradise.” Native Hawaiians and locals alike constantly fight it with issues like sovereignty.
“In discussing these issues, many people use the claim of ‘being Native Hawaiian,’ ‘being born and raised in Hawaii,’ or having some other connection, but we must remember these privileged roots are not entitlements to represent Hawai`i,” says Oahu native Jordan Oshiro, who is currently attending Purdue University, and in the process of creating Hawaiian cultural programs for the school. “Many different people with varying perceptions of Hawai`i all make up this place we call ‘home.’ So although others may not be able to truly understand what it means, we should always seek to embody the ‘Aloha Spirit.'”
“Cry for the gods, cry for the people. Cry for the land that was taken away, and yet you’ll find Hawaii.”
I was born on what locals call the “mainland,” or the continental United States, and moved to the islands when I was seven-years-old. I can barely remember my mainland home, so I’ve only known life on the Big Island. Growing up in Hawai’i is like growing up in another country, maybe because we’re so detached from the rest of the mainland, but the way of life is like none other I can compare.
The sense of family, or “ohana,” runs deep throughout the islands, where I grew up calling my elders “aunty” or “uncle” as a sign of respect, not blood relation. Family, the island way of life, and the island itself are all-important to the people of Hawai’i. We take care of the land because the land takes care of us. And in turn, we take care of each other by living and breathing the spirit of Aloha.
“You can pay the man, you can take the land, but you can’t take the truth away.”
