Opper / 1894
I like to read these books because they’re always making up stories, and that’s how they make the world the way they want it…You see, we got to be aware of the stories they’re making about us, and the way they change the stories we already know. –Luther McCurtain, in Louis Owens, The Sharpest Sight
When news surfaced that blue-eyed actor Zach McGowan would be playing the role of lead character, Benehakaka “Ben” Kanahele in the up and coming film Ni‘ihau by director Gabriel Robertson, social media rang in an uproar against what many considered to be “white-washing” Kanahele’s character and mo‘olelo (story) (Gandhi).
While many people may be familiar with the term “white-washing” which refers to the use of a pre-dominantly Caucasian cast to play roles that would clearly and more appropriately be played by actors or actresses of color, Native Hawaiian film representations often experience an array of different types of “washing.” Other forms of “washing” Native Hawaiian representations occur through the use of Asian American actors/actresses to play native roles - also known as “yellow washing.” Hawai‘i host a large Asian population and many of which identify as “local.” As a result, some filmmakers see no problem with casting Asian Americans as Native Hawaiians. However, this act can subjugate both ethnic groups as a way to say “you are all the same” and perpetuates the theme of the “vanishing native.”
In another example of visual ethnic washing, we also have cross-cultural participation. While it can be noted that actors and actresses should be able to perform their talents in spite of ethnic and racial casting, this type of cross-cultural participation in Hollywood works to subjugate a particular native people’s identity with the use of an individual from a similar but different ethnic background. Cross-cultural participation connotes the idea that all native people are alike and dismantles the detailed distinctions among Indigenous people. The use of an actor or actress who identifies with their Indigenous identity can be a way for Hollywood to say - This actor or actress is proud of their culture, serves as a humanitarian and cultural activist, cares for America, and most important, is Indigenous “just like you” as a way to validate their misrepresentation of native cultural subjects.
Lastly, there is actual cultural participation. This refers to the use of an actual Native Hawaiian to validate Hollywood’s misrepresentation of native cultural subjects. However, cultural participation does not equate to cultural validation. Just because one hires a Native Hawaiian for a film project that does not necessarily mean that the project is culturally valid.
For example, if I hire a chef that is ethnically Maori to cook for me, that does not necessarily mean that every dish the Maori chef makes will be a Maori dish. Some days the chef might make Italian food and other days the chef might make Chinese food. While these dishes may be delicious, the dishes are not Maori meals because a Maori was hired and made them. Instead, it is the ingredients and methods utilized that determine whether or not the dish is a Maori dish or inspired by other cultures. In the same way, proper representations of Native Hawaiians can be evaluated as valid through an examination of the sources and methods utilized to produce that character, representation, or film – not necessarily the ethnic background of the director, screenwriter, and actors.
Beyond the woes of silver screen ethnic washing was the concern about how the story of Ben Kanahele and the “Ni‘ihau Incident” would be shared with the world. Some raised concerns about historical inaccuracies in the plot and script of the film (Casino). Others worried about the film’s potential to misrepresent Japanese Americans. Still, other reporters noted how the film’s timing could raise tensions among or about Asian Americans, given the current political climate between the United States and North Korea (Herreria).
Film operates under a series of constraints in the representation of history. The breadth of information that can be conveyed within a single film, in fictional and documentary genres alike, tends to generate what Jane Landman calls “obvious inventions in plot and dialogue, with historical events and characters frequently suffering the indignities of compression or conflation, displacement in time and space, and alteration or misattribution” (Landman 4-5).
The emphasis on Hawaiian (his)tory and certain public figures in Hawaiian (his)tory in American films reshapes a (his)tory extracted and expressed through an American ideology of culture, patriarchy, and presence. The intended nature of this type of propaganda is to monumentalize Hawaiians as an object of the past that can be curated and displayed according to the timing and pleasure of colonization and its innate capitalistic needs.
Modern mass media, including cinema, have played a major part in the production of national symbols. As these symbols become part of each individual through the media, they effectively break down the separation between public and private, local and national (Kilpatrick 5). The film Ni‘ihau runs the risk of sharing a nationalist discourse of a particular type of “Native Hawaiian Hero” which is also tied to American nationalism. This type of message conflicts with the reality that Hawai‘i is currently and illegally occupied by the U.S. government and military.
Writer Neva Kilpatrick once wrote “It seems that when non-native filmmakers tell a story about natives, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t…Perhaps, this dilemma puts too much of a burden on a profit-driven industry to ask that it carry the responsibility of preserving culture” (Kilpatrick 233). While this may be true, I know that some navigators can see different shades of black within the night sky (Hopkins 74) and as native people learn to navigate the open seas and doldrums of the film industry, my hope is that there will be diversity in the kinds of representations of Kānaka Maoli people.
Me ke Aloha,
Bubzy
Casino, Khier. “Beloved Actress Reads ‘Ni’ihau’ Script, Confirms It’s a Historically Falso Piece of Sh*t” NextShark. 10 May 2017.
<http://nextshark.com/tamlyn-tomita-jenny-yang-niihua-film-whitewashing-script-review/>
Gandhi, Lakshmi. “New WWII Film Stirs Whitewashing Accusations with Casting of Hawaiian Hero” NBC News. 9 May 2017.
<http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/new-wwii-film-ni-ihau-stirs-whitewashing-accusations-casting-announcement-n757026>
Herreria, Carla. “The Casting of a White Actor as Native Hawaiian Hero Cuts Deeper Than You Think” Huffington Post. 10 May 2017.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zach-mcgowan-niihau-hawaiian_us_5912ac24e4b050bdca60a6a6
Kame‘eleihiwa, Lilikālā. Native Lands and Foreign Desires: How Shall We Live in Harmony? Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1992.
Kilpatrick, Neva. Celluloid Indians: Native Americans and Film. University of Nebraska Press,
1999.
Landman, Jane and Chris Ballard. “An Ocean of Images.” The Journal of Pacific History 45:1
(2010) 1-20.
Morales, Manolo. “Movie under fire for casting Caucasian actor as real-life Native Hawaiian war hero” KHON2. 9 May 2017.
Opper, Fred'k B., Illustrator. Bill Nye's Comic History of the United States. By Bill Nye. J.B. Lippincott Co, 1894.
Owens, Louis. The Sharpest Sight. University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.