Hawaii: The untold Story

Before watching the film in class I didn’t know much about Hawaii. One thing that I did know was that Hawaii was a part of the United States. While watching the film this was all put into perspective. It had never occurred to me that the US had unrightfully taken the land away from the Hawaiians. In addition to taken their land away their own cultural beliefs, traditions, and Identity was all taken away. This reminded me of the book when it talks about deculturalization. One way this is done is by changing the language and beliefs. This was done by the US by enforcing American traditions, language, and beliefs on the Hawaiians.

Also, aside from the US taking their land it was heart melting to learn about the “Hula’ dance history as well. Prior to the video I seen it as a cool dance that was done by beautiful women. Anyone who has been to Hawaii or even heard of Hawaii would have instantly thought about the hula dance. In fact many people have hula parties just to do the so called fun dance. Well from the video I learned that the dance ORIGINALLY started as a spiritual dance/practice. Who would have ever known that this would have been the history behind a WORLD-WIDE known dance? As I reflected on it more and more I thought about how the media influences the dance in a fun social way without setting awareness. Personally, I was hurt because I compared it to African Dance. Many people who aren’t educated on the dance/topic take it as a fun activity or a use it as an exercise took. It really hurts when you see something of value to you just being tossed around like it has no value.

A few weeks ago, I was with my cousins and we decided to watch a Disney film called " The Lion King" and their was a part in the movie where they were doing the "Hula" dance as an distraction. Instantly, I got mad. I was up set because it just showed me how careless the media can be or more so it showed me how much power the media has. In addition, to the power our government has to just take something away and display it as nothing. Now that I know about the "Hula" dance I don't see myself doing it again because I believe that it takes away from their cultural identity.