The South Seas genre is a genre spanning various expressive forms including literature, film, visual art, and entertainment that depicts the islands of the southern Pacific Ocean through an escapist narrative lens.[1] Stories may sometimes take place in tropic settings like the Caribbean or Bermuda. Many Hollywood films were produced on studio backlots or on Santa Catalina Island. The first feature non-documentary film made on location was Lost and Found on a South Sea Island, shot in Tahiti.
The genre was known for its portrayal of tropical men as savages and cannibals, and women as shapely, innocent, exotic beauties.[2] The genre was seen as financially lucrative by the movie studios in the 1940s, despite criticisms that the genre was unrealistic and not well-informed.[3] Typical examples include 1941's South of Tahiti and White Savage (1943).[4] Island themed films also served as a kind of travelogue for a middle class film going public that could not afford what was deemed the ultimate once in a lifetime romantic getaway. Those that could afford tropical island vacations had to endure a weeks long ocean liner journey. Later in the 20th century and with the advent of jet travel such lengthy treks to island paradises would be more feasible.
- ^ P. 544 Lal, Brij V. & Fortune, Kate The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia 2000 University of Hawaii Press
- ^ Brawley, Sean; Dixon, Chris (2012). "Through Hollywood's Lens: Prewar Visions of the South Pacific". Hollywood's South Seas and the Pacific War: Searching for Dorothy Lamour. Palmgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137090676. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ Brawley, Sean; Dixon, Chris (2015). The South Seas: A Reception History from Daniel Defoe to Dorothy Lamour. Lexington Books. p. 246. ISBN 9780739193365. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ Dixon, Chris (2018). African Americans and the Pacific War, 1941-1945: Race, Nationality, and the Fight for Freedom. Cambridge University Press. p. 97. ISBN 9781107112698. Retrieved 19 October 2020.