The Jungle-style Thread - Pop Culture Iconography of the Dark Continent - General Tiki

J JOHN-O Tiki Socialite Dogtown, USA Joined: May 16, 2008 Posts: 2721	J JOHN-O Posted posted on Thu, Dec 3, 2009 11:46 AM On 2009-12-03 09:07, bigbrotiki wrote: BUT, as mentioned above, the South Seas/African melange was much easier to justify (not that anybody cared) with the participation of the Oceanic tribes of Melanesia, which certainly used spears and shields. Yeah but were the designers of those Tiki bars and restaurants even aware of the Oceanic tribes of Melanesia? What's the pop cultural reference point? I'm sure most people in the 1950's had seen "King Kong" and those Uga Booga natives running around on that tropical jungle island (with shield and spear in hand). "King Kong" was a hugely successful and influential film that might have cemented this stereotypical blueprint for decades to come. I wanna see a picture of King Kong in your next book. :) [ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-12-03 11:53 ]

On 2009-12-03 09:07, bigbrotiki wrote:

BUT, as mentioned above, the South Seas/African melange was much easier to justify (not that anybody cared) with the participation of the Oceanic tribes of Melanesia, which certainly used spears and shields.

Yeah but were the designers of those Tiki bars and restaurants even aware of the Oceanic tribes of Melanesia? What's the pop cultural reference point? I'm sure most people in the 1950's had seen "King Kong" and those Uga Booga natives running around on that tropical jungle island (with shield and spear in hand). "King Kong" was a hugely successful and influential film that might have cemented this stereotypical blueprint for decades to come.

I wanna see a picture of King Kong in your next book. :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-12-03 11:53 ]

Post #497058 by JOHN-O on Thu, Dec 3, 2009 11:46 AM