Post #726571 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Aug 31, 2014 2:10 AM

Now that enough time has passed for all the Tikiphiles to get their copy, I want to open the discussion for the book:

To encourage that, I am shedding some light onto some of the book/exhibit catalog's concepts:

1.) THE TITLE "Tiki POP" !!? (from my recent Tiki Oasis lecture):

Those who have followed my musings and ramblings about the revival of Tiki Style might have heard me utter these words: “I am glad that my goal of making Tiki re-enter pop culture has been achieved, but it has become too much POP, and not enough CULTURE !”

So WHY the title TIKI POP, now that I had taken the next hurdle and positioned American Tiki ephemera in a true temple of high culture, the Musee du Quai Branly in the middle of Paris?

The title Tiki Pop was requested by Stephane Martin, the director of the Quai Branly museum. The Quai Branly is a state sponsored museum, the most modern ethnographic museum in Europe. It is a serious institution, with an amazing Oceanic art collection. To clearly separate my American mid-century Tiki items from the authentic artifacts in the museum, the exhibition title "Tiki Pop" was chosen.

2.) The HOLLYWOOD concept:

To further clarify the fact that American Tiki style was more a fantasy than an authentic re-creation of Polynesian culture, I came up with the approach of describing a Tiki lounge as being like a film set, and its accoutrements like props. The French are great lovers of classic Hollywood films, and once the term "Hollywood" would be established, it would be clear that we were dealing with an imagined, heightened image world.

It just so happened that, as I went deeper with my research into film sets, special effects and the movies that inspired them, and added the Hollywood celebrity culture factor of Don's, the Tropics and the Luau, it all made perfect sense :)

The interesting thing is that, as the Tiki became the icon of the style in the late 50s/ early 60s, classic Hollywood film-making was in decline, and the elaborate constructs in Tiki temples like the Mai Kai, the Kahiki and the Kona Kai actually surpassed the cheap sets in feature films! I did not have the space to get into that in the book - one of my regrets due to the necessary dual language requirement.

I also regret some editorial oversights due to the deadline crunch towards the opening of the exhibit…

So: What are your thoughts?