Popeye Tiki? - Collecting Tiki

E EnchantedTikiGoth Member Calgary, Canada Joined: Dec 31, 2003 Posts: 355	E EnchantedTikiGoth Posted posted on Tue, Sep 18, 2018 8:17 AM On 2018-09-17 21:00, swizzle wrote: To quote a comment left by someone on one of the Facebook Tiki groups; "'Tiki' is an appreciation for a design, cocktail and music aesthetic that started in the mid 30's and died out in the 70's/80's. It's a look, a taste, a sound that was intended to immerse the receiver in a faux Polynesian fantasy. If what we try to add today wouldn't fit in that defined period then it's not Tiki". I've stated my view on this before, and now I'll do it again... It's better to conceptualize cultures as having cores rather than borders. There is a heart of beliefs, practices, rituals, aesthetics, attitudes, values, etc. that form the core of the cultural identity. That heart, that core, keeps the culture centred. As you drift out to the fuzzy edges, you start to experiment, test out new ideas, and overlap with the fuzzy edges of other cultures. And that's good, because it's in those fuzzy edges that you find innovation and creativity, but it's also through those fuzzy edges that you find new people who keep the culture alive and the bars solvent. So in response to the quote, I would say that "an appreciation for a design, cocktail and music aesthetic that started in the mid 30's and died out in the 70's/80's. It's a look, a taste, a sound that was intended to immerse the receiver in a faux Polynesian fantasy." is the CORE of Tiki, not the BORDER of Tiki. That's the centre of it, but around the fuzzy edges you find overlaps with, say, Rockabilly and Pin-Up culture, or Mid-Century Modern, or Monster Kid culture, or Disney, or "Geek culture" (which, frankly, is only a marketing term anyways). It's the basis by which we can judge something a "more Tiki" or "less Tiki", which is a judgement I see get lost a lot of the time in these discussions. We fixate more on what IS Tiki or IS NOT Tiki and lose sight of gradations of MORE Tiki or LESS Tiki. When it comes to something like Geeki Tikis, they are by definition Tiki. They are character mugs done in a Tiki style. But there are Geeki Tikis that are more Tiki and Geeki Tikis that are less Tiki. Comic book characters and Star Wars are less Tiki (apologies to skip), because they are so far removed from the core of Tiki. I would consider the mermaid mug more Tiki than the unicorn mug. The Creature from the Black Lagoon mug was more Tiki than the Mummy mug. The Star Trek TOS mugs were more Tiki than the Star Trek TNG mugs because TOS has the Mid-Century vibe going on. I would say Popeye is more Tiki than Rick and Morty, because yes, there are a bunch of Popeye cartoons with nautical themes or set in tropical and jungle locales and it blends into that pre-war, pre-Tiki 1930's upper limit. The only reason I'm looking forward to the upcoming American Godzilla movies is the guaranteed Godzilla, King Kong, and Mothra Geeki Tiki mugs that will inevitably come out.

On 2018-09-17 21:00, swizzle wrote:
To quote a comment left by someone on one of the Facebook Tiki groups;

"'Tiki' is an appreciation for a design, cocktail and music aesthetic that started in the mid 30's and died out in the 70's/80's. It's a look, a taste, a sound that was intended to immerse the receiver in a faux Polynesian fantasy. If what we try to add today wouldn't fit in that defined period then it's not Tiki".

I've stated my view on this before, and now I'll do it again... It's better to conceptualize cultures as having cores rather than borders. There is a heart of beliefs, practices, rituals, aesthetics, attitudes, values, etc. that form the core of the cultural identity. That heart, that core, keeps the culture centred. As you drift out to the fuzzy edges, you start to experiment, test out new ideas, and overlap with the fuzzy edges of other cultures. And that's good, because it's in those fuzzy edges that you find innovation and creativity, but it's also through those fuzzy edges that you find new people who keep the culture alive and the bars solvent.

So in response to the quote, I would say that "an appreciation for a design, cocktail and music aesthetic that started in the mid 30's and died out in the 70's/80's. It's a look, a taste, a sound that was intended to immerse the receiver in a faux Polynesian fantasy." is the CORE of Tiki, not the BORDER of Tiki. That's the centre of it, but around the fuzzy edges you find overlaps with, say, Rockabilly and Pin-Up culture, or Mid-Century Modern, or Monster Kid culture, or Disney, or "Geek culture" (which, frankly, is only a marketing term anyways). It's the basis by which we can judge something a "more Tiki" or "less Tiki", which is a judgement I see get lost a lot of the time in these discussions. We fixate more on what IS Tiki or IS NOT Tiki and lose sight of gradations of MORE Tiki or LESS Tiki.

When it comes to something like Geeki Tikis, they are by definition Tiki. They are character mugs done in a Tiki style. But there are Geeki Tikis that are more Tiki and Geeki Tikis that are less Tiki. Comic book characters and Star Wars are less Tiki (apologies to skip), because they are so far removed from the core of Tiki. I would consider the mermaid mug more Tiki than the unicorn mug. The Creature from the Black Lagoon mug was more Tiki than the Mummy mug. The Star Trek TOS mugs were more Tiki than the Star Trek TNG mugs because TOS has the Mid-Century vibe going on. I would say Popeye is more Tiki than Rick and Morty, because yes, there are a bunch of Popeye cartoons with nautical themes or set in tropical and jungle locales and it blends into that pre-war, pre-Tiki 1930's upper limit. The only reason I'm looking forward to the upcoming American Godzilla movies is the guaranteed Godzilla, King Kong, and Mothra Geeki Tiki mugs that will inevitably come out.

Post #790061 by EnchantedTikiGoth on Tue, Sep 18, 2018 8:17 AM