Post #805064 by SouthSeasKat on Sun, Aug 14, 2022 6:01 AM

I think I straddle the line between the generational borders y'all are drawing. I try not to bring politics into Tiki--and this isn't always easy--and it isn't always people younger than me that try to have that discussion. Recently a Twitter thread I was in went awry, and the person complaining about Tiki's offensive aspects was older than me.

I'm 38. I'm on the Gen X/Millennial border. Cold Y specifically (as in when I started schooling, the USSR was still a thing, and some of the last nuclear drills had us going under desks, watched the Berlin Wall fall down, etc. Cold in Cold Y is from the closing of the Cold War). My parents are early boomers. (1946/1952). My grandparents were the generation that enjoyed tiki as adults (1914/1922). I've been into tiki and Mid-Century stuff to some degree since I was in high school in the 1990s, when it was incredibly unknown in small town rural-turning-suburban Texas. I wore Hawaiian shirts to school. I was fully unaware of a wider Tiki revival.

That didn't happen until the mid-00s. Which is around the time I started lurking around places like Tiki Central. I just didn't participate--and I moved to Japan.

That said, I probably hold many political opinions y'all are talking about generally. I am no trad. Very much the opposite. A lot of y'all would probably consider me an out and out communist. I have no wish to live in the 1950s or 1960s. They sucked for large swaths of people, including people like me. I am quite happy to be able to pick out the art, music, fashion, and design elements I like and leave the discrimination, lower standard of living, etc back in the past where it belongs.

As for elements intersecting tiki I don't think are tiki? We probably agree. I don't mind the things like the Tiki Room or the Jungle Cruise, which are very near me, and I mean we do get Trader Sam's in the US. The former two are of the time, at least. 1960s Adventureland. But I don't see the point of bringing in a lot of Disney. Not into horror or Star Wars or Marvel combinations. Definitely not princesses. Things like the Geeki Tikis don't interest me. But I'm not going to crap on other people for enjoying those things.

I am appalled to hear any Tiki space would drive out Sven for saying something wasn't Tiki. Surely he meant in the classic sense as he has so defined it as an academic expert. Unless he started insulting people directly, I don't get that kind of behavior at all.

[ Edited by SouthSeasKat on 2022-08-14 06:02:58 ]