In the documentary “The Act of War” the audience sees the events leading up to the fall of the Hawaiian government. The film showed the Hawaiian perspective regarding the incidents that took place. From this perspective the audience feels a sense of sadness for the Hawaiians and sympathize with how they were treated. The perspective of the film has a very powerful effect on what “side” the audience takes when watching it. If the film had taken a different approach and described what happened through the American’s eyes, then the audience would be more likely to sympathize with them. This has been demonstrated through other films/TV shows like Monster’s Inc, Despicable Me, Sons of Anarchy, or The Shield. Film makers can use the power of persuasion to lead the audience to view events in a particular way and the viewers must be aware of that while watching such shows.
Throughout time civilizations have been captured and taken over. Humans have a need for power and land is very powerful. The weaker will fall, no matter how noble their intentions are, it is the survival of the fittest. The original Hawaiians were very peaceful and extremely efficient with their time before white man ever stepped foot on the islands. The Hawaiians were too innocent and that would be their downfall. Foreigners should never be underestimated. Hawaiians had never seen this kind of deceit in humans so they did not know to guard themselves from it. The actions that took place were unfortunate and sad but they were unlike the actions that took place in many other countries throughout history. Is it right? Maybe not but it happened none-the-less. Americans may look back and regret what was done but that does not mean if they could go back and change what happened that they would. Clark Gable said it perfectly when he stated, “your like the thief that isn’t the least bit sorry he stole but terribly sorry he got caught.” Americans are sorry for how everything unfolded but are not about to give back what they took.
You bring up a lot of good points about how easy it is to persuade an audience one way or another. I noticed in the movie how Hawaiian culture was painted as a heavenly culture filled with people who were, as you say, very peaceful and extremely efficient with time. In reality, the Ali'i would often wage wars in power grabs against one another and the Maka'ainana were forced to be extremely efficient for the sake of the Ali'i. Kamehameha himself only managed to conquer the islands because he traded for Ha'ole weaponry.
ReplyDeleteIn all things, I hope more viewers can keep your words about perspective and persuasion in mind. Just because it's on TV, doesn't make it true.