This will be my first in a series of “filmographic essays.” These are long-form pieces exploring how movies in the M’sM database connect to each other and to Herman Melville’s work, and why those connections can be illuminating.
My first entry will focus on 6 movies that are based on Melvill’es first two novels: Typee and Omoo. These movies are White Shadows in the South Seas (MGM 1928; F-Ty-0001), Last of the Pagans (MGM 1935; F-Ty-0002), Enchanted Island (Warner 1958; F-Ty-0003), Moana (Famous Players-Lasky 1926; F-Ty-0004), Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931 Fox; F-Ty-0005) and Omoo-Omoo the Shark God (F-Om-0001).
My starting point is an idea I’ve explored in a previous article that explains how a Melville meme started to be used in Hollywood movies to help audiences understand and appreciate South Sea cultures, making those cultures palatable as a form of mass entertainment.
In that previous essay, however, I narrowed my analysis to two of these films, Last of the Pagans and Omoo-Omoo, with only passing mention of the rest. In the filmographic essay I will broaden my scope to include the rest of the films and to specify a Typee meme, which not only helped establish South Sea cultures but also explored themes that touched closer to home, like the issue of interracial marriage, a sore point in the deeply segregated U.S. of the 20th C.
Each film will be explored in detail, cross-referenced, and linked to its entry in the database, as well as to the glossary of terms.