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The Jungle-style Thread - Pop Culture Iconography of the Dark Continent |
Atomic Tiki Punk
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 4209
From: Costa Misery
|  Posted: 2010-01-02 6:26 pm Permalink
The movie "Trader Horn" was on late on AMC last night, I have never seen it, wow, just wow! it was such a product of it's time
by today's standards very racist,very un-P.C.
but at the same time the actual African shot footage was an historical time capsule.
I am sure Sven has an opinion on this movie, I sure would like to hear your take on it, John-O any thoughts from you if you have seen it?
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10601
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-01-02 7:24 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-01-02 16:26, JOHN-O wrote:
Quote:
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On 2010-01-02 14:20, bigbrotiki wrote:
Good one! Now THAT'S what I wanna see next time I walk into a Trader Vic's!
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You know actually a Jungle-themed bar would be great idea for a "New Cocktailian" business specializing in Tropical drinks.
It could be just like the place Starsky and Hutch visited...
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But then that place would still be called a "Tiki Bar" by the general public, and thus repeat what someone once called "Tiki Devolution". For that's what that Starsky and Hutch set is an example for: The non-specificness of a more generic theme than Polynesian, a non-complicity avoiding the danger of being pegged as racist or culturally insensitive by any particular group.
Uh, opinion on Trader Horn? It put the term "Trader" on the map in 20th Century pop culture. And otherwise it does seem very dated, nowadays. For its time, it was right up to date, racism and all.
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-01-02 19:28 ]
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Mister Naufrago
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 20, 2008
Posts: 212
From: Spain
| Posted: 2010-01-03 08:01 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-01-01 14:12, bigbrotiki wrote:
Okay, this is the last post on "Jungle Girls". I think as a subject it probably has the least connection to Polynesian pop (even though they are mentioned in TIKI MODERN). But they are so tempting. So, for the last time, here is the ultimate collection of babes named Shuna/Tegra/Ruhla/Vooda:
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No more "Jungle girls"?
OK, but this doesn´t necessarily means give up discussing about curvaceous and scantly clad women.
El gran primitivista Miguel Covarrubias illustrated at least a couple of African themed books.
"Adventures of an African slaver" (1928)
And "Batouala" (1932)
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JOHN-O
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: May 16, 2008
Posts: 2489
From: Dogtown, USA
| Posted: 2010-01-03 11:37 am Permalink
Hmmm... All of these scantily clad women are making me hungry for pancakes. This mid-century "Sabu-style" coffee shop did them up right. Understandably the Black community was offended by the name which lead to protests and lawsuits in the 1970's. Goodbye Sambo's !!
 
But hey remember "Little Black Sambo" was Indian not African. There are no Tigers in Africa. 
There is an operational Lil' Sambo's in Lincoln City, Oregon. (In Oregon, wild animal mascots are required to wear pants.)
[ This Message was edited by: JOHN-O 2010-01-03 11:39 ]
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Unga Bunga
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 06, 2003
Posts: 5738
From: CaliTikifornia
| Posted: 2010-01-03 1:39 pm Permalink
John-O,
The original in Santa Barbara, CA is still open.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10601
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-01-03 8:14 pm Permalink
A little more info:
>>A popular U.S. restaurant chain of the 1960s and 1970s, Sambo's, borrowed characters from the book (including Sambo and the tigers) for promotional purposes, although the Sambo name was originally a combination of the founders' nicknames: Sam (Sam Battistone) and Bo (Newell Bohnett). Nonetheless, the controversy about the book led to accusations of racism that contributed to the 1,117-restaurant chain's demise in the early 1980s. Images inspired by the book (now considered by some racially insensitive) were common interior decorations in the restaurants. Though portions of the original chain re-named themselves "No Place Like Sam's" to try to forestall closure, all but the original restaurant in Santa Barbara, California had closed by 1982.<<
This was the same kind of over-p.c.ness that killed Tiki. Bradbury was right:
>>In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, Little Black Sambo is mentioned as an example of books that are burned because people find them offensive.<<
And this came too late:
>>In 1996, noted illustrator Fred Marcellino observed that the story itself contained no racist overtones and produced a re-illustrated version, The Story of Little Babaji, which changes the characters' names but otherwise leaves the text unmodified. This version was a best-seller.<<
The main problem was that SAMBO had been used as derogatory term for blacks --but neither the restaurant chain nor its character did that.
Other depictions might have been more along the lines of the black face clichee.
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naugatiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 02, 2004
Posts: 809
From: Port Angeles, Wa
| Posted: 2010-01-04 06:20 am Permalink
Here are a few sterotypical African examples, they may be offensive in todays climate but history is history, I still run into these at Goodwill I guess the guys there at corporate think they can't sell them online.
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Mister Naufrago
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 20, 2008
Posts: 212
From: Spain
| Posted: 2010-01-04 11:48 am Permalink
There was a time when Torremolinos beaches were a Pop Art Jungle thriving with groovy dead wood African fauna and Scandanavian tourists.
Today only Scandanivian tourists remain.
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Zeta
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Feb 13, 2007
Posts: 2032
From: Atlantis/Basque Country/Spain/Mexico
| Posted: 2010-01-04 2:36 pm Permalink
Safari
Mints for canibals
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bigtikidude
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 10, 2004
Posts: 8312
From: Anaheim,Ca.
| Posted: 2010-01-04 3:55 pm Permalink
yes and she was petting it too
thanks Sven.
Jeff(btd)
[ This Message was edited by: bigtikidude 2010-01-04 15:56 ]
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TheBigT
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1183
From: Fabulous Houston
| Posted: 2010-01-04 6:57 pm Permalink
Two more for the collection:
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MrBaliHai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2002
Posts: 776 | Posted: 2010-01-04 7:26 pm Permalink
I've found quite a few of these zombie glasses with dancing African natives at antique and thrift stores:
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JOHN-O
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: May 16, 2008
Posts: 2489
From: Dogtown, USA
| Posted: 2010-01-04 9:06 pm Permalink
I think some of the strongest imagery that incorporated an "African" theme came from the Black Power movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's.
 
BigBro writes in Tiki Modern:
"It might come as a surprise, then, that some of the offerings of Witco Inc. also struck a cord with young African Americans, who were looking for their roots during the black liberation movement of the 1960's and early '70s. Although, because of its high cliche content, which was clearly the antithesis to the new black self-confidence that contemporary civil-rights organizations promoted, the audaciousness of Witco's signature style fit in with the "super-cool" individualism that young colored men cultivated at the time, even if it was pure blaxploitation."
Wouldn't it be cool to see some vintage Black Power images that incorporated Witco?
Also I gotta believe that John Shaft,"That Black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks", had a Witco bedroom like the one in Tiki Modern. And how about a picture of Pam Grier lounging on a Witco zebra-skinned chaise recliner?
 
Surprisingly nothing like that ever popped up in any Blaxploitation movie that I've seen (and I've seen a lot). 
[ This Message was edited by: JOHN-O 2010-01-05 08:48 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10601
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-01-05 11:02 am Permalink
Believe me, when I was working on Tiki Modern, I looked and looked, I knew there HAD to be a scene in some blaxploit flic somewhere, but no success, so I could merely mention it. I knew of some sports star that had it in his house, and Bill W. outfitted a black bordello with it, but no visual proof of the connection has surfaced that I know of.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10601
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-01-05 11:03 am Permalink
I really have to put up my African Witco post here soon, but it's gonna be big, and I have so much to do, so little time...
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