South Pacific Themes

Improved Essays
“When all you care about is here, this is a good place to be.” ~ Rossano Brazzi (as Emile De Becque) in South Pacific

It is interesting how human nature rarely fails to find an adversary. Even without fighting in a monumental war, we find a battle, and we only need to look inward to find it. Often times the battles fought within are amongst the greatest, most trying conflicts, as they are against the self. This battle is apparent in the musical South Pacific, where blurred battle lines of racism prove more troubling than the prospect of fighting for one’s country. The dynamic duo of Richard Rodgers (composer) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) bring to mind countless nostalgic reminiscences for countless people, spanning several
…show more content…
Michener, and published in 1947. This book, although not exactly fiction, is the powerful literary work that led Michener to receive a Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Due to the significant racial tone and resounding message of acceptance, the musical also received a Pulitzer Prize in 1950. The powerful message and genuine characters resonated with audiences, and rightly so, as Michener’s words came derived from actual experiences. Michener recorded much of his experience as a Navy Lieutenant in the South Pacific during World War II. The stories he then turned into his Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific. The book entailed 19 stories from occurrences and incidents, all of which were non-combat related. As if writing a book from his entire experience was not hard enough, there was more hard work ahead before the musical theatre world would inaugurate the monumental film that is South …show more content…
There were courageous moves from several players, and in casting, the producer and the composers proved just as daring. They chose to pair an opera singer who sings bass baritone, with a comedic musical performer, Mary Martin. On a less turbulent territory, South Pacific was amongst the first musical productions to distribute souvenir items, and a large array of selection. With that, every song in South Pacific, each song created by Rodgers and Hammerstein, became a hit. The songs included "Dites-Moi" – sung by Ngana and Jerome"A Cockeyed Optimist" – sung by Nellie, "Twin Soliloquies" – sung by Nellie and Emile, "Some Enchanted Evening" – sung by Emile, "Bloody Mary" – sung by Sailors, Seabees and Marines, "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" – sung by Sailors, Seabees and Marines, "Bali Ha 'i" – sung by Bloody Mary, Billis and Cable, "I 'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" – sung by Nellie and Nurses, "I 'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" – sung by Nellie and Nurses, "Younger Than Springtime" – sung by Cable, Soft shoe dance – Nurses and Seabees, "Happy Talk" – sung by Bloody Mary, "Honey Bun" – sung by Nellie and Girls, "You 've Got to Be Carefully Taught" – sung by Cable, "Honey Bun" (reprise) – sung by Billis, "This Nearly Was Mine" – sung by Emile, "Some Enchanted Evening" (reprise) – sung by Nellie, Finale

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    With their witty and compelling book “Our America,” LeAlan and Lloyd show how the voices of underrepresented African Americans contribute significantly to our understanding about American racial relationship. I want to deliver their political messages to both the authorities and the general audience. By presenting double-meaning songs which could be absorbed in various depth level, my soundtrack will illuminate both the book’s main theme of reality, hope, inequality and give voices to African Americans. The themes of reality and hope appear inside the innocent narration of LeAlan and Lloyd about their lives in Ida B. Wells.…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Bill travels to Chicago to participate in Cab’s play the less advanced, poor southern Black America leads into the wealthy, high class, urban scene of northern Black America: Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers perform dressed in white tie and tails. Instead of careless shuffling and jiving, the “improved” higher class black man is a competent adult who makes profit from his talent. Messrs. Robinson, Wilson, Miller and Lyles express the then previously racist view of blacks: uneducated, ignorant, yet holding an important working role in white society. Lena Horne, Katherine Dunham, and Messrs. Calloway and Nicholas exhibit the new Hollywood racist view of African Americans post Forties: successful polished, wealthy performers. These blacks are literate, advanced, don’t pose as a direct threat, but their obvious wealth exceeds that of most white Americans of the Forties, and typically started white…

    • 1039 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Families still suffer from loss in different ways, there is still conflict within families, and there certainly is a major aspect of being an outsider as more and more people immigrate to Australia. From the techniques Gow has chosen to use, he has been able to communicate these messages of confit, loss and being outsider. Although some allusions are timeless and worked well within the play, others are historical and are difficult are for modern audiences to connect to. This play has layers of complexity; it can be understood on face value as a simple play or when understanding allusions, it can be viewed as more…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The element “Water” plays a prevalent role in all African American Literature, whether that role be in the form of tears or a huge body of water that slaves had to go across. Although water is often viewed as the chance for opportunity and a chance for better life, in some instances it is the exact opposite. In some cases water is often interpreted through painful emotion or described as a gruesome stand point in one’s mind. This controversial element is presented to us in Andrea Levy’s “Small Island”, in which the character Gilbert describes himself being pulled from “drowning in the sea”. In this paper I will examine how Andre Levy wants us to not only think about the general use of water in many text about the diaspora, but to also think about what a mental toll water takes on us.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the poem “The White Judges” by Marilyn Dumont, the speaker is aware of how she and her Indigenous family are consistently being judged by the primarily white population. The poem juxtaposes the family with the encircling colonialists who wait to demean and assimilate the group. Consequently, the family faces the pressures of being judged for their cultural practices, resulting in a sense of shame and guilt. Dumont’s use of prose and lyrical voice distinctly highlights the theme of being judged by white society. Her integration of figurative language enhances the Indigenous tradition and cultural practices throughout the poem.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anaahad Kaur Mrs. Gianola UW 240 30 March, 2015 Masks, Journey of Identity Discovery Would you agree that stubborn, weak, and trivial are some of the ultimate descriptions that women have been described as throughout the ages? Born in 1973, Dao Strom is a Vietnamese American writer who used roughly of her own personal experiences to produce the fictional novel, Grass Roof, Tin Roof. This story is about a young troubled Vietnamese women, Tran and her family as they struggle to resettle in a rural city in California. Their fight for an identity and acceptance of questionable cultural norms by society is one of many the mystifying immigrant experiences many others have faced. Throughout this work of fiction the author writes the perspective, experience…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sankkofa Reflection

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout the movie Sankofa it becomes very evident very quickly how prejudice and biased the whites are, even before you witness the whole slavery aspect of the film. Sankofa shows a brutal truth about The Caribbean’s past that many people, especially Caucasians, don’t like to mention or think about. Through my analysis I will look further into how the film and readings from the class coordinate with one another, as well as the whole process of Creolization for the Africans and the Americans. Sankofa shows the Creolization of Africans to the American culture and how they slowly try and adapt to the language, as well as the new culture they have been introduced to. It also shows their adaptation to being slaves rather than indigenous…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Half Blood Blues Analysis

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Half-Blood blues, by Esi Edugyan, is an intriguing novel that intertwines two haunted histories, in to a great story about the black experience in Nazi Germany. The novel revolves around Hieronymus Falk, a very talented trumpet player in a jazz band. The jazz band goes through many obstacles, while trying to record their music. Due to the circumstances and the setting of the play, the band ends up being split as Heiro gets taken away by the Nazis. Due to the Setting of this play there are many things that occur in the story which would not happen anywhere else.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We pride ourselves in being the country that offers a fair go for all, the country that was built upon egalitarianism, opportunity and the hope of a better life, the country of mateship where multiculturalism and diversity is embraced. These values act as the cornerstones of the Australian identity as we know it, and placed Australia on the map for the rest of the world to see. However the mantra of acceptance does not hold true for all. Whether born in Australia with foreign heritage or recently migrated, some members of society still struggle to feel fully integrated within our community. Robbed of their own identity and the chance to contribute to Australia’s.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The play addresses the question of what it means to be Australian, and answers in a rather open and debatable WAY. Neighbourhood Watch suggests that there is no such thing as one, Australian identity; rather one for each of the twenty-one million living here. Katz opens up this idea by providing vivid imagery of Ana’s life in war torn Hungary, evoking feelings of sonder from the audience. The transitions to and from Ana’s home in Hungary are one of the play’s many challenges, considering that most theatres do not have a revolving stage or set. However these transitions are crucial in connecting Ana’s past and present, and crucial in communicating the vivid, complex identities of everyone around…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Richard Wright’s African American literature expresses the theme of exploring black identity(World Book Discover, 2015). Richard Wright wrote many popular books with this theme in mind including Native Son and Black Boy. Wright lived in a time of racial segregation which greatly affected his work and views on the American Dream (Galens et al. ,2001). The American Dream is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Richard Wright condemns the idea of the American Dream in his books Native Son , Black Boy, and Uncle Tom 's Children that expresses African American’s struggles as well as his own struggles through racial conflicts, whites…

    • 1326 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    South Africa has a complex political history. It is filled with intricacies and subtleties which are difficult to understand from an outside perspective. The power and volatility of South Africa’s political climate was enough to drive hordes of South African’s to find refuge in other countries while still longing for their homeland. This review is about Rian Malan’s 1991 book “My Traitor’s Heart, Blood and Bad Dreams: A South African Explores the Madness in His Country, His Tribe and Himself” published by Vintage Press in London.…

    • 1621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun centers on an African American family’s struggles during the twentieth century. In the play, the author illustrates vital issues such as poverty and gender, and racial discrimination on colored people. However, there are many other features that contribute to the play’s success, including: its two major themes (importance of family and significance of their dreams), the main character’s personality, and the author’s standpoint in the story. One of the major themes in A Raisin in the Sun is the importance of family and values, which contributes to the play’s unraveling.…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “We, as humans, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves. ”-Barbara Jordan A quote that doesn’t only apply to the many texts read within Ourselves and Others , but also to the 323.1 million people in the United States who aren’t all going to agree, who aren’t the same. In fact, our differences are what makes everyone the same. Through differences strategies such as, court cases, religious fights, or the people who truly care for you, this message is still conveyed, just in different ways.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country, three books depict the separation between the blacks and the whites, and use the land to exemplify the interactions between the two races. Paton’s use of symbols and metaphors connected to the land, convey the tarnished social and human conditions displayed throughout the book. In this portion of the book, the most prominent metaphor of the land is how it becomes more barren and lifeless because the natives leave the countryside for the more prosperous land, Johannesburg. The land expresses the tradition of the natives.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays