Halberstam, Jack [Judith] (b. 1961)

The Queer Art of Failure

Duke University Press

2011

"In contrast, '50 First Dates' utilizes Hawaii as a kind of blank slate, a place emptied of political turmoil and a perfect metaphor for the state of mind produced by the erasure of memory."

Unlike other recent films set in Hawaii, such as the cartoon Lilo and Stitch (2002, directed by Dean Deblois), 50 First Dates has no particular interest in the geopolitical significance of its Island setting. Lilo and Stitch at least weaves its narrative of family and kinship through complex subplots about native hostility to tourists, the influence of U.S. popular culture on colonized locations, and the paternalistic function of the state. In contrast, 50 First Dates utilizes Hawaii as a kind of blank slate, a place emptied of political turmoil and a perfect metaphor for the state of mind produced by the erasure of memory. Unwittingly the film's emphasis on short-term memory loss does raise issues about national memory and histories of colonization, and the film allows the discerning viewer to understand the status of Hawaii in relation to state-authorized forms of forgetting. Tensions between native Hawaiians and white Americans, between the history of colonization and the narrative of statehood are all wiped away like the damaged memory of the film's romantic heroine. Yet those tensions linger on and cannot be resolved as easily as the romantic obstacles.
(pp. 75-76)

Writing::Blank Slate Writing::Erasure

Reading

Judith Halberstam, The Queer Art of Failure (Duke University Press, 2011).

Blank Slate; Meta-Metaphorical

07/17/2014